Perhaps a welcome break from league football as Hartlepool United & Harrogate Town face off to decide who makes it to next stage of the EFL Trophy. All the pre-match information is available here!
There’s little time for restitution or working hard at the training pitch these days, with both teams having played their last game less than four days ago.
Hartlepool United form and stats
Last season, Hartlepool United's EFL Trophy journey ended in the semi-finals.Hartlepool United have played three League Two home games so far, perhaps enough to set expectations for the season. In that case, only 2 points from these matches could be a signal of rough times ahead.
Hartlepool United are hoping to put things right at home after a defeat in their previous match, the score 2-4 away versus Leyton Orient. As you can tell by the result above, the goals flowed freely in the previous game and the stadium rocked. Could there be another goal fest today? Attacking player Umerah bested all teammates in that fixture and received a match rating of 8.14 out of 10. Umerah scored one goal, served one assist and hit one key pass.
Before that game, the home loss against Bradford City with the scoreline 1-3.This is expected to be a close game, with Hartlepool United perhaps considered small favourites due to their home advantage. Looking back at earlier matches similar to this one (expected to be close with Hartlepool United as a small favourite), we find 16 games. Hartlepool United has won 8 of these, drawn 6 and lost 2.
The manager Hartley will start preparations for the next game as soon this is finished, as the hosts are going to Colchester United in only four days.
The lack of attacking qualities in Hartlepool means that they have only scored 1 goal in 3 league home games, less than half a goal per match.
Harrogate Town form and stats
Harrogate Town's mission in EFL Trophy last season failed in the quarter-finals.Things could have gone better for Harrogate Town in their League Two away matches, but 3 points from 3 games is all right.
The attacking players of Harrogate have been feeble for some time now, the team not scoring a league goal in the last 184 minutes.
Harrogate Town's previous game was their home loss versus Newport County (0-4). Harrogate lost the plot completely in their previous game, as mentioned above. They need to recover quickly from that 0-4 beating and focus on this one. Austerfield got a match rating of 7.12 in that game, top player of the team. Austerfield hit one key pass, dribled past the opponent 2 of 2 times and had 82 successful passes (of 99 total).
Preceding that game, the 0-1 loss visiting Barrow's place.So, this is expected to be a close game, an even contest. Looking at earlier matches with Harrogate Town playing away and similar expectations, we found 12 relevant matches. Results were 5 Harrogate Town wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats.
Harrogate Town have another match away in just four nights, a League Two fixture vs Sutton United. A hard fixture list for the visitors!
The visitors have scored 2 goals from 3 away games in the league, an average of less than one per game. As opposed to that, Harrogate Town have seen the ball go into their own net 4 times on the road.
Head 2 Head
Head-2-head stats last seven meetings: two - one - four (Hartlepool wins - draws - Harrogate Town wins). As for goals, six matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), one had two or less.
Top Goalscorers
  J. Umerah 2 goals |  A. Pattison 2 goals |  M. Daly 2 goals |
Hartlepool United missing players
Harrogate Town missing players
| Hartlepool United | Harrogate Town | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 13 | Played | P | 10 | 25 | ||
| 3 | 0 | Won | W | 4 | 7 | ||
| 8 | 6 | Drew | D | 0 | 3 | ||
| 14 | 7 | Lost | L | 6 | 15 | ||
| 23 | 5 | Scored | S | 11 | 24 | ||
| 42 | 18 | Conceded | C | 16 | 42 | ||
| 88% | 77% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 96% | ||
| 80% | 62% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 90% | 84% | ||
| 44% | 23% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 60% | 60% | ||
| 28% | 15% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 20% | 20% | ||
| 12% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 4% | ||
| 40% | 31% | BTTS | BTTS | 20% | 28% | ||
| 20% | 23% | Clean Sheets | C S | 20% | 24% | ||
| 52% | 69% | Failed to Score | F T | 60% | 52% | ||
| 4.2 | 4.8 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3 | 4.5 | ||
| 4.8 | 5.2 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 6.4 | 5.2 | ||
| 1.3 | 0.9 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.8 | 1.2 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 1 | ||
| 9 | 8.8 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 9.6 | 11.1 | ||
| 2.1 | 2 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3 | 3.5 | ||
| 30% | 17% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 30% | 25% | ||
| 13.5 | 12.7 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 13 | 11.2 | ||
| 4.9 | 3.9 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.2 | 4.2 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Everton U21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Harrogate Town | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Hartlepool United | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Morecambe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Leyton Orient | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 16 |
| 2 | Barrow | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| 3 | Doncaster Rovers | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| 4 | Salford City | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| 5 | Stevenage | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| 6 | Northampton Town | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| 7 | Crewe Alexandra | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 11 |
| 8 | Mansfield Town | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 9 | Walsall | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 10 | Bradford City | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| 11 | Carlisle United | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 12 | AFC Wimbledon | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 8 |
| 13 | Sutton United | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| 14 | Grimsby Town | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| 15 | Tranmere Rovers | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 16 | Newport County | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 17 | Swindon Town | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 |
| 18 | Harrogate Town | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -3 | 7 |
| 19 | Stockport County | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 4 |
| 20 | Colchester United | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 | -5 | 4 |
| 21 | Gillingham | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -7 | 4 |
| 22 | Crawley Town | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -5 | 2 |
| 23 | Hartlepool United | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | -9 | 2 |
| 24 | Rochdale | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -7 | 1 |
