SEASON 1997-1998

HARTLEPOOL UTD

1: A) Hartlepool UTD 1-0 Bradford City
2: A) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Leyton Orient
3: H) Hartlepool UTD 1-0 Brentford
4: A) Hartlepool UTD 5-0 Bury
5: H) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Notts County
6: H) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Bristol City
7: A) Hartlepool UTD 0-0 Newcastle United - League cup Rnd2 Leg1
8: H) Hartlepool UTD 6-0 Flamurtari Vlore - ECWC Rnd 1 Leg 1
9: A) Hartlepool UTD 4-0 Chester City
10: H) Hartlepool UTD 4-0 Luton Town
11: A) Hartlepool UTD 4-0 Crewe Alexandra
12: H) Hartlepool UTD 5-0 Newcastle United - League Cup Rnd 2 Leg 2
13: H) Hartlepool UTD 3-1 Grimsby Town
14: A) Hartlepool UTD 1-1 Barnsley
15: A) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Flamurtari Vlore - ECWC Rnd 1 leg 2
16: H) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 York City
17: A) Hartlepool UTD 1-0 West Bromwich - League cup rnd 3
18: A) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Wrexham (thrown.hil)
19: H) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Wycombe Wanderers
20: A) Hartlepool UTD 4-1 Shrewsbury Town
21: H) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Blackpool
22: H) Hartlepool UTD 1-1 Benfica - ECWC Rnd 2 Leg 1
23: A) Hartlepool UTD 6-0 Watford
24: H) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Southend United
25: A) Hartlepool UTD 3-1 Coventry City - League cup rnd 4
26: A) Hartlepool UTD 3-1 Bournemouth
27: H) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Peterborough UTD
28: A) Hartlepool UTD 4-0 Bristol Rovers
29: A) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Benfica - ECWC Rnd 2 leg 2
30: H) Hartlepool UTD 4-0 Hull City
31: A) Hartlepool UTD 5-0 Plymouth Argyle
32: H) Hartlepool UTD 4-0 Bradford City
33: H) Hartlepool UTD 1-3 Manchester UTD - League Cup Q-F
34: H) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Leyton Orient
35: A) Hartlepool UTD 2-1 Brentford
36: A) Hartlepool UTD 1-0 Bolton Wanderers - FA Cup Rnd 3
37: H) Hartlepool UTD 1-0 Heerenveen - ECWC Q-F Leg 1
38: H) Hartlepool UTD 1-0 Bury
39: A) Hartlepool UTD 4-0 Notts County
40: A) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Bristol City
41: H) Hartlepool UTD 4-1 Chester City
42: H) Hartlepool UTD 1-1 Middlesborough - FA Cup Rnd 4
43: A) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Luton Town
44: A) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Heerenveen - ECWC Q-F Leg 2
45: H) Hartlepool UTD 1-0 Crewe Alexandra
46: A) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Middlesborough - FA Cup Rnd 4 Replay
47: A) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Grimsby Town
48: H) Hartlepool UTD 4-0 Barnsley
49: H) Hartlepool UTD 2-1 Newcastle United - FA cup Rnd 5 (I've beat them before so I did it again!)
50: A) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 York City
51: H) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Wrexham
52: A) Hartlepool UTD 0-0 AC Milan - ECWC S-F Leg 1
53: A) Hartlepool UTD 7-0 Wycombe Wanderers (Mclob.hil - 4-0, a powerful lob from McDonald, a great performance all round)
54: H) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Shrewsbury Town
55: A) Hartlepool UTD 1-0 Norwich City - FA Cup Q-F
56: A) Hartlepool UTD 4-1 Blackpool
57: H) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Watford (halligoal.hil - a bombastic shot from the main man Steve Halliday, goal for 1-0)
58: A) Hartlepool UTD 1-0 Southend United
59: H) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 AC Milan - ECWC S-F Leg 2 (Acmilout.hil - Stiiioriiike, Milan r out of here.  What a brilliant game, the second goal was admirable, the third was laughable.  What ever happened to that great side.)
60: H) Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Bournemouth (shitreff.hil - a ridiculous decision by the ref to send off Steve Howard)
61:     Hartlepool UTD 3-0 Chelsea - FA Cup S-F (byeblues - see ya later Chelsea, they were no problem at all)
62: A) Hartlepool UTD 7-0 Peterborough UTD
63: H) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Bristol Rovers (badfoul.hil - a hideous challenge by a brisol city midfielder, he just waits there and then charges in to chop my player down)
64: A) Hartlepool UTD 2-0 Hull City (knowles6.hil - check this out for a great lob from Darren Knowles, 2-0)
65: H) Hartlepool UTD 6-0 Plymouth Argyle
66:     Hartlepool UTD 2-1 Liverpool - FA Cup Final (impresiv.hil - A great FA cup final to remember, an excellent match with 3 impressive goals, there was only going to be one winner though!)
67:     Hartlepool UTD 3-1 Espanyol - ECWC Final (ecwcwin.hil - Not the best of Espanyol sides, but a chance for Hartlepool's first European trophy.   And what a way to start with a cool string of passes before a spectacular diving header.  I made it 2-0, then 3-0 and they only got one back.  So what a stylish way to end my best season yet!)

PL 67; W 61; D 5; L 1; F 186; A 16;

Players/goals

Steven Pears 0
Stuart Ingram 0
Micheal Barron 0
Glen Davies 0
Mark Devine 0
Chris McDonald 5
Mark Cooper 0
Darren Watkiss 0
Steve Halliday 17
Craig Nelson 84
Darren Knowles 68
Sean McAuley 0
Mick Tair 0
Steve Howard 10
Leo Gerrard 2
Keith Houchen 0
Chris Beech 0
Joe Allon 0
Graeme Lee 0
Ian McGuckin 0
Stuart Johnson 0
Gary Bjornebye 0
Muzzy Doncel 0
Junihno 0
Steve Jones 0
Paul Lomas 0

£ Seasons Buy/Sell £

Juninho --> Hartlepool UTD from trialist
Leo Gerrard --> Hartlepool UTD from trialist

+ Long term injuries +

none

Competitions won:-

English Division 2
FA Cup
European Cup-Winners Cup

Comments: The most spectacular, giant-slaying, unpredictable season ever.  I am very proud of winning three competition again, and having succes in Europe.  Not my first attempt at Europe whilst playing in division two, but some of my best performances came in the Cup-winners cup.  Beating AC Milan, the best team in SWOS 96/97 was a great match, and I beat other good teams like Benfica and Espanyol.  And there were some great FA cup wins - Newcastle, Chelsea and then Liverpool in the final, all recieving a thumping.

Again this season I scored masses of goals for a crap team.   I admit that having two great trial player helped but 186 is a lot of goals, and some league teams got smashed.  And you can't forget that only 16 goals were conceeded which isn't bad.