Hartlepool United verdict: The longest of seasons finally reaches its anti-climax at Stockport County

In the aftermath of Hartlepool United's 1-1 draw with Stockport County, Callum Cooke had described this season as the longest season he has ever known.

And it’s hard to disagree.

July 30 seems like a long, long time ago.

Defeat after defeat, manager after manager, staff after staff, player after player, and even a World Cup to contend with slapped in the middle of proceedings. It’s been gruelling.

And yet, I suppose, if you were to ask those associated with Leyton Orient, Stevenage and Northampton Town, the three who have secured their place in League One next season, it may feel a little different, such is the differing nature of football across the journey of a season.

That’s the thing with a relegation battle, especially one as painstakingly obvious as the one in which Hartlepool were submerged in from the get-go this year. It sucks the life out of you. It drains all kinds of emotions from you. It’s a slog on the field, in the stands, behind the scenes and even hovering above the keyboard.

The upward trajectory would always have plateaued at some stage for Hartlepool. But having enjoyed two seasons of uplifting moments and memories, through promotion and consolidation back in the Football League, Hartlepool haven’t just plateaued, they reached the cliff face and dove right off this season.

Across three different managers, Hartlepool have won just nine league games. Paul Hartley failed to register a single win from his nine in charge (zero per cent) before a decision was swiftly made to part company. Keith Curle managed six wins from 24 (25 per cent) while John Askey has brought three from 13 (23 per cent).

They are numbers which will only add up one way and spell the same thing: relegation.

It rendered things at Edgeley Park all a little bit meaningless, at least from a Hartlepool perspective.

There was the added hoopla surrounding Dave Challinor after a little more petrol was added to that supposed fire by chairman Raj Singh recently whilst Challinor himself had the small matter of automatic promotion to try and gain.

In that respect you must credit Hartlepool.

Although Northampton held up their end of the bargain in beating Tranmere Rovers, there will still be a nod of approval from those at Sixfields towards Askey and his side for how they maintained their integrity in grinding out a draw with Stockport after witnessing Scunthorpe United ship seven against Bristol Rovers a year ago to miss out on promotion by virtue of goals scored. Ouch.

Had Hartlepool held up their own end of the bargain in the weeks previous, particularly against Crawley Town, then there may have been similar drama with regards their survival mission at Edgeley Park, with Crawley away at Swindon Town.

Can you imagine if there was anything riding on that Ben Killip penalty save in second half stoppage time? If only.

As it was, albeit an heroic display from Killip, things were quite mundane for Hartlepool.

It felt as though there was an element of embarrassment from players at full-time as they stood and applauded those who made the trip to Greater Manchester in the pouring rain.

And yet supporters returned the favour in applauding their team, maybe for the final time for a lot of this group, who apologetically accepted their praise.

Askey reflected post-match of his sadness for those supporters and even for himself after admitting he felt confident he was going to be able to steer the club to safety.

Monday’s point with Stockport took Hartlepool to 43 for the season, a tally which Askey felt would have been enough to ensure their survival.

And it’s a tally which would have kept them up in four of the last nine seasons dating back to 2012-13, excluding the COVID-19 curtailed season.

As it is, they finished three points and three goals behind Crawley. It doesn’t take much adding up to recognise then just how pivotal that defeat to Crawley was recently.

“Ultimately we gave ourselves too much to do,” said Cooke.

“There was a lot of pressure on the Crawley game. You can ask loads of different questions and have loads of different theories as to what happened that day but, ultimately, we got beat and it was that game that sealed our fate.”

And the questions have been quite extensive since that defeat with Askey revealing dissension amongst certain members within the squad.

Even after the draw with Stockport, Askey still resembled someone deeply frustrated by what he feels has gone on behind the scenes in recent weeks.

The malaise has been set in at Hartlepool since the summer as a squad who had consolidated was ripped apart. But despite a slight upturn under Askey, recent weeks have shown how that malaise has continued.

It is a burden Askey is willing to carry with him into next season.

While there will be a little bit of soul searching to do over the coming days and weeks with the season now done, Askey's commitment to Hartlepool's rebuild is one of huge significance and one which, by the time we reach pre-season, he will be relishing.

As he stood on the Edgeley Park turf overlooking his squad, and recognising supporters, his thoughts were already transfixed on next season and how he can put his stamp on things and remove a number of unwanted players.

“It’s a difficult situation to be in,” he said.

“You go back in [at full-time] and you’re pleased with the way they performed but it’s still a little bit flat so we’ve just got to forget this season now and move onto the next one.”

It could be a long road back for Hartlepool. They only needed to have taken in their surroundings on Monday to realise just what can happen when things continuously fall short on and off the field with Stockport spending over 10 years in the wilderness, including a further relegation, prior to their return this season.

They are now a club on the up, guided, ironically, by the man who had seen Hartlepool back into the Football League.

It’s a funny thing about football. For when things are going well you never want it to end – Stockport’s journey will continue on for at least another two games.

Yet when things are going badly, the finish line can’t come soon enough and that has very much been the case for Hartlepool.

Mercifully, however, that time has now come as this season of abject failure has reached its anti-climax.