Nearly eight years after Ronnie Moore led Hartlepool United to a great escape to stave off relegation from League Two, could John Askey’s class of 2023 be about to do the same?
Pools are currently two points adrift of safety with seven games remaining and are currently enjoying their longest unbeaten run of the season, now standing at six games. When the club appointed former York City manager John Askey in February, they were a point above the relegation places but had played four more games than 22nd placed Crawley Town.
Askey has made the team hard to beat, gaining 5 draws from his first 5 games and had to wait until April Fool’s Day to gain the first 3 points of his reign with a home win against Swindon Town. Those 3 points have moved Untied to within two points of Crawley Town, having been 5 points adrift at the start of the game, and to within a win of catching Colchester United.
We keep 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. We keep 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴.
Hartlepool United Football Club 🫶#NeverSayDie pic.twitter.com/y2jPS6ywo9
— Hartlepool United FC (@Official_HUFC) April 1, 2023
Since the change of management at Victoria Park, rivals Crawley have played 10 matches, losing the first 4 and allowing Hartlepool back into the survival race before a run of just 1 defeat in the last 6. The form of these two sides has meant that Colchester United and Harrogate Town are still not safe, particularly with the form they are in, winning only once and twice respectively in their last 10 games.
Hartlepool face 4 of the top 10 in their remaining 7 fixtures as well as the crunch clash with Crawley on April 22nd, with Crawley themselves preparing for play-off chasing Bradford City and two huge games in four days against Pools and Colchester United. Above them, Colchester have 3rd placed Stevenage next before facing Crawley on April 18th and end their season at home to play-off chasing Mansfield Town. Harrogate have one game more to play and will be hoping to pick up enough to secure safety before they face bottom side Rochdale on the last day of the season.
Hartlepool United have, of course, been in this position before when they appointed Ronnie Moore as manager on December 16th 2014 as they sat 6 points adrift at the foot of League Two. Moore was the fourth manager in the Pool’s dugout that season and he somehow managed to guide the club to safety with a 2-1 victory over Exeter City on the final day of the 2014/15 season.
On this day in 2015 Pools beat Exeter 2-1 to complete the most incredible 'Great Escape' – what a day at The Vic! pic.twitter.com/d5qdRuyvXJ
— Hartlepool United FC (@Official_HUFC) April 25, 2016
Writer’s View
Both Hartlepool and Crawley are showing signs of being difficult to beat and giving themselves the best chance of escaping the drop. Before Askey’s appointment, it would have been easy to say that Hartlepool would be joining Rochdale in the National League next season with the 4 games that Crawley had in hand. However, three of the four clubs mentioned are now level on games and if I was Colchester, I would be looking rather worriedly over my shoulder at the two chasing me.
