Seasiders are stalemate specialists!

Derby day at Bloomfield Road was supposed to be many fans highlight of the season. Sadly the energy created by the supporters couldn’t be transferred onto the pitch, especially in the second half, as Pool battled to a third successive home draw.

For entertainment, excitement and quality, the home win aginst Charlton last month probably ranks as the Seasiders best. For professionalism, work ethic and desire, the 3-0 triumph over Burnley on New Years Day wins out. Unfortunately Saturday couldn’t match the heights of those two memorable occasions.

Though it wasn’t for the lack of trying and not least by the fans. A tremendous cacophany of noise echoed around the north and west stands, enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Meanwhile our ‘friends’ in the east stand struggled to get a decent chant going all game.

A crowd of over 9,600 was Pool’s biggest since the new stands opened. But you can’t help thinking it could have been nearer the 15,000 mark with a south stand.

And yet here I am moaning about a draw against our bitterest rivals. Pool have picked up 8 points from a possible 12 in the derbies this season, crucially remaining unbeaten. Most, if not all Pool fans would have taken that back in August.

So why a sudden clutch of home draws? It’s hard to figure that one out, but Saturday’s stalemate made it 10 home draws for the season. We have only lost three times at Bloomers all season and our unbeaten since December. 10 seaside stalemate’s makes us top of the pile in terms of home games drawn. If we had turned even two or three of those draws into wins safety would have been assured already.

As it is we head into the final seven games probably needing another couple of wins to secure survival. This will be achieved, of that I am convinced. And based on Saturday’s showing, a finish above PKE in the league looks on the cards too.