Perhaps Hartlepool United’s late, late 4-3 defeat at Boreham Wood was a cocktail of the two?
Pools trailed 2-0 and then led 3-2, before conceding twice late in the day at Meadow Park, where the champions-elect snatched an injury-time winner.through Matt Rush.
For the second time in a week, Pete Wild’s team were unable to hold on to a lead at the home of a promotion hopeful.
Firstly, they lost 3-1 at Fylde, where Pools took a third-minute lead through Will Harris’s clinical finish after being teed up by Max Clark.
Fylde won it with three goals in the last 13 minutes through Luke McCormick, Millar Matthews-Lewis and fellow sub Jack Morris.
Pete Wild promised that Pools would go “toe-to-toe” with Boreham Wood at the weekend and the head coach was true to his word, even if they had been totally outplayed in the opening 45 minutes which ended with the leaders 2-0 up.
Goals early in the second half by Max Kouogun and Cole Deeming levelled matters before Jamie Miley’s audacious long-range beauty put Pools in front and in dreamland.
Sadly, Zak Brunt levelled matters in the 87th minute before Rush finished sharply in the third minute of added time to break away hearts.
It was a result which saw Pools drop back into the National League drop zone.
Life must say Pools ARE improving under Wild, despite their position in the table.
It is difficult to pin the 1-0 defeat on the 42-year-old, given he’d only been introduced to the players 24 hours earlier.
But since then, Pools beat Forest Green and Hornchurch to clinch back-to-back league wins for the first time since August and while they went down late to Fylde and Boreham Wood, they have found where the opposition net is.
Having scored only eight in the first dozen games, Pools have bagged 10 goals in the last four and are no longer the NL’s lowest scorers.
There has been a noticeable improvement but until Wild can find a way of getting an extended performance from his squad then Pools will remain at the wrong end of the table.
Pools have looked incredible in 20-minute bursts.
Look at the purple patch just before and after the break at Forest Green, the do-or-die assault to beat Hornchurch and Saturday’s stunning second-half goal spree at Boreham Wood.
While Life would not be daft to suggest that a 90-minute display of perfection is possible, this is Pools after all, not PSG, or Barca, or Arsenal, but they have to be able to play for longer.
It might well come. Wild has repeatedly said that it would take eight to 12 weeks for the transformation to his way to take full effect.
But it simply has to come. While all these wonderful moments of magic deserve reward, those rewards must be earned.
Wild was, justifiably, proud with what he saw, if devastated that they left empty handed.
“The message at half-time was get at them,” he said in his post-mach interview with BBC Tees. “Get in their faces especially in that middle area, go and see what they’ve got and they did that for 20 minutes and got ourselves 3-2 ahead.
“As they game goes on, they put lots of pressure on us and it was gutting to concede at the end. In terms of effort, desire, game-plan, it’s all moving in the right direction.”
Despite an early sight of the Wood area, the first half would belong to the hosts.
Boreham Wood are top for a reason. They have talent throughout their side with all players both comfortable and capable on the ball.
But it has to be said, they had luck on their side when they went in front on 20 minutes after two home players went down in the area following a free-kick delivery.
It was impossible to determine which challenge referee Daniel Blades penalised but he pointed to the spot from where Danny Cashman cooly slotted into Max Merrick’s net.
Pools looked like getting to the interval level, but Tom White decided otherwise in stoppage time. The midfielder, who played 10 times in Pools’ promotion season in 2021, jinked past two away players before finding Merrick’s left-cormer with a low left-foot finish.
After the break, Pools were transformed.
They pulled one back in the 47th minute when Kouogun headed Jack Nolan’s right-winger corner into keeper Ted Curd’s left-hand corner.
Pools were level inside five minutes. Deeming seized on defender Chris Bush’s iffy touch to advance on goal and beat Curd from the edge of the box for his first goal for the club.
If those two finishes were a joy to see, the third goal on 59 minutes sent the away fans behind Curd’s goal into ecstasy.
Wood were again guilty of conceding possession and Miley, almost 50 yards from goal, spotted the on-loan Chelsea keeper ever so slightly off his line and beat him with an amazing piece of skill and vision
Nathan Sheron brought a good save from Curd after fine work by subs Hugill and Popov as Pools chased a fourth, but as the clock ticked it looked more a case of could the men in black hold out?
Given the quality of Wood, it was always going to be a big ask. First, Regan Booty’s brilliant ball picked out Ollie Bainbridge’s run and his pull-back was converted by Brunt from eight yards. And in stoppage time, a superbly-executed nine-pass home move was finished by Rush’s left-foot.
There was time for Pools to go to the other end, but sub Jack Hunter’s header from Nolan’s corner flashed wide.
Boreham Wood: Curd; Golden, O’Connell, Bush, Bainbridge; Booty (Wright 90+7), White; Cashman, Brunt (Clarke 90+7), Allarakhia (Marshall-Miranda 90+7); Bird (Rush 68). Subs (not used): Kensdale
Goals: Cashman 20 pen, White 45+1, Brunt 87, Rush 90+3
Booked: Deeming 18, Nolan 37
Pools: Merrick; Kouogun, McNally, Lavelle; Clark, Miley, Sheron, Deeming (Hunter 78, Nolan, Ilunga (Charman 64, Popov 74); Harris (Hugill 78). Subs (not used): Fisher, Gibson, Penprase
Goals: Kouogun 47, Deeming 52, Miley 59
Booked: Deeming 18, Nolan 37
Referee: Daniel Blades Att: 1,268
Author: Roy
Author of Sports Life and all sports articles.