The player decided to dive after passing Roberts out stretched arms, did he touch him?
The Hartlepool player clearly had no confidence in his ability to score and now I thought we would be 1 down from a penalty and down to 10 men.
How can Ross give a penalty and not a red card? He was last man, the player was heading towards the goal. Another disgraceful moment of refereeing!
Up steps Gordon Strachans son Gavin, to put the ball to Roberts left, he dived full length and palmed the ball away. From that moment onwards we looked a better team.
Jones switched with Hart from the left wing to the right, this confused the hell out of Hartlepool. Jones broke down the wing, put in a great near post cross with his right foot and Leon Knight anticipated the cross and took the ball waist high and guided it into the net!
The relief was enormous and Knight celebrated over the advertising boards and earned yellow card number 9! After that we shut the door and Hartlepool struggled to create much, but they did break through once only for MOTM Roberts to block the shot.
In the last minute Knight broke free down the left, chipped over a delightful ball to Iwelumo and that was 2-0 and game over. Hartlepool just about had time to kick off before Ross blew the final whistle.
I though it was a good win against the side who had won 8 and drawn 7 away from home this season.
Roberts - 9 my MOTM, vital penalty save and another outstanding save to keep us 1-0 up late in the game
Harding - 7 solid display
El-Abd - 8 great game and a more natural right back than Virgo
Virgo - 8 replaced Cullip with great confidence
Butters - 7 solid, and marshalled the back 4 superbly
Oatway - 6 battled hard and led by example
Carpenter - 6 nearly repeated his goal at Sheff Wed, never gave up Hart - 5 in and out of the match, look dangerous at times
Jones - 8 pushed Roberts for my MOTM, great all round display Knight - 6 25 goals and people still moan! He is paid to score goals and win matches, something he is doing regularly
Iwelumo - 7 had some good possession and links up well with Leon. A match winning partnership is a starting to form and deserved his goal
I don't think we used a sub again (Kuipers, Lee, Mayo, McPhee, Piercey)
QPR are away at Tranmere on Tuesday or Wednesday. Bristol City visit Swindon on Saturday! We just need to win all our games and see if the others slip up!
Mark R