Former Hartlepool United attacker Jonathan Franks has his say on challenging festive fixtures
Former Hartlepool United attacker Jonathan Franks feels Boxing Day's visit of Scunthorpe is a more difficult fixture for Pools than their trip to National League leaders Rochdale on December 30.
Franks knows all about how challenging - and, of course, how memorable - playing in front of the home crowd at Victoria Park can be having made 149 appearances for Pools across two separate spells.
Having become renowned as such a fortress under Dave Challinor, Pools have found it difficult to pick up results at Victoria Park in recent years.
For all sorts of reasons, their home ground can be a difficult place to play, not least because fans, who have admittedly had to endure more than their fair share of strife and disappointment following Pools over the years, demand a certain level of performance and commitment and have never been too inclined towards patience.
While it's well worth remembering how good the atmosphere at Victoria Park can be - at its best, it ranks as among the loudest and most passionate in the country - fans waste little time in letting their displeasure be known when things aren't going well for their side.
This season, too, has seen attendances dwindle, with many supporters frustrated and concerned by the direction the club seems to be taking under chairman Raj Singh and choosing to spend their Saturdays elsewhere, meaning that, at times, Victoria Park has felt a little flat.
Even so, there is likely to be plenty to look forward to both in terms of atmosphere and attendance on Boxing Day when play-off chasing Scunthorpe are the visitors to the North East.
Having worked so hard to give themselves a fighting chance of finishing in the National League play-off places, Pools are heading into a potentially pivotal run of matches in the race for the top seven without a win in their last three games.
Given how the league is shaping up, there is a growing feeling that eighth-placed Pools can only realistically hope to reel in either Southend, who are seventh and just a point clear of Nicky Featherstone's side but with two games in hand, or Scunthorpe, who will arrive at Victoria Park with a nine-point cushion over their hosts.
Defeat on Friday would, in all likelihood, end Pools' hopes of overhauling sixth-placed Scunthorpe while also piling more pressure on their trip to leaders Rochdale on December 30, with Dale having won 16 of their 20 league games so far this term.
Yet the reverse is also true and Featherstone's side know that a win would move them, more or less, back within striking distance of the Iron ahead of their clash with a Rochdale side who have hugely popular former Pools frontman Mani Dieseruvwe leading their line.
While the festive fixtures look to be particularly challenging, Franks has backed Pools to have a successful Christmas period as they look to lay down a marker in the race for a coveted top seven spot.
"They are difficult games, but the National League is a very strange league and every game is difficult for all sorts of different reasons," the former Pools forward said.
"Scunthorpe's at home and out of the two games, I probably think that's the toughest.
"Hartlepool's home form is hit-and-miss, it can be a difficult place to play when you're not flying high. Hopefully, the crowd get behind them.
"Pools going to Rochdale, well they kind of do okay on the road.
"If they take a point off the leaders, that would be a really good result, but Scunthorpe feels like a different sort of proposition.
"I think Nicky (Featherstone) will hopefully be believing that they can go and get six points, but if they can come away with four points from the two games then they'd be delighted.
"Two tough games over the festive period, but these are the games you want to be playing in.
"No disrespect to some of the other teams lower down, but Hartlepool would much rather be playing Scunthorpe and Rochdale than going to somewhere like Wealdstone over the Christmas period.
"These are the types of games you want to be involved in as a football player, as coach, as a fan; you want to be going to these sorts of arenas and I think Nicky will be driving that message home."