Ferguson, the back three and Pools' direct threat

Two games in a week where despite being outplayed for large periods, Pools rallied late and could easily have picked up points had they been more clinical.

The personnel may be constantly changing but a back three remains Askey’s preference this season. Against Halifax it was Lacey inbetween new boy Mattock and Luke Hendrie, with Onariase benched.

The hosts enjoyed comfortable possession in the first half while Pools struggled to work a position to play through midfield, though the short passes from Jamieson to Lacey at goal kicks continued. Most significantly in the second half, Umerah was brought on to support Dieseruvwe and Askey took a more direct approach, Joe Grey causing problems as he moved to the right-hand side and several opportunities coming from good wide play and an increased physical threat from Pools in the box. The threat only increased after a late switch to a back four with Dolan moving into midfield, freeing up Crawford to venture down the left side and link up with Ferguson in the final third.

It was a return to the preferred back three for the visit of Rochdale, and there were scenes reminiscent of Harrogate away last season with one long diagonal into the no-mans land between left centre back and wing back and Joel Brown making the striker’s mind up by flying out of goal to try and cover the space.

For 15 minutes Rochdale enjoyed easy possession and completely dominated the game. Askey moved to get an extra man in midfield, bringing Dolan forward from centre back, while Crawford went to man-mark Harvey Gilmour at the base of their midfield to try and force them to play longer. The changes largely achieved this, and after Pools’ best spell of the first half, it was frustating that a simple flick-on from a straight chipped pass resulted in the easiest of finishes for Keohane. A familiar theme of Askey’s post-match interviews: inexplicable individual errors for which it’s hard to legislate, and this one undermined Pools’ recovery after the beneficial change in shape.

There were positives to take from the way Pools ended the game and, but for an uncharacteristic miss from Dieseruvwe it would probably have been a point well deserved for the second half fightback. The feeling in the second half, similar to the final half hour at Halifax, was that Pools were getting into much more dangerous crossing positions with full backs working in tandem with the wide players, rather than having wing backs swinging hopeful balls to one striker from 40 yards out; Hendrie crossed brilliantly for Dieseruvwe from exactly this position for the second goal. Having replaced Umerah early, Wreh stayed wide on the left-hand side, often playing on the last line and bringing Ferguson into the game.

The final big chance that wouldn’t quite fall to Brody Patterson at the far post came from a wicked Fergie delivery across the six-yard box. As a wing-back, he rarely gets in these positions, and its arguable that Pools could be playing much more to their strengths (and utilizing the aerial threat of Dieseruwve, for example) by reviving Ferguson’s role as an overlapping full-back if Askey is prepared to bin the back three.