Hartlepool United's capitulation as defensive concerns reach crisis: Key takeaways from Oxford City loss

Hartlepool had twice taken the lead at Marsh Lane and looked in control for the best part of an hour before a seven minute blitz from the home side flipped the game on its head and led to a concerning final 30 minutes.

Joe Grey and Callum Cooke each grabbed their second goals of the season only for the home side to peg Pools back through Olly Sanderson and Canice Carroll’s equalisers.

But Carroll’s goal was swiftly followed by Josh Ashby giving the Hoops the lead within seconds of the restart before Pierre Fonkeu added a fourth soon after.

Fonkeu was credited with a second, and Oxford’s fifth, in the closing stages of the game as Hartlepool were left dazed and confused in the blistering Oxfordshire heat.

And here are some of the key takeaways from a forgetful afternoon in Marston.

Hartlepool United’s second half capitulation

Sometimes it can be hard to find the words to summarise a particular performance but Askey’s use of the term ‘capitulation’ perfectly encapsulates what happened to Hartlepool.

Having taken the lead after a bright start, and then restored it with Cooke’s wonderful strike heading into half-time, Pools ought to have been in a position whereby they could have kicked on and taken the game away from Oxford.

For about an hour, Hartlepool moved the home side around quite well and forced them to chase in the extremely taxing heat.

Yet despite their control in possession Pools pressed the self-destruct button and found themselves not only behind, but pretty much out of the game.

“It’s a poor second half performance,” said Askey.

“The first half we were in control and should have been two or three up and then when the third goal went in we capitulated, which is very disappointing.

“We were camped in their half, we played balls forward, we were getting midfield players on the edge of the box and moving the ball quickly.

"Second half we were content with just passing backwards and sideways and never really went forward. They broke on us with what led to their second goal and we couldn’t deal with a set piece again.

“You think we’d regroup and then we go and make a mistake for the third goal and then Mani [Onariase] slips over for the fourth goal and the game has virtually gone.

“But the reaction from the players wasn’t good enough. There was a lack of commitment for the last 20 or 30 minutes which we can’t have. So they need to have a look at themselves and whether they did enough.”

There was still time for Oxford to add a fifth as Pools looked absolutely beaten.

It was a worrying collapse. To see the focus and the energy and anything else positive just get sucked out of the players, so quickly, will do little to help Askey, and supporters, that further reinforcements will be needed over the coming weeks.

And therein lies another problem that Askey got little response from those who did come off the bench with Oliver Finney then the unfortunate one to suffer the indignity of being subbed as a substitute.

What looked like it may have been a really positive afternoon for Hartlepool, to keep their momentum going, transpired into a nightmare.

Hartlepool’s defensive crisis

Hartlepool's defensive concerns are no longer that as we have entered crisis territory.

Hartlepool’s defensive record for over 12 months now has been nothing short of shocking and it’s something Askey has been unable to rectify in over 20 games in charge.

Not since early February have the club been able to keep a clean sheet with Pools now holders of the third worst defensive record in the National League this season through the first eight games.

Under Askey, Pools have conceded 36 goals in 21 games – they have conceded two or more in nine of those games. It means they are having to score multiple times just to put themselves within a chance of taking a point in a quarter of their games. It’s unsustainable if Hartlepool are to challenge this season.

Askey continues to hit his head against the wall when it comes to Hartlepool’s defence but, at some point, something has to give.

“We’ve talked about it since the start of the season. We’ve got to improve on set pieces,” said Askey.

“We talk and talk and we’ve worked on that more than anything else during the season but we still can’t score at one end and we can’t keep a clean sheet at the other end from set pieces.

“There’s only so much you can do and then you’ve got to start looking at the personnel.”

You can forgive a mistake from time-to-time, such as Emmanuel Onariase’s slip, and even Luke Hendrie’s lack of judgement when trying to dribble out from the back, to a much-lesser extent, but continuously not being able to pick up opposition players from set pieces and crosses into the box, or being unable to react to the second phases of set pieces, has reached its crossroads.

Askey was forced into shuffling his defence against Wealdstone, with David Ferguson preferred as a third centre-back as opposed to both Edon Pruti and Kieran Burton, with Brody Paterson operating at wing-back.

And Askey stuck with that approach against Oxford despite Alex Lacey’s return to the squad.

“Alex had not trained properly,” said Askey.

“I probably would have brought him on if it had been late on and we were winning the game because Alex can play on the right side, in the centre and on the left. It was just that he wasn't fit enough to start.”

Kieran Wallace impact

It’s been a little bit of a stop-start nature to Kieran Wallace’s Hartlepool career with the midfielder missing the majority of pre-season due to a broken toe before picking up one or two knocks in the games he has featured in since his return.

Wallace was deemed fit enough to start at Marsh Lane in the deep-lying midfield role and went about his business quite well in ticking Hartlepool over as they controlled possession inside the Oxford half.

You could argue the game changed when Wallace was surprisingly taken off after half-an-hour. Despite not appearing to be injured, Wallace was withdrawn shortly after the impromptu drinks break and it upset Hartlepool’s rhythm, as the home side levelled.

Askey confirmed Wallace had been dealing with an illness and was unable to continue – the heat unlikely to have been contributing to Wallace’s cause – as Finney came on in his place.

That left Hartlepool without a more defensive-minded midfielder, with Tom Crawford tasked with dropping back in.

Ultimately, the midfield became too passive once Oxford got a grip of the game in the second half, something which may not have been so free will had Wallace remained on the field, although Askey was keen to downplay the impact of losing Wallace.

“It didn’t help because Kieran is defensively-minded where Tom is a little more forward-thinking,” said Askey.

“But that had nothing to do with what happened in the second half. It would have helped with Kieran playing, but the goals we conceded were poor.”