By Nathan Jackson
May 9 2005

There are some teams blessed with luck and some who have none whatever and the latter is covered, probably by no-one better than Hartlepool United. Rob Weir gives us his thoughts ahead of his team's 5th playoff campaign in 6 seasons and will be hoping that unlike the other 4, they succeed.

First of all, having made the Playoffs five times in six years has
been a magnificent achievement for us; not too long ago we were in
danger of going out of the League completely, and now we're arguably
one of the strongest sides in the lower divisions.

However, as we've failed to win a game so far, I have to say that
we've found out that getting there is one thing and doing anything in
them is quite another! Luck can play a big part, and it's important to
remember that it's effectively Cup Football - underdogs can and do
win, and one bad decision or silly mistake can really cost you.

The first season we sneaked in on the last day of the season, and we
were delighted; we'd only just escaped relegation the year before, so
we'd have been happy to finish in mid-table. The fact that we'd got
Darlington, our local rivals, just added to the spice. Although we
lost over two legs, I think overall we weren't too disappointed -
after all, they ended up getting beat in the final and no-one had
given us a hope of getting through.

The next year was different. We were in the top positions all the way
through, and although we were obviously a little short of the
automatic places having finished 4th we thought we were well set up
for promotion. Arguably had it not been for the scandal at
Chesterfield being so leniently punished we'd have gone up anyway; and
in the Semi-final we had Blackpool. They had made it with a late run,
and we'd beaten them twice already. Sadly we under-performed, froze,
and were soundly beaten over two legs. This time it was a lot harder
to take.

The season after we were expecting to be there or thereabouts, but
were bottom in November before picking up and again making it on the
last day - we won all of our last five matches to pull it off with
victory at Exeter. Cheltenham were our opponents, and having drawn at
Pools in the first leg we wondered if we'd make it; the answer was no,
but the margin was tighter than ever. It went to penalties, and the
decisive miss came when Richie Humphreys saw his penalty hit the bar,
bounce down and hit the keeper - but stay out. Again, the
disappointment was tempered by the fact that we'd only just made it in
in any case - and we continued our good form to win through
automatically the following season. There was a huge sigh of relief!

Last season we again sneaked in on the last day and bad luck probably
cost us the tie with Bristol City. 2-1 up with just two minutes to
play was turned into a 3-2 defeat in added time; we hadn't put a
defender on the bench, and not one but two of ours had to go off and
we finished the game with 10 men after someone else hobbled off. The
players had done us proud, and that pretty much made up for the
disappointment this time.

This year we've been looking candidates all the way but again made it
on the last day in the end. I think a lot of us would at least like to
make the final at long last, but getting in on the last day usually
means playing the strongest side on paper so it's not going to be
easy. Fifth time lucky!?