This is The North East | Sport | Football

"BY five o'clock on Easter Monday we will know where we stand, '' predicted Paul Stephenson before his Hartlepool United side faced three games in the last week.

Well by five o'clock tonight, Pool could be standing with one foot in League Two from an uneasy position at the bottom of League One.

After taking a single point from that trio of games, Pool's situation is looking more precarious by the day.

It could, actually, have been worse, because at 4.30pm on Saturday only Swindon of the other teams fighting the drop weren't winning.

This defeat at home to Bristol City on Saturday was as unwelcome as it was, for long periods, unpleasant on the eye.

So now it's two wins from 21 and you have to go back to December 12 for the last time Pool won on a Saturday.

In that run Pool have only scored more than once in a game on one occasion, the 3-1 win over Huddersfield on March 10.

And on the back of that form, there's four games left to stave off relegation.

Three wins from four - starting this afternoon at Milton Keynes Dons - is the requirement.

But it's going to take an Easter resurrection of biblical proportions.

A couple of weeks ago, today's game looked like a straightforward affair because the opposition were as good as relegated.

Instead, after two away wins in a week, they can overtake Pool with victory today.

This game, for Danny Wilson's side, will be viewed as their chance of escape.

"There's a little bit more pressure on them now, '' said Stephenson. "A few weeks ago they were as good as down but now perhaps they will be expected to win in front of their own fans.'' Doing that is something Pool have only managed five times this season and this was their seventh Victoria Park reverse.

The visitors are a few points shy of the play-offs and played with the confidence of a team that has lost just once in ten.

Pool, Stephenson feels, played with the tiredness of a team which has spent half the last week travelling up and down the country's motorways.

"I think we showed the effects of our travels, '' said Stephenson.

"We were weary and very leggy.

"You try your very best not to make excuses for them. The firsthalf was flat and not good enough.

"I had to get stuck into them at half-time and said some very harsh words, but we had a go in the second half.

"We sort of got what we deserved because we didn't put in the first half performance we needed.

"Bristol passed the ball well and that was because we didn't have the legs to close them down or chase. We didn't pressure the ball and that's why they passed through us.

"We certainly didn't close down and work like we did at Colchester. It was disappointing.

"I really had to get stuck into people at half-time and ask them what they were made of and what sort of pride they've got.

"They did show pride in the second half and had a go.'' Pool met up at Victoria Park yesterday lunchtime before travelling and Stephenson added: "It's the first time I've had a go at the players and it was after the first flat performance we've had.

"Look at our home performances and there have been some very good ones, this was the first negative one.

"It's come at a bad time, but we still have games left to get out of it. The players have to fight like stink to stay in this division.'' If in recent home performances Pool hadn't got the rewards in terms of points their performances merited, they did this time.

"We've had some great displays at home, but not this one - there were no legs out there, '' said Stephenson. "We were running on empty at times. The lads in midfield have played every game and there's been no other option.

"It looked like the gas had gone out of them.'' On the back of treks to Swindon and Colchester, yesterday's haul down the M1 to Milton Keynes wouldn't have been high on Stephenson's preferences.

It could be an even longer trip back.

Bristol City flew to the NorthEast on Friday - just like Yeovil, then managed by City boss Gary Johnson, did when winning at Victoria Park in September.

They went in front when Mark McCammon was held up on the edge of the area, but the ball rolled into the path of advancing midfielder David Noble, who hit a low shot across Dimi Konstantopoulos.

A couple of half chances from distance and a free Lee Bullock header were about all Pool mustered in response.

But City controlled possession and moved the ball around with some freedom.

Nelson stood off McCammon which gave him space on the right side of the penalty area to pull his cross towards the advancing Alex Russell and the second central midfielder scored.

City were happy to sit back in the second half and allow Pool the chance to go at them.

But just like in the first half central defender Louis Carey won just about everything.

Pool got an unlikely one back when Eifion Williams lifted Matty Robson's cross over keeper Adriano Basso.

Both Williams and Michael Proctor then had late opportunities for an equaliser. But scoring two in a game is a bit too much to ask these days.

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