Hartlepool United 1-1 Leyton Orient: Connor Jennings ensures fifth straight draw for John Askey against league leaders

Askey has now seen his side draw all five games under his watch as they once again showed a spirited display to earn a point against the League Two leaders.

Jennings coolly slotted home in the final 10 minutes to cancel out Paul Smyth’s second half opener before Pools were, twice, denied by the woodwork through Wes McDonald and Dan Kemp.

If any side were going to win it, it looked like Hartlepool but they, unfortunately, had to settle for another point which sees them drop four points behind Crawley Town after their win over Rochdale with just eight games now remaining.

Hartlepool couldn’t have faced a tougher task as they welcomed League Two leaders Leyton Orient to the Suit Direct Stadium - the O’s, seemingly, primed for promotion to League One having lost just five games in the league this season heading into the trip.

Beyond that, however, the stats pointed towards it being a difficult afternoon for Pools.

Richie Wellens’ side had conceded a season low of 24 goals in 36 games with 20 clean sheets to their name and were unbeaten in eight.

It has been quite the turnaround by Orient under Wellens who took charge of his first game for the O’s on this ground little over 12 months ago.

On that day, Orient frustrated Hartlepool in what was a subdued goalless draw - a 14th game without a win for the O’s.

Since then, though, Wellens’ side have won 28, drawn 11 and lost just nine of their 48 league games - a far cry from Hartlepool’s record of seven wins, 16 draws and 25 defeats in that time.

But for Pools, having gone through Graeme Lee, Paul Hartley and Keith Curle as manager in that time, the onus was very much on staging what would be considered an upset by beating the league leaders.

With results going drastically against them a week ago following their 2-2 draw with Bradford City, and Crawley’s point gained from Doncaster Rovers in midweek, Askey’s side found themselves two points from safety.

Askey revealed that he remains encouraged by Hartlepool’s survival prospects in the build up to this game, despite what the league table and fixtures may say, having been buoyed by a series of positive performances in recent weeks.

And the Pools boss kept faith in his starting line-up from Valley Parade a week ago by naming his first unchanged team.

Edon Pruti was available despite his international call-up for Albania under-21s whilst Dan Dodds came through his full return without trouble.

And Pruti was put to the test by Smyth who displayed the kind of quality you would expect from a side sitting at the top of the league.

Smyth leads Orient’s scoring charts and was a threat inside two minutes when peeling off Pruti to force a corner in which Jennings could only head up rather than away which allowed Omar Beckles a header at goal - Jakub Stolarczyk level to it.

Dodds displayed his pace when making an excellent recovery to usher out Ruel Sotiriou after Dodds, himself, had lost possession in the O’s half.

After a couple of minor threats from the away side, Pools began to show some of the confidence they have gained over recent weeks when David Ferguson and Jennings linked down the left to find Josh Umerah who tried an ambitious flick towards the back post where Jamie Sterry was just unable to turn towards goal as his cross was then cleared.

Smyth threatened again when found by a lovely ball from Jordan Brown in between Pruti and Ferguson before Dodds had to be on hand to divert behind ahead of George Moncur at the front post - again from Smyth’s cross.

Smyth then drew a foul from Ferguson which resulted in a low free kick played in towards Aaron Drinan, a man who scored a hat-trick against Hartlepool last season, but this time he was off target at the near post.

Kemp’s free kick was turned over by Jennings as a tense first 45 minutes drew to a close.

But Wellens’ side aren’t top of the league for anything and they started the second half with a little more urgency than Hartlepool as Umerah’s loose ball in midfield allowed Moncur to slide a pass into Drinan who dragged wide.

Hartlepool wouldn’t be as fortune moments later however as Ed Turns was able to keep the ball in play on the left before finding Moncur, who had found plenty of space midway inside the Pools’ half, and he spread it wide to Smyth who stood Ferguson up to shift onto his left-foot and smash across goal from the edge of the area to beat Stolarczyk who may, initially, have been unsighted.

It meant Pools had to find a way through a seemingly impenetrable defence if they were going to take anything from the game.

And the O’s might have quickly doubled their lead when Brown was able to dispossess Ferguson before firing over with Hartlepool on the ropes a little.

Askey’s side were able to wrestle back something of a foothold with Sterry firing wide before Umerah missed a big opportunity when getting goal-side of Brown, only to curl wide of the near post.

Askey introduced McDonald from the bench in place of Pruti, as well as a change in formation, and the winger made an instant impact when testing Lawrence Vigouroux before then seeing an effort deflect onto the roof of the net.

Mohamad Sylla went down with half appeals for a penalty from the resulting corner as Pools searched for a route back into the game.

And with the game appearing to be drifting from Pools they found a way through.

Umerah did well to get the better of Turns on the right and picked out Jennings with a low cut-back and Jennings expertly finished when rolling into the far corner in what felt like the only place he could put it to score.

Askey's side weren’t content with the draw, though, as they twice came within inches of finding a winner when hitting the post and bar inside a minute.

First it was through McDonald, who impressed in his second half cameo, as he got the better of Rob Hunt before firing low across goal to hit the foot of the post before moments later Sterry found himself in space on the right to pick out Kemp who rattled Vigouroux’s bar as those fine margins, again, just went against Pools.

Hartlepool United XI: Stolarczyk, Sterry, Dodds, Murray (Dolan ‘73), Pruti (McDonald ‘63), Ferguson ©, Sylla, Cooke, Kemp, Jennings, Umerah

Subs: Boyes, Foran, Featherstone, Finney, Hamilton

Leyton Orient XI: Vigouroux, Smyth (Sadlier ‘74, Sotiriou, Brown (Hunt ‘68), Moncur, El Mizouni, Drinan (Kelman ‘74), Pratley ©, Beckles, Sweeney (McCart ‘74), Turns

Subs: Thompson, Clay, Byrne

Referee: Ed Duckworth

Attendance: 5,012 (502 Leyton Orient)