Anthony Limbrick: Hartlepool United head coach satisfied with a point after Pools keep themselves within touching distance of the top seven after goalless draw with leaders Barnet

It was another accomplished defensive performance from Pools, who have now kept four successive home clean sheets and have picked up an impressive eight points from 15 available since Limbrick and new first team coach Gavin Skelton were appointed despite a testing run of fixtures.

At the moment, examinations don't come much tougher than Dean Brennan's title-chasing Barnet but Pools gave as good as they got and were decent value for a point.

Chances were few and far between and it took Pools 78 minutes to have a shot when Anthony Mancini lashed over the bar from inside the area; that said, the home side threatened from the flanks through Joe Grey and Luke Charman and found themselves in a handful of promising positions.

While Pools will feel they deserved the point, Barnet might have returned to North London feeling a bit hard done by after Adebola Oluwo's late goal was controversially ruled out.

Referee Aaron Bannister appeared to feel there had been a foul on Young but if there was an infringement, then there wasn't much of one - Bees boss Dean Brennan said the strike was "chalked off for no reason" and also thought his side should have had two penalties.

There was more late drama when Young pulled off one of the saves of the season with three minutes to go to deny Nik Tavares at point-blank range while Pools skipper Luke Waterfall tested Nick Hayes with a header in the third and final minute of added time.

In truth, there was next to nothing to separate the sides and Limbrick, who has impressed with both his coaching and character since his appointment at Pools, was pleased with a point that keeps his side within striking distance of the National League play-offs.

"First of all, I thought it was a good game," he said.

"We came into it with a bit of confidence because of the way we played and the wins and results that we've got.

"We wanted to be on the front foot and we wanted to try and take the game to them.

"I must say, I think they're a really good side, I was really impressed with them - we've watched a lot of them, and that formation they play with two 10s causes a lot of problems and they flood numbers forward.

"We knew we had to defend well and we did that.

"I did feel like we had chances - or half chances - to score but we just couldn't quite get that clear-cut opportunity we wanted.

"All in all, when you're playing top of the table at home, you would take a point.

"Even so, I think some of the players are disappointed we didn't win or didn't do more, so that was a good sign as well."