Hartlepool United 1-1 Wealdstone: Pools draw for sixth time in 10 games at Victoria Park as home frustrations continue

While there were positives to take from parts of the Pools performance and the home side could well have picked up all three points had it not been for an excellent display by young Wealdstone goalkeeper Dante Baptiste, but it was the sixth time in 10 matches that interim manager Nicky Featherstone's side have drawn at home this season.

All of the action took place in a chaotic opening 10 minutes, with former Stones striker Alex Reid ending his recent barren run with a well-taken opener in the third minute before Nathan Tshikuna drew the visitors level three minutes later.

While home fans were no doubt pleased to see Reid end his goal drought, a lack of cutting edge remains a concern and Pools, who have found the net just 20 times in 19 National League matches so far this term, are the lowest scorers in the top half of the division.

Indeed, although Baptiste was the busier of the two goalkeepers, saving well from the likes of Reid, Adam Campbell and Tom Parkes, a draw was probably a fair result while a point does more for the visitors, who remain eighth, then it does for Pools, who dropped one place to 10th and are now five points outside the play-off places and nine behind sixth placed Scunthorpe.

Saturday's game kicked off at the later time of 3:03pm as part of the National's League's attempts to raise awareness of their 3UP campaign, which calls for the introduction of a third promotion place from the fifth tier to the Football League.

Pools, who named an unchanged side from last weekend's battling win over play-off chasing Halifax, took the lead after just three minutes when Reid ended a run of nine matches without a goal against his former side. The experienced frontman, who scored 17 times in 32 games during a prolific spell on loan at the Stones last term, latched onto Jamie Miley's long ball forward before rifling an effort beyond the despairing Baptiste to make it 1-0 to the hosts.

It took Wealdstone, who have made a remarkable start to the season under the charismatic Sam Cox and arrived in the North East having won their last four matches in all competitions, three minutes to respond and the visitors drew level thanks to Tshikuna's third goal of the campaign. The forward, who impressed against Pools for Tamworth last season, curled a sumptuous strike from the edge of the box into the top right-hand corner to peg Pools back moments after the home side had taken the lead.

Wealdstone went close to a second in the 10th minute when George Evans, who has made a fine start to his Pools career and denied Halifax's Will Harris from the penalty spot last week, produced a sharp save to keep out Dom Hutchinson's well-struck effort after a purposeful Stones attack.

Following a frenetic start, the game calmed down somewhat as Wealdstone looked to dominate the ball while Pools created a couple of half-chances as Campbell, looking to score for the third time in as many games, failed to get on the end of a ball into the box before Matty Daly's low cross evaded everyone in a blue and white shirt moments later.

Pools felt they should have had a penalty 11 minutes before the break when Reid, who was starting just his second game since September having missed six weeks with a hamstring injury, went over in the area but referee Ben Speedie waved away the home side's appeals.

Daly, who was lining up in an unfamiliar role out wide in the absence of both Jermaine Francis, who was away on international duty with Grenada, as well as Luke Charman, who had missed the last three games with bone bruising on his foot, was causing the Stones back line a few problems and the former Harrogate man had an effort deflected wide in the 42nd minute following a purposeful break forward.

Into the second half and Reid forced a sharp save from Baptiste after 48 minutes while Jack Hunter became the first man to end up in referee Speedie's notebook in the 62nd minute.

Three minutes later, Hunter was replaced by Danny Johnson, looking to end a miserable run of 18 matches without a goal, as Pools attempted to engineer a winner.

In truth, neither side was looking too much like scoring in a rather tepid second half, although Campbell forced Baptiste into a save 20 minutes from time with a decent effort from the edge of the box.

Two former Pools men almost came back to haunt their old side with 18 minutes remaining as substitute Daniel Nkrumah, who was on trial at Victoria Park over the summer, squared the ball for Olufela Olomola, who scored once in 17 matches during an underwhelming stint in the North East, but the frontman was denied by a fine save from the sprawling Evans.

Pools threw on new man Pharrell Brown, who signed on a short-term loan deal from Championship side Hull, late on in a bid to find a winner while Maxim Kougoun, one of the outstanding performers in recent weeks, drove forward into a threatening position but his tame effort went wide as the Stones continued to withstand the home side's pressure, such as it was.

The hosts were beginning to turn the screw and Reid was once again denied by the impressive Baptiste in the second minute of seven added on. The luckless Johnson was on hand to turn home the rebound, but the out of sorts frontman was denied when the linesman flagged for offside.

Parkes had a header saved two minutes later but Pools were unable to fashion a winning goal as Featherstone's side lost ground in the race for the play-offs.

Pools can now look forward to a long trip to Hampshire to take on Eastleigh next weekend. The Spitfires have failed to win any of their last four games but arrested a run of three successive defeats thanks to a battling 1-1 draw with promotion-chasing Carlisle on Saturday.

Pools (4-2-3-1): Evans; Benn, Kouogun, Parkes (c), John (sub, Topallaj, 87); Sheron, Hunter (sub, Johnson, 65); Campbell (sub, Brown, 87), Miley, Daly; Reid