Teenage defender Kenton Richardson set for another Hartlepool United run

Pools boss Dave Jones gave the teenager a breather for Saturday’s clash against League Two’s best away force, Exeter City, recalling fit-again Sean Kavanagh.

The 17-year-old was named as one of the seven subs, but he did not stay on the bench long, coming on in the 29th minute after the Irishman suffered a recurrence of his hamstring problem which is likely to sideline him for at least a couple of weeks.

And Richardson played his part in an amazing win as Pools fought from 1-0 down to beat the Grecians 3-1 at the Northern Gas & Power Stadium.

The young right-back got forward at every opportunity but it was his well-timed sliding tackle in his own area in the last minute which proved priceless – the home lead at the time was only a single goal.

It was a nerveless intervention though Jones joked: “You should have been sitting where we where, it didn’t look that cool!

“In previous matches, Kenton has grown into games – he starts off a bit slow, but on Saturday he went on and was bang at it.

“Just sitting there watching may have helped him – the four or five games have certainly helped him and he is learning.

“If he keeps listening and learning and getting stronger then this club have a really good young left-back on their hands.”