Hartlepool 3 Argyle 2 - Match report

Three turned out to be a luckier number for Sky Bet League 2’s bottom side than it did for Argyle’s fans, whose sole consolation for their 775-mile round-trip in the dead of winter was that it was paid for in a sponsorship deal with mobile phone network 3UK.

Two goals from Pools’ Jonathan Franks, one early in each half either side of a leveller from new Pilgrim Ryan Brunt, and another by Scott Fenwick condemned Argyle to a seventh successive winless game since Christmas.

Pilgrims’ substitute Olly Lee’s late header, well into injury-time, made the last few seconds interesting, but it was too little, too late.

A blip has become a streak.

Argyle manager John Sheridan had given full Pilgrims’ debuts to forward Brunt and Drew Talbot, signed on loan from Chesterfield 24 hours previously, who lined up on the right side of a four-man midfield in a tweaked Argyle shape.

Out went the 3-5-2 that has served for much of the season and in came a flat back four, with Kelvin Mellor and Carl McHugh on right and left flank respectively, flanking Curtis Nelson and Tom Flanagan. Behind them, goalkeeper Luke McCormick had recovered from the finger injury that had forced him to leave the previous week’s 1-1 home draw with Morecambe at half-time.

With Brunt partnering Reuben Reid up front. Lewi Alessandra dropped back to the left side of midfield, with Lee Cox and Bobby Reid in between him and Talbot.

Peter Hartley who, apart from 45 minutes at York, has been out of action since mid-December with a hip problem, returned to the club he used to captain as a substitute.

Hartlepool, going for a second home win in succession for the first time in their miserable season, showed no changes to the line-up that had paved the way to a 1-1 basement draw at Tranmere Rovers seven days earlier.

The reward for the manager’s faith in his up-against-it troops was an early breakthrough to further raise their previously zero-level confidence.

As Argyle figured out a way to cope with a lazy wind and a pitch that had cut up badly during the warm-up following heavy overnight rain, Aaron Tshibola suddenly broke past Mellor on the Pools left.

Once his low cross went into the area, and with the Pilgrims’ new-look back four facing their own goal, the odds favoured the home side and Franks paid out with a crisp low finish under McCormick’s body.

It took a while for Argyle to draw the sting out of their rejuvenated hosts but they gradually edged their way back into affairs, with Bobby Reid looking to unlock the Pools back line either on his own or by setting up colleagues.

It was his namesake Reuben who set up the Pilgrims’ leveller, however, holding the ball up well before flicking it on to Brunt. The former Bristol Rovers man had plenty to do, but did it, firing a low left-foot shot past Hartlepool goalkeeper Scott Flinders.

It was the first league goal scored by the Pilgrims away from Home Park since their 3-2 win at Northampton on December 13, more than five and half hour previously and the first scored by Brunt for the best part of two years.

Parity restored, Argyle looked to further assert themselves but were hampered by the home side’s ability to continue to cause them problems out wide.

Scorer Franks raised anxiety levels with a low whipped-in ball from the right that reached Fenwick at the far post, but his on-target shot was brilliantly pouched by McCormick on the goal-line.