Nicky Featherstone reserved over Ebbsfleet United draw but delivers Hartlepool United hope

Hartlepool twice took the lead against Ebbsfleet thanks to goals from Emmanuel Dieseruvwe and Jake Hastie only to be pegged back within minutes on each occasion.

Dieseruvwe struck from distance after just six minutes to give John Askey's side the perfect start before Billy Clifford equalised three minutes later.

The away side missed a number of opportunities, with Featherstone and co having to rely on goalkeeper Joel Dixon to keep them in the game before Hastie, making his first appearance since September, thought he'd fired Pools to what would have been a morale-boosting three points when scoring his second goal of the season from the bench in the 90th minute.

But with eight minutes added time, Ebbsfleet hit back again through Dominic Samuel with Featherstone conceding a draw was likely a fair result.

"Being 2-1 up after 90 minutes then you probably look at it as two points lost,” said Featherstone.

"But in terms of the game, and in reflection of the game, I don’t know. They missed a few chances.

"It felt a bit manic at times. We had a few chances as well to win it again late on after going 2-2, so it was an entertaining game but, ultimately, a disappointing end to what seemed like it would be three points and a win at home.”

For Pools, it’s now four National League games without a win as the gap to the top seven increased to six points. But with Featherstone now tied down until the end of the season, the 35-year-old, who has been there and done it all with Pools, remains confident momentum will swing back in their favour.

“This was an opportunity to get three points and get back on a winning run. We haven’t managed to do that but we’ve got some games coming up where we can,” he said.

"We’re conceding too many goals at the minute but the plus side of that is we’re scoring lots of goals, so if we can tweak a few things then we’ll win games because we score lots of goals. It’s just a matter of time.”