HARTLEPOOL United are set to play under permanently appointed manager Lennie Lawrence for the first time on Saturday in a grudge match against York City.
York will welcome Hartlepool to the LNER Community Stadium on Saturday, November 9 (12.30pm), looking to bounce back from a first defeat in over two months last weekend.
The Press spoke to Hartlepool Mail reporter Robert Stelling on what York can expect from Hartlepool at the weekend.
How has Hartlepool United’s season gone so far?
As so often following Hartlepool United, it didn’t take long for all the hope, optimism and excitement of the summer to evaporate once the new season got underway.
Pools made the contentious decision not to offer former Sunderland and England striker Kevin Phillips a new contract in April.
Phillips, who later alleged through his representatives that a two-year deal had been withdrawn, made a positive impression in his three months in charge of Pools, winning four of his first five games and steering the club well clear of relegation.
Pools wasted little time in announcing Darren Sarll as his replacement. The straight-talking former Stevenage, Yeovil and Woking boss could hardly have been more different from Phillips in terms of style and approach but arrived with a history of leading sides to the National League play-offs.
After a strong summer of recruitment - Pools strengthened in central-midfield, kept hold of their prize assets and signed League Two promotion-winner Adam Campbell from Crawley - Sarll and his new side secured seven points from their first three league games.
However, it didn’t take long for cracks to start to appear. Pools, who were often criticised for being too soft last season, picked up four red cards in their first 10 games, failed to score in almost seven hours of football at home and started to slide down the table.
Sarll fell out with the fanbase following a series of contentious comments in post-match interviews and it wasn’t long before supporters were calling for his head.
Sarll was sacked after Pools were dumped out of the FA Cup at the fourth qualifying round stage for only the second time in their history, having won just four times in 15 games.
Despite such a bitterly disappointing start to the campaign, there remains a sense that Pools have a decent squad and optimism is beginning to return under veteran caretaker manager Lennie Lawrence, who celebrates his 77th birthday next month.
Pools have taken five points from three games under the interim boss and produced their best performance of the season last time out when they beat Aldershot 2-0.
It’s been hard to remain hopeful during such a tumultuous start to the season, but perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel after all.
Who is Hartlepool’s player to watch out for against York?
Hartlepool United’s outstanding performer over the last couple of seasons has been talismanic frontman Mani Dieseruvwe.
The former Chesterfield, Salford and Grimsby striker arrived from Halifax in the summer of 2023 off the back of the most prolific campaign of his career, scoring 14 goals in West Yorkshire.
Pools fans were not quite sure what to expect from Dieseruvwe, who looked to have all the attributes and had twice won promotion from the National League but had spent most of his career as an impact substitute and did not have the most encouraging goalscoring record - at Chesterfield, he scored one goal in 29 games, at Salford he scored 17 in 72 while he failed to score in 12 games during a short stint at Tranmere.
However, then manager John Askey put a lot of faith in him and Pools have never looked back since.
He scored 25 goals in all competitions last season, including 23 in the National League, becoming just the fourth Pools player in the last 50 years to score 20 goals in a single league campaign.
He found things more difficult under Darren Sarll, who looked to use him as a traditional target man, and he scored twice in 11 matches before being dropped to the bench at the start of this season.
However, with Pools trailing 2-0 at home to Sutton, Sarll threw him on and he became the first ever Pools player to come off the bench and score a hat-trick in a remarkable 4-3 win that ended up saving the under pressure manager’s skin for a couple of weeks.
In truth, he looks to have benefitted from Sarll’s departure and has now scored six goals in his last five matches, including a brace last time out.
As well as Dieseruvwe, Pools can call on versatile attacker Joe Grey, who has made well over 100 appearances despite being just 21, Adam Campbell, who scored seven goals in 48 games as Crawley won the unlikeliest of promotions to League One last season, and Luke Charman, who has impressed since arriving from Fylde this summer.
In midfield, Nathan Sheron has probably been his side’s most consistent performer so far while 36-year-old Nicky Featherstone continues to keep Pools ticking over.
Watch out for former York full-back David Ferguson, who has a good footballing relationship with Dieseruvwe and can provide a threat from the left when he’s given the license to maraud forward.
How has Lennie Lawrence done in his interim position since Darren Sarll left the club?
Really well. Perhaps it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise - Lawrence is one of a select few managers to have taken charge of more than 1,000 games, spent almost a decade at Charlton and led Middlesbrough to the Premier League.
Even so, his last permanent role was as manager of Cardiff between 2002 and 2005 and so, although he took caretaker charge for around a month last season, there were question marks over whether he would still be as effective in the dugout 20 years later.
He hasn’t tried to reinvent the wheel but has looked to rebuild confidence within a talented squad while making alterations to the shape, pressing and style of football.
After snatching a point at Maidenhead, Pools showed signs of improvement during a 1-1 draw with Altrincham and then produced their best performance of the season during a dominant victory over Aldershot.
While it might be slightly premature, fans are already talking up their side’s prospects of a play-off push once again.
When he first took over, that seemed highly unlikely but he’s done such a good job that the sense is that most fans would be happy to see him continue.
How do Hartlepool tend to set up and in what style of play?
Under Sarll, Pools were one of the most direct sides in the National League but Lawrence has changed their approach in a bid to get more out of their technical and creative players.
Don’t expect tiki-taka football, but Pools will look to get the ball down when they can while sticking to a carefully rehearsed structure out of possession that, supporters will hope, should make them difficult to play through.
Lawrence has favoured a 4-2-3-1 with Leicester loanee Brad Young in goal, Dan Dodds, Billy Sass-Davies, Tom Parkes and David Ferguson making up the back four and Nathan Sheron and Nicky Featherstone sitting in front of them.
Expect Adam Campbell to line up in-behind Mani Dieseruvwe, with Joe Grey on the right and either Luke Charman or Roshaun Mathurin on the left.
What is your score prediction for the match?
Well, looking at the National League table, most Pools fans will approach this weekend’s game with at least a little bit of trepidation.
Perhaps travelling Poolies will take confidence from last season’s game, when Pools sprung a surprise to win 3-1.
That said, this season’s iteration of York are clearly a different beast and Pools will be expecting one of their toughest tests of the season.
I always try to be optimistic with my Hartlepool United hat on, so I’ll go for 2-2.
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