Monkhouse enjoys Pools success

By Pete Oliver

Monkhouse has not tasted defeat yet this season

When it comes to wingers, even Cristiano Ronaldo and Arjen Robben have to bow to the undefeated record of Hartlepool wide man Andy Monkhouse.

Ronaldo and Robben have both tasted league defeat this season in their head-to-head battle for the Premiership title.

But in the slightly less rarified atmosphere at the top of League Two, Monkhouse has made it as far as March with an unblemished record.

And to make his feat even more notable, is the fact that he has chalked up his unbeaten tally with two separate clubs.

Starting the season with Swindon, Monkhouse contributed to a 10-match unbeaten league run for the Robins.

I always said about Rotherham that we had a great set of lads Andy Monkhouse

Then, when the 26-year-old joined Hartlepool in November he helped kick-start a remarkable run which has extended his personal best by a further 17 matches.

"It's 27 games now and I'm happy with that," Monkhouse told BBC Sport.

"I'm just hoping I can go another 10 games and if I am still unbeaten then hopefully that means Hartlepool will get promoted."

Hartlepool have given themselves an outstanding chance, with seven straight wins and a 19-match undefeated streak stretching back to the start of November taking them five points clear at the top of the table.

Yet the season had not started well for Pools, with an opening day defeat to Swindon - with Monkhouse in the opposition ranks - starting a six-match wait for a win.

And at the stage, Monkhouse had no idea how the roles would be reversed after he had ended an eight-year stay with Rotherham to join Swindon last June.

"I had a few phone calls in the summer from different clubs but when Dennis Wise came in I knew I wanted to go to there," he said.

"I enjoyed my time at Swindon. Whenever I was fit I played but when Wise left and a new manager came for whatever reason he didn't fancy me.

"Wise and his assistant Gus Poyet were brilliant with me but when they went I wanted to get back up north and Paul Sturrock said I could go out on loan. I was delighted to come here."

Monkhouse's switch, made permanent on an 18-month contract when the January transfer window opened, saw him to return to his native Yorkshire.

And being back home has allowed him to draw parallels between Hartlepool's resurgence and Rotherham's successful march from the bottom division to the Championship, which he helped them enjoy under Ronnie Moore.

Once you get one win it kind of snowballs with a good team and we've been on this fantastic run Andy Monkhouse

"I always said about Rotherham that we had a great set of lads and no matter who we were playing we used to go and think we could win," Monkhouse added.

"It's the same here. One of the main things about Hartlepool is that everyone gets on well and if you see someone else working, you have to do it as well.

"I had a successful time at Rotherham, but if we get promoted this season it would be one of the best achievements of my career."

When Monkhouse arrived at Victoria Park going straight back up to League One was not an obvious prospect for a side being re-modelled by Danny Wilson following his appointment last summer.

Not helped by missing a clutch of penalties, Pools could not buy a win early on, although Monkhouse had already sensed the seeds of a recovery.

"When I played for Swindon earlier in the season, Hartlepool should have won," he said.

"Suddenly once you get one win it kind of snowballs with a good team and we've been on this fantastic run.

"And it's not just me. None of the lads want to feel how you do when you lose a game."

Hartlepool missed out on the Division Three title in 2003

One of those wins came at Swindon in February, when Monkhouse scored his sixth goal of the season, and Pools are now just two positive results away from matching the club's unbeaten league record run of 21 games set in 2000/01.

That season ended with defeat in the play-offs and although Pools did make it up with automatic promotion in 2003, they missed out on winning the championship as they let slip a 14-point advantage.

The trophy cabinet at Victoria Park therefore remains bare and Monkhouse wants to fill the gap.

He said: "When I first came to the club we were 18th in the table. We wanted to be in the play-offs but it has gone so well that if somebody said play-offs now we would say 'no chance'.

"No-one is getting carried away, but we want to go straight up and if we are being greedy we want to be champions.

"There are five or six teams that could still go up as champions but we can see the finishing line and we want to get there."