So near and yet so far !
5th May 2007
The atmosphere at the Vic on Saturday afternoon was absolutely fabulous. Over 7000 filled the small stadium. For the first time this season the away stand was full with around 1000 Bristol Rovers fans in full voice making an electric atmosphere.
Rovers made the better start and were determined from kick off to take the points to secure a play off position. Danny Wilson had an attack formation in mind with Joel Porter getting his first start this season alongside Effion Williams up front and our pocket rockets David Foley and James Brown on each wing. Ben Clarke returned to the back after his one match suspension.
The noise when the lads ran onto the pitch was phenomenal and the fans were full of optimism and hope.
When Joel Porter scored Hartlepool United’s goal in the 32nd minute the noise levels rose even further making for a very exciting afternoon. The crowd were frantically searching for the other results on mobile phones and when the crowd heard that Swindon had scored against Walsall the fans went wild.
If only they could have blown the whistle at half time...
Bristol Rovers were quick off the mark in the second half and when Willie Boland tackled Craig Disley and the referee gave a penalty we prayed…. - but despite having the best goalie in the league in Dimi our luck ran out and despite him diving the right way the ball slipped in the right hand corner by Richard Walker. Bristol Rovers were the better team in the second half but that is not to say that we did not have our chances. We had a second goal disallowed for off side by our substitute Michael Mackay who got his first call up to the senior squad. David Foley hit the bar but despite this Bristol defended well and Rickie Lambert scored their second goal 4 minutes before time breaking our hearts but sending Bristol Rovers into the play offs.
The match ended and the players and fans were absolutely gutted to have lost out.
The players were presented with their runners up medals and they did a lap of honour to an absolute rapturous applause.
We quickly got our season into perspective. At the end of August we were in 21st position and playing very badly. In October we remained in the lower part of the league and this season we have broken more club records than ever. 23 games unbeaten is phenomenal (9 wins on the trot), more away wins and more away goals than ever. This is some going for any league let alone league two.
The lads deserved to win the title but all in all to get promotion after least seasons disappointment was a credit to them all.
Danny Wilson is the best signing the club have made and deserves all of the credit - to get the team motivated and playing stunning football, to get some absolute bargain signings in Richie Barker, Gary Liddle and Andy Monkhouse and to break all of the records is nothing short of a miracle and he deserves all of the accolades and manager of the month awards that he received this season...
The Players were awarded to a civic reception on Sunday with a rapturous reception by fans. Over 3000 fans turned out at the civic centre and hundreds turned out on the streets of Hartlepool to congratulate the players on their open topped bus.
We as Pools fans cannot wait until next season kicks off – we will be meeting the likes of Leeds United, Luton and Carlisle. It is hoped that we can strengthen our squad and no doubt Danny Wilson will be clearing out some of the players in order to make room for that.
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