Craig Hignett delighted to see 'both sides' of his Hartlepool United side in 2-1 win at Torquay

Hartlepool United manager Craig Hignett. Picture by Frank Reid

A storming start from the visitors saw Jason Kennedy nod Pools in front inside the opening 20-minutes.

Hignett’s men had several chances to extend the lead but were made to rue those missed opportunities as Jamie Reid finished off a nice Torquay move to level the scores soon after half-time.

The Gulls continued to apply the pressure but the Hartlepool defence stood firm and finally got their reward for weathering the storm as Gime Toure played the ball to a charging Peter Kioso who blasted in the winner in devastating fashion with 10-minutes remaining.

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“It was a game of two halves I think, first half we were very good and could have been two or three up,” Hignett admitted.

“Second half I thought Torquay were excellent, they got about us and we had a really tough spell in the game for about 20, 25 minutes.

“In the second half when they were really attacking us, we had to stand up and be counted so from that point of view, to come through that spell and win it at the end is great.

“I thought we got stronger towards the end and it was a great goal from Peter to win it.

“I think overall we deserved the win because we made so many chances.”