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Walsall 1 - 0 Hartlepool United

No hiding from what Pool are desperate for in 2006

IT WAS, as if it wasn't already so blindingly obvious, a Draconian statement of what Hartlepool United are missing.

Five minutes remaining and a goalless draw at Walsall was the least Pool were taking back home.

Without a natural goalscorer in the side, a surfeit of chances were both created and missed.

With a 20-goal a season man in the side, there's little doubt that Martin Scott's side would have recorded away win No 6.

Then Matty Fryatt, apparently £1m-rated and set for a move to the Championship in January, showed some people only need one chance to make a difference.

Fryatt had been quietness personified for 84 minutes. Shackled by Micky Nelson and Neill Collins, frustration was his game.

But when Paul Merson laid a deft ball into his path 12 yards from goal he finished it with the swagger of a natural born goalscorer.

And, in one fleeting moment, the harsh realities of life without Adam Boyd and Joel Porter hit home hard.

Twelve months ago and the Saturday before Christmas proved a massive turning point in shaping Pool's season.

Going to Wrexham on December 18, Boyd and Porter ran the home defence ragged, scoring two of Pool's five goals and ripping Wrexham apart to create goals for Ritchie Humpheys and Antony Sweeney.

Tellingly that day, Pool only created seven chances and put five away.

A year on and Pool created seven chances and put none away.

Boyd and Porter are likely to be out for another six weeks at least. Perhaps it will be a minimum of six weeks before Pool's campaign bursts into top gear.

"I thought we were the better team and bossed long periods of the game,'' said Scott. "We played good football, but that final ball, final cross and bit of quality in the final third let us down.

"When the goal came, it was a tremendous touch by Merson. Fryatt is dangerous, he hit it early and the bit of quality wins the game for them.

"We have good players, we are a good team, but we know that when you are on top you have to take your chances.

"It's about sticking them away. Look at how our season has gone so far after 22 games. Defensively we are on a par with last season, but goals for column is way, way down.

"We know where the problem lies and have to try and solve the problem.

"Dean McDonald will be hard to replace, it opens the door for someone else, but we need to score goals.

"I don't have to tell anyone what's missing, we've got two lads who scored 47 goals between them last season not playing.

"We will keep plugging away and keep playing well and hanging in there, because we are not far off.

"We had some great chances. I don't mind lads shooting and we had plenty of shots, without turning any into goals.''

He added: "Goalscorers win you tight games, we all know that from last season with Boydy and Porter.

"The players missing do that for us, but I can't question my players.''

After 22 games, Pool have scored 24 goals, an average of 1.09 per game. Last season it was 38 after 22 games, average 1.72. At this stage Pool were in a run of seven wins and two draws from nine.

How they could do with the same again to propel them to where their build-up play has often deserved, none more so than Saturday.

Pool bossed the early stages, before Walsall came back into it, but by then Pool had already created enough to win the game.

Tommy Butler, Chris Llewellyn and Antony Sweeney all had shots in a scramble that also saw Pool have a big penalty shout denied.

But Pool were also reliant on big keeper Dimi Konstantopoulos for keeping the first half score blank.

First he got two strong hands onto a high Merson free-kick from 25 yards and a minute later, after Merson swopped passes with Alex Nicholls, he denied the striker at his near post.

And at the start of the second half they created enough chances to win three games, never mind this one.

McDonald and Butler both had two shots from inside the penalty box wide, Llewellyn shot straight at on loan Sunderland keeper Joe Murphy and Micky Nelson thumped a header wide from eight yards.

Nelson's header came from Humphreys' corner and the left back then exchanged passes with Butler on the left and crossed low towards, but just out of reach of Sweeney.

Konstantopoulos lost the ball as he tried to skirt around Fryatt on the edge of the area and, unlike his similar slip-up at Blackpool this season, this misdemeanour didn't cost a goal, as enough blue and white shirts were alert enough to cover.

But there was no cover when Merson's first-time touch inside Nelson found it's target in Fryatt who netted.

Not for the first time this season everything was there apart from a goal.