Hartlepool United's 'worst' 45 minutes and Nicky Featherstone's swansong? Key takeaways from Rochdale defeat

It took less than three minutes before Cian Hayes gave the visitors the lead in a first half they completely dominated.

Jimmy Keohane added a second little after the half-hour mark before Ryan East made it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time.

There was still time in the first half for Nicky Featherstone to strike and give Pools somewhat of a lifeline heading into the break.

And John Askey’s side did produce a response, with Rochdale on the backfoot for much of the second half, before Emmanuel Dieseruvwe made things interesting in the final five minutes after heading his 11th goal of the season.

But Pools were unable to find that elusive equaliser as they slipped to a third consecutive defeat to drop into the bottom half of the National League table.

Here, The Mail considers some of the key takeaways from a game of two halves:

John Askey promised change but did we get it?

In the wake of their midweek defeat at Halifax, Askey referenced the idea he may need to change things up, with his players, seemingly, unable to carry out the instructions he has been asking of them over recent weeks and months.

And those changes came in the shape of personnel as opposed to the system, at least initially, with Askey making four to his starting line-up.

Joel Dixon returned in goal for the first time since August while Zak Johnson and Josh Umerah were back in the starting line-up and Matt Dolan was handed a first start of the season.

Dolan’s inclusion was one of particular interest given some of the desire to see him involved in the starting XI recently from supporters, with Dixon also holding some credit in the bank with Pete Jameson, too, having been unable to stem the tide of goals against with just one clean sheet in 11 league appearances.

Johnson’s return to the defence seemed natural after recovering from a groin injury while Umerah’s display from the bench at the Shay in the week offered encouragement.

But the changes simply did not have the desired effect.

Within three minutes of his return to the side, Dixon was picking the ball out of the back of his net having not particularly covered himself in glory in his attempt to deal with Hayes’ strike.

A direct ball into the channel saw Hayes clear of the Hartlepool defence only for Dixon to race a long way out to try and close the angle, but in doing so he inadvertently created a bigger angle for Hayes who simply had to prod the ball past Dixon and watch it bounce into an empty goal.

Dixon was then beaten by a scuffed effort from Keohane, who had the freedom of the penalty area to pick his spot, before East fired in from the edge of the area, another the former Sunderland youngster may want back – albeit that may be doing a little disservice to East’s effort.

Dixon wasn’t the only one of Askey’s changes to misfire with Umerah lasting little over five minutes before he was forced off with injury, whilst Dolan was brought off at half-time.

Alongside new signing Joe Mattock, Dolan ought to have brought more experience to Hartlepool’s defensive line but Rochdale caused them no end of problems before Askey moved Dolan into midfield to try and stem the flow and ease with which Rochdale were slicing through Pools.

Johnson, meanwhile, endured his most difficult afternoon since completing his loan switch from Sunderland with a complete lack of cohesion between the defensive trio of himself, Dolan and Mattock.

The young defender was given a tough test up against the experienced Ian Henderson, with Kairo Mitchell also impressing for the away side.

To his credit, the teenager steadied in the second half with this particular fixture likely to be a learning curve in his development.

But while, individually, the changes didn’t work for Askey, they also brought about a disjointed nature as Pools looked out of sync and unsure of what they were meant to be doing and where they were meant to be doing it.

At one point in the first half Joe Grey was retaining a holding midfield position while Featherstone was operating on the right of midfield.

It was a confusing approach, and one which Rochdale capitalised on from the onset as they took the game away from Hartlepool inside 45 minutes.

Hartlepool United’s ‘worst 45 minutes’

And those 45 minutes were ones to forget in every sense.

Askey labelled the first half as the worst he has seen and you’ll find few in the stands who will disagree with him.

Rochdale have followed a similar trajectory to Pools in 2023 having been relegated from the Football League and subsequently finding themselves languishing in mid-table in the National League. But Jim McNulty’s side were allowed to look a class above Pools in the first half.

Jesurun Uchegbulam, Kwaku Oduroh and Harvey Gilmour particularly impressed as they dragged Hartlepool out of position at will, enjoying the vast majority of possession inside the Pools half.

‘Destructive’ was the word used by McNulty, and if by that he meant it was quick, efficient, easy on the eye and effective, then he was right. Everything Hartlepool were not.

For whatever reason, Hartlepool simply could not get going, with their body language at 2-0 a particular concern.

But it wasn’t just defensively Pools continued to be out of sorts. From the front things were disjointed as Rochdale were able to bypass the high pressing efforts of Dieseruvwe, Tom Crawford and Grey with relative ease. It simply left them with too much to do.

Too little too late for Hartlepool United

There was a reaction from Askey's side in the second half – it really couldn’t have been worse.

Featherstone’s strike six minutes into first half stoppage time was enough to jolt them out of the daze they had found themselves in as they made the game much more of a contest after the break.

But although they enjoyed more possession and territory, Pools were still unable to really threaten Louie Moulden enough until Dieseruvwe’s astute header.

It led to a frantic finish, with Rochdale having gone from a cut above to demonstrating why they, too, are struggling, and one which almost yielded a dramatic finish.

And that one chance teams always seem to get when chasing a game in second half stoppage time fell to the one person Pools would have wanted it to fall to when David Ferguson’s sharp low cross beat Moulden at his near post to fall at the feet of Dieseruvwe a handful of yards from an empty goal.

With 11 already to his name in blue and white it seemed a formality. Only this time it wasn’t, as the ball trickled agonisingly under the striker’s foot.

“The one person you want it to fall to is Mani and he’s just completely missed the ball,” said Askey.

“He’s devastated. Of all the players. He’s in tears after the game but he shouldn’t be because he’s the one shining light we have.”

Was that Nicky Featherstone’s goodbye?

If this was the end for Featherstone then it was of mixed emotion.

The former Pools skipper scored a rare goal to help reinvigorate his side but, ultimately, ended up on the losing side.

Featherstone’s short-term return to the club is set to come to an end ahead of Hartlepool’s next game against Ebbsfleet with an extension yet to be agreed.

Askey has praised the midfielder since his return, with Featherstone featuring in all but two minutes of the six games he has been available for.

Featherstone’s stay feels as though it should be a straightforward one to negotiate, particularly given Askey’s shortage of numbers in that area of the field, and yet there remains an uncertainty.