Southend United 3 Hartlepool United 2

Dec 13 2009 Sunday Sun

HARTLEPOOL dropped more points from a winning position, as they folded to defeat at Southend United.

Two goals to the good and coasting, a three-goal second-half burst turned the game on its head.

And for the sixth time this season, Pools turned a winning position into defeat.

It was the fourth defeat in five games and in each of those games they took the lead only to end up pointless.

It’s a habit which is curtailing their attempts to make inroads on the top 10. And one they have to shake off.

Boss Chris Turner admitted: “We were in front, but sometimes you have to be honest with yourself – and did we really deserve to be two goals up?

“It’s one of the most disappointing performances away from home this season. We were fortunate to be ahead.

“We didn’t have too many performances up to standard. We had a couple of strikes on goal – one an excellent one by Adam, one a deflected one by Andy.

“I said to the boys on the bench we had to see it out until half-time – they had a lot of pressure and we weren’t playing like we can play.

“At half-time we knew we had to keep them out, talking about not letting them back into it early on, but the goals we conceded were very poor.

“It gave them long enough to chase a winner, which they eventually got.”

Pools were without Neil Austin, the right-back forced out with a hamstring strain.

But they got off to a dream start when Adam Boyd nipped in to collect a loose touch 25 yards from goal and he turned to hook a stunning volley across keeper Steve Mildenhall into the net for his eighth of the season.

The front man was full of confidence and took down a high ball in style, beat two defenders and fired at the keeper from 25 yards.