Five Conclusions – Hartlepool Utd 0 Yeovil Town 2

Gloverscast Ben was on BBC Radio duty on Saturday afternoon as Billy Rowley’s Green and White (well, red and black) army won their second game in a row. Here are his five conclusions.

“Luke McCormick, you little dancer”

There was so much to like about the performance on Saturday, but Luke McCormick stood out for me in every single sense.

McCormick is, probably, just a bit too good for this level. These players don’t come around all that often, the ability to look effortless in control of the ball is a joy to watch. 

He made the first goal, out on the left did all the hard work for a Jarvis tap-in, hit the post, forced the keeper into the save and right at the death turned a time wasting burst to the corner into a lovely finish into the far corner.

Everything Yeovil do well goes through him and Billy Rowley has clearly given him the freedom to be creative. 

Now, about that contract….

We did the ugly stuff

The wonderful play from McCormick and Co going forward will take the headlines and that’s fine, but let’s not take away from the rear guard action at the other end.

Make no mistake, Hartlepool are a good side, lots of very exciting players but Jed Ward in goal, the three in front of him and wing backs dealt with plenty of crosses, passes and waves of attacks and yet at no point did I ever really fear that they’d score.

A word for Finn Cousin-Dawson who did really well keeping Jamie Miley quiet and Alex Reid is, in my mind, one of the smartest forwards in the division and he didn’t have a sniff. 

Glimpses of Rowley-ball

It’s still early days of course, but we’re starting to see what Billy Rowley is going to ask of this team.

We’re going to have to have our hearts in our mouths a few times when we play neat little passes in defensive areas, but we’re also going to see the ball move quickly. We’re going to see little neat triangles used to get us through our phases of play and we’re going to play the brave passes forward.

Not all of them will come off, but I cannot knock a team trying something brave, something we haven’t seen, arguably, for years.

I don’t think Yeovil fans want perfection, but they want us to have a go, play the conditions and make brave decisions, we did on Saturday, and that worked wonders.

I really enjoyed it – so did the 98.

That feeling! Those pre match butterflies were in hope rather than fear. I saw us win at Solihull – same outcome, worth the same number of points to the season’s tally – but this FELT different. 

Maybe it’s the simple words of confidence from the manager or how other fans feel around us, but it was a genuine joy to watch the game. To see players playing without weight on their shoulders allowed the fans to follow suit. I said that the players ‘need to go first’ in the chicken-and-egg battle between supporters upping their support and players giving them something to support, and they have in these last two games.

I feel it, I’m in, hook, line and sinker! I’m prepared to be patient, prepared for imperfection, but the players have now gone first and given us all something to support, so the least we can do is follow suit. 

The scenes at the end were a disgrace.

Morgan Williams and Jermaine Francis both saw red for their part in a post-match melee, just about every player and staff member were involved in the fracas and quite who was or wasn’t in the wrong doesn’t really matter, but what followed from a home-end supporter has left me seething.

Players and supporters have back-and-forth moments at every ground, every weekend and there’s always passion and emotions run high, but one thing remains constant; the barrier between players and fans.

That barrier was breached on Saturday with someone charging out of the crowd towards the crowd of players. Some quick thinking by Finn Cousin-Dawson probably stops the supporter from reaching his intended target at full throttle before others – including home players – usher him away, But the fact he got a far as he did, unchallenged is a disgrace. Players should feel safe on the pitch, as should fans in the stand. 

I hope that Hartlepool will engage in a proper investigation, not just into the individual, but into their own practices on match day. Every person I dealt with was brilliant on the day, but one idiot has ruined it for the whole club. The FA charges will surely follow in the new year. 

Other than that one idiot, a near perfect away day for the Glovers