Harrison red leads to Ronnie rampage
STRAIGHT-TALKING Ronnie Moore isn’t one to mince his words – and the Hartlepool United boss labelled his players a disgrace as they fell to another home defeat.
Pools have not won at Victoria Park since August 18 – and the manager was fuming after losing to Crawley Town.
It was Hartlepool’s first-half display which particularly irked Moore, but he was also left seething at the manner in which Scott Harrison was red-carded for handball on the goal-line on 65 minutes.
The centre-half turned away as a shot from Gwion Edwards was drilled at goal, but referee Mark Haywood instantly dished out a red card.
Simon Walton, a former Pools midfielder, put Crawley in front from the resulting penalty.
It was two when Rhys Murphy tapped in his third goal in as many games, set up by the lively Edwards.
Billy Paytner’s 80th minute header gave Pools some late hope, but they suffered a fourth home loss from eight outings this season.
Moore fumed: “It’s disappointing, massively disappointing.
“We have given a side below us a 45-minute start and how we got in at 0-0 at half-time was a miracle.
“The first 45 minutes, for me, as professional footballers were a disgrace.
“It’s more annoying for me that a set of footballers can put a performance in like that for 45 minutes.
“We are the home team – we have some great talkers, but not many actually do it.”
Of the red card, he said: “Trevor Carson makes a great save and the referee never even gave himself time to think – straight red.
“It looks harsh and I’d like him to have another look at it.
“It was a powder-puff performance.We stand by one or two players and out there I found out answers about certain people. I won’t fall into that trap again.” The first half was controlled by the visitors, but they didn’t have anything to show for their efforts and had to wait until the red card to take the lead.
But Crawley boss MarkYates was satisfied with the result – the perfect response to a 31 defeat at Morecambe on Tuesday night.
He said:“I felt we were in control for the majority of the game, we just didn’t have very good game management in the last ten minutes – that wasn’t our forte.
“I felt we dominated the first-half, really on top and we did everything but score.
“We did exactly what we wanted to do from the off and the message at half-time was to keep going and add goals.
“For the penalty, it’s a clear call as far as I’m concerned. The lad raised his arm on the line – as clear cut as I’ve seen.”