Hartlepool in the race for third ahead of this weekend’s clash against Weymouth

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With Hartlepool’s place within the Vanarama National League play-offs already confirmed, the side based in County Durham must now aim for a third-place finish currently held by Stockport County.

The Pools have seen a dip in form in recent weeks, losing three of their last five fixtures, where previously they had gone 16 games unbeaten and with the side also losing their exemplary unbeaten home record of 13 games.

Dave Challinor’s side lost 4-2 to Maidenhead United in their last game at Victoria Park, Danny Elliott and Rhys Oates the goalscorers for the home side. The side instantly made up for this with a 3-1 win over Aldershot the weekend after, however, were succumbed to a 3-0 loss against National League champions Sutton United last Sunday.

Their opponents this weekend, Weymouth FC have only won four of their last 12 games. Scoring 14 and conceding 24 in this time means that Hartlepool fans can expect to see a potential goal-fest on their return to the Vic.

With the Pools also looking to get revenge over the last time the two sides played, it could spark that desire to win even further, with Weymouth winning the reverse fixture 1-0. Josh McQuoid was the scorer of Weymouth’s goal but the Northern Irishman has only scored twice since that game back in January.

This has meant that the Terras have looked towards 25-year-old Jake McCarthy and 21-year-old Andrew Dallas who have five and 11 goals respectively in the same amount of games. A total of 19 goals in 24 games between the three of them just shows how dangerous Weymouth can be on the attack.

In comparison to that looking at Hartlepool’s three key attackers, Luke Armstrong (seven goals), Rhys Oates (10 goals) and Gavan Holohan (five goals). The club’s three top goalscorers who in the same period have scored 22 in 24 games.

All three have torn apart the National League in recent months and have been pivotal to the promotion push that Hartlepool have ensued this season. With their place in the top seven now sealed, the race for third place is truly on.

For those who are new to watching the National League, this is how the play-offs work. The league leaders are promoted automatically, then second place to seventh go into the play-off picture. Second and third are given automatic spots in the play-off semi-finals. Fourth place play seventh place in Match B and fifth place faces sixth in Match A of the quarter-final stage to see which two will progress onto the semi-final.

Second place plays the winner of Match B, with third place playing the winner of Match A. Meaning that the way things currently are, Hartlepool sitting fourth could potentially have to play against seventh place before a match against Torquay United.

Whilst this is arguably easier than playing fifth or sixth, the spot for seventh place could be taken by five teams with Halifax Town in 10th place still in contention meaning that the time to plan for their potential opponents is lessened.

Whilst Hartlepool are still in with a chance of third place it looks unlikely. The Pools will have to rely on Stockport not beating 15th placed Yeovil Town to even be in with a chance of a third-place finish due to the major goal difference between the Pools and the Hatters.

With the potential of a return to EFL and with fans back at the Vic tomorrow, Hartlepool must show that they mean business ahead of the play-offs.

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