Sheriff earns his badge
YOU can't argue with results.
They are the five words – six if you count can't as two – that come into Kelly's small mind when he thinks of Hartlepool RFC.
This fat fool was not alone last summer in thinking that Howie Murray was badly done to when he was shown the door by Pool.
Murray was sacked having just led the club to promotion to Durham Northumberland Division Two.
His record was incredible, having won the basement league with 19 wins out of 20, scoring over a thousand points and conceding less than a hundred!
Murray was replaced as player-coach by Alan Brown, who last weekend led Pool to back-to-back promotions.
Brown, universally known as the Sheriff, had been the team's captain last season and this year has done the lot.
So it was fitting the 41-year-old scored the decisive try in Pool's 15-7 victory over Redcar at fortress Mayfield Park on Saturday.
The speed may have dropped below his old 100mph – when he was in his prime he could go faster than Lewis Hamilton.
But the old aggression and determination have not diminished and he has served Pool well since Old Boys pulled off something of a coup when they signed Brown and Ian "Funtime Frankie" Coulson from from Darlington after the National Three (North) club went belly up.
That they ran through Division Three created no seismic tremors, but to repeat the trick in the Second Division really is going some.
Of course they have not piled up the points they did 12 months ago, but two defeats from 20 fixtures and a promotion with three weeks of the season still left does indeed speak for itself.
Many of the Pool faithful will say that their club are merely back where they belong.
When Pool recorded a 27-26 win at Ashington to finish sixth in Division One in April 2004, they were on a high.
But then Pool suffered what can only be described as a Weston-Super (Mare for those who need it spelling out).
Coach Dave Stubbs retired for the 212th time in a career spanning 21 centuries since captaining Moses in the colts team.
Worse was to follow and over the next year or two, Old Boys didn't just lose some good players they virtually lost ALL their players to other clubs/ injury/ work/ retirement/ male modelling.
The departed included Dave Baldwin, Alex Best, Nick Donnelly, Andrew, Brian and Gareth Foreman, Neil and Shaun Howe, Peter Iveson, Andrew and Stuart Palmer, Michael Taylor and Andrew Wilson.
There have been a few years of pain since – but back-to-back promotions have put Pool back on the up. Great result Sheriff.
SEE Tuesday's Mail for full Kelly's Eye
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Weather for Hartlepool
Monday 13 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 5 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
