Graham Turner's thoughts after the 1-1 draw with Hartlepool
By Matt Johnson
Graham Turner felt Town’s dominance in the final stages deserved to seal three points instead of just the one in the 1-1 draw with bottom-feeders Hartlepool at the Greenhous Meadow.
Jon Taylor had looked to put Town on their way to victory, but an equaliser just after half-time rejuvenated the visitors to hold out. Pools have lost 17 of their 26 league games this season, but none to Town after the 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture in September.
“I thought we did enough in the last 15 minutes to have won it,” said Turner. “I thought we had a tremendous finish to the game. We were unlucky as there was two outstanding saves from the keeper and we hit the underside of the bar and that’s all that stopped us taking all three points.
“But before that, for some unknown reason, when we’re on a run like we’re on, I couldn’t understand why we were so cautious and the amount of times we gave the ball away was worrying.
“What you haven’t got to do is underestimate Hartlepool. They went to Sheffield United and won, they were very close at MK Dons, so all along we warned people that it wasn’t going to be easy and they had too much of the ball.”
Jon Taylor continued his impressive form with his sixth goal of the season and after praising his winger, Turner confirmed that he expects his player to remain at the Greenhous Meadow come the end of January.
“He’s been a threat down the right, he’s finished up front and been equally effective up there, so he’s having a good spell at the moment and he’s got to keep that going for us.
“I think if there had been interest in him transfer-wise then there would’ve already been some enquiries. We’re halfway into January now and there’s been nothing so I don’t expect Jon to move on. He’s playing well for us and I had a chat with him a week or so ago and he’s quite happy with things – he doesn’t want to be going anywhere.”
Despite failing to beat the league’s bottom side, the result does maintain Town’s eight game unbeaten run and Turner is keen to draw on those positives heading into the next set of fixtures.
“There’s two ways of looking at it. If you can’t win, don’t lose. It’s another point and it’s just one defeat in 11 now, which is a decent record.
“We’ve got to do our own thing now and you talk about positives – we’ve kept that unbeaten run going and I think that’s important psychologically. It does the players a power of good not to get defeat on the sheet.”