'˜I was already celebrating' - Hartlepool United striker Devante Rodney opens up about Woking miss

Devante Rodney battles for the ball at Woking.

On as a substitute for the last half hour of Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Woking, the striker looked to have broken his duck for the season in the closing stages.

Taking advantage of some lax defending, Rodney used his pace to nip in between defender and goalkeeper to guide the ball goalward.

It looked like Pools winner, manager Craig Harrison certainly thought so, as he jumped around wildly in celebration.

So too did Rodney, who is yet to score in 11 Pools outings so far this campaign.

But it cannoned back off the post and the striker thinks he was handed a hefty slice of bad luck, insisting he did everything right.

“I’ve already started to run off to celebrate, thinking it was in,” he revealed.

“As soon as I hit it I seen it going in.

“It has bounced right in the middle of the goal but then hit the post. I think it must have taken a dodgy bounce.

“I think I should have scored.

“To get that chance so close to the end I thought it was going in.”

There’s two ways to take the weekend result.

The glass half empty kind of Poolie will look to the fact Harrison’s men were in cruise control a goal to the good and let the three points slip.

More positive minded fans might just point to the fact a point against the team who have the best home record in the National League, who could have gone second top with a win, is nothing to be grumbling about.

Former Sheffield Wednesday youngster Rodney is definitely in the second camp.

“At the end of the season I think we will look back on this and think it is a good point,” he said.

“We were away from home against a very good side.

“It was important to bounce back after the disappointment of Eastleigh.

“I thought we definitely did that on Saturday.”

It’s now a case of building on this step in the right direction, after a five game unbeaten stretch came to an unceremonious end last time at the Vic.

“We must get back to winning ways,” said Rodney.

“We can take confidence from this result and try get the three points on Tuesday.”