Luke James could fire Hartlepool into the Play-Offs
Hartlepool’s Luke James has established himself as one of the most feared strikers in League 2 this season – not bad for a 19-year-old who had only scored a handful of goals in his career, prior to this campaign. James is quickly becoming Hartlepool United’s ‘poster boy’ and he opened the scoring yesterday in his sides 3-0 home win against Newport County. The result means that Hartlepool are now unbeaten in their last three league games; this run has seen them rise to eighth. James’ goal means that he has hit 12 for this season and, whilst James is the Pools biggest attacking threat, they do have other quality options in an attacking sense, such as Luke Williams, who has now scored two in his last two games – they are certainly a force to be reckoned with.
Exeter have halted the slide
It hasn’t been a happy 2014 so far for Exeter City – prior to yesterday’s game they hadn’t won a game since the turn of the year (losing three and drawing three), their last win coming in a 3-1 win against struggling Torquay on the 29th December 2013. It didn’t seem too far-fetched to say that they could have fallen into a relegation battle but Eliot Richard’s last gasp strike, in yesterday’s close match against Southend, has banished any fears of that. It took two goals in the last ten minutes, but Exeter gained their first win of the year yesterday, against promotion hopefuls Southend, and this result means that Paul Tisdale’s side will almost certainly be looking at the top end of the table rather than the bottom.
Morecambe could be in real danger
If Exeter’s poor run, before yesterday’s win, had their fans worried, Morecambe’s current run is likely to have left their fans 
extremely concerned. Morecambe’s last win came on Boxing Day, a 1-0 win over Fleetwood, and they have failed to pick up three points in the last seven games, a run which has seen them fall from 9th to 15th. Four of these seven games have ended in defeats for the Shrimpers, one of which was this weekend’s result – a 2-1 defeat to Rochdale, after they had led thanks to goals from Jack Redshaw. Things need to change quickly for Morecambe otherwise fears of being pulled into a relegation battle will intensify and perhaps even become reality.
York City fans will be delighted
Without a doubt the ‘result of the weekend’, so to speak, came from Home Park, where York City thrashed Plymouth 4-0. Wes Fletcher opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Ryan Bowman was brought down by Neal Trotman, before recent signing John McCombe scored either side of half-time and Josh Carson put the icing on the cake with a 90th minute goal, to send the York City fans home with their best away result of the season. Both teams are on the cusp of the Play-Offs in terms of league position, although the points gap is eight points for both teams. Plymouth will look to bounce back from this sobering result through the two games in hand they have over York, whilst the Minstermen have two home games coming up to round off February and begin March.
