Coyle takes positives from cup win

26 August 2009 08:52
Steven Fletcher came off the bench to plunder a late double and hand the visitors an extra-time victory at Victoria Park and book their place in the third round of a competition in which they reached the semi-finals last season. Fletcher's heroics came with Pools just six minutes away from doing to Burnley what they did to West Brom at the same stage 12 months ago. Coyle said: "The two finishes were top-class finishes, but having said that, in the first 15 minutes, we had two or three great goalscoring opportunities and never took them. "All credit to Hartlepool, it was a really spirited performance. They showed their quality on the night and scored a very good goal from their first real attack of the half, but they finished it really well. "All of a sudden, you are one down and you still want to get through. We had chances and never took them, so we freshened it up a little bit and got the reaction we were looking for. "We scored two very good goals, could have had others - Robbie Blake would have been a candidate for goal of the season just before the stroke of full time when he beat four or five men. "There were an awful lot of positives for us, but equally there will be a lot of positives for Hartlepool." Pools took the lead six minutes before the break when Adam Boyd, whose extra-time winner at Coventry in the last round had earned them their clash with Burnley, turned Andy Monkhouse's cross past keeper Diego Penny. They remained in front until six minutes from the end of normal time when Fletcher, one of three substitutes introduced with 61 minutes gone as Coyle looked for a way back into the game, thumped home the equaliser in the nick of time. Another newcomer, Blake, might have snatched victory in injury time, and although Pools substitute Colin Larkin hit the bar two minutes into extra-time, Fletcher headed home the winner with 108 minutes gone despite defender Richard Eckersley's dismissal for a second bookable offence. Coyle, who rested 10 members of his strongest team ahead of Saturday's trip to Chelsea, said: "It was a tough night, there's no getting away from that. "Having got in front and looking comfortable and looking to add to that, Burnley being Burnley, there's always a bit of drama and we were down to 10 men. "But ultimately, we showed our quality." Pools director of sport Chris Turner was left to reflect upon what might have been, but was delighted with the commitment and quality shown by his players, who are yet to win at home in three attempts this season. He said: "We probably created more chances than them, more goalmouth skirmishes. "It's a bit of a hard luck story, but just the way the lads played is what I am interested in, and if they play like that in our division at home, not many teams will beat us here." Meanwhile, Turner confirmed that the club has completed the signing of 6ft 5in Iceland striker Armann Bjornsson ahead of Saturday's league clash with Norwich.

Source: Team_Talk