Hartlepool United 1 Solihull Moors 1: Pools advance to FA Cup second round on penalties

Joe Grey scored the decisive spot kick after misses from Kyle Storer and Josh Kelly as Keith Curle’s side sealed a 4-3 win from 12-yards with the tie ending all square after 120 minutes at the Suit Direct Stadium.

Pools fell behind to the National League side thanks to Ryan Barnett's well-taken goal inside 10 minutes and struggled to make any inroads for much of the evening – with goalkeeper Ben Killip required to make a string of outstanding saves to keep them in the tie.

And stay in the tie is what they did as Reghan Tumilty scored his first goal for the club a minute from time when sliding in Wes McDonald's cross to send the game into extra-time.

But after 210 minutes across two games, neither side could be separated as a place in the second round to face Harrogate Town would be decided on penalties with Hartlepool edging through.

With injuries still plaguing the Hartlepool squad, Curle was left with little alternative but to field a strong XI for the second time against Solihull with the interim manager making just one change from Saturday’s League Two defeat at Stevenage.

In came winger McDonald against the side who he spent time on loan with in 2017 for striker Theo Robinson who dropped to the bench. And it was a bench which once again included academy pair Louis Stephenson and Joe Kitching with FA Cup regulations allowing up to nine substitutes.

But despite losing both of their National League fixtures since the draw with Hartlepool, it was Solihull who started the brighter of the two teams and that very quickly reflected on the scoreboard thanks to Barnett’s goal.

After Brody Paterson was forced to concede a corner, Hartlepool failed to clear their lines as the ball fell to James Clarke, who was denied well by Euan Murray’s lunging block, before the ball was then fed out to Barnett on the right where the former Shrewsbury Town man was allowed to run unchallenged into the area and pick his spot well into the bottom corner beyond the diving Killip.

It set the tone for what would be a difficult 45 minutes for the home side as Solihull raised question marks as to who were the National League side and who were the Football League side.

Joe Sbarra, who was lively in the first tie, was so again as he pulled the strings in the middle. Pools captain Nicky Featherstone was wayward on the edge of the area when being teed up by Jack Hamilton before Fiacre Kelleher looped a header just wide of Killip’s post.

It was all too slow, and all too safe from Curle’s side in the opening exchanges before they finally forced Louie Moulden into a save when Hamilton worked it well on the right to pick out McDonald on the edge of the area and he tried to find the bottom corner, but his first time strike lacked the conviction to really trouble Moulden.

With that said, Moulden made hard work of it as he fumbled into the air which allowed Josh Umerah to try and poach where he would collide with Moulden as the Solihull goalkeeper tried to punch clear. The collision left Umerah dazed on the floor and would signal the end of his evening as he was helped off in place of Grey.

But Pools continued to struggle to get anything going, and their high defensive line was almost punished on the half hour when Andrew Dallas met a Hartlepool corner ahead of Paterson to release Barnett down the right. In turn, Dallas had the beating of the Hartlepool defence for pace but Barnett instead opted to go for goal himself which made things easier for Killip.

Featherstone tried to get things going before the break when heavily involved in what was Hartlepool’s best move of the first half which also involved Grey as his cross was met by Mohamad Sylla who headed well over.

But Pools had Killip to thank for remaining just one behind at the interval as he saved well from a fierce strike by Ben Coker who picked up a half cleared corner.

Hartlepool were booed off at the sound of the half-time whistle and things did not improve from the restart as Killip kept them in the tie just four minutes after the restart.

Solihull again broke free on the counter as Dallas had the pace on the right and he was able to pick out an unmarked Callum Whelan in the penalty area who had the freedom of Hartlepool to pick his spot only for Killip to remain big and deny.

Killip then saved low at his near post to thwart Dallas who turned sharply in the area as Neal Ardley’s side looked to put the tie to bed.

Pools were fortunate to still be in it as the hour approached and they might have been level when Hamilton, just like he did at the Armco Arena, rose highest to meet a corner from the right but this time his effort was hooked clear on the line.

Clarke Oduor, off the bench, and Callum Cooke both fashioned half chances from range before Killip would produce a trio of stunning saves. First he flew to his left to keep out Dallas’ goalbound effort before the pick of the lot when denying Sbarra who had raced clear on goal over the top of the defence only for a strong hand and quick reactions to deny the rebound. Barnett was then denied his second of the game from a similar position to his goal only for Killip, again, to stand tall.

It gave Hartlepool a sniff of extending the tie further which they nearly took when Murray looped a header goalwards from Featherstone’s cross only for Moulden to push over the bar at full stretch before they would make Solihull pay for their missed opportunities when Tumilty slid in a minute from time to convert and send the tie into extra-time.

The extra period appeared to favour Pools who almost took the lead instantly when David Ferguson and Grey exchanged before the full-back fired just over the angle of post and bar before Tumilty then tried his luck again, this time from range, which flashed just wide of Moulden’s post.

Killip’s exceptional night was not over yet, however, as he did well to parry Coker’s flying header over the bar on the stroke of half-time in extra-time.

On things went into the second half of extra-time and this time it was Moulden who was to thank for keeping things level when keeping out Oduor after the Barnsley loanee did brilliantly to dance his way into the area from the left.

Solihull did have the chance to seal things, though, when substitute Kelly broke the offside trap to advance on goal from the right. And where this time Killip was beaten, the ball drifted wide of the far post.

And Kelly’s despair was warranted as Killip would save his spot kick as Hartlepool progressed on penalties.

Hartlepool United XI: Killip, Tumilty, Murray, Ferguson, Paterson (Oduor ‘66), Featherstone ©, Sylla, Cooke (Robinson ‘90), McDonald (Hastie ‘100), Hamilton, Umerah (Grey ‘27)

Subs: Letheren, Stephenson, Kitching, Taylor, Hastie, Ndjoli

Solihull Moors XI: Moulden, Clarke, Barnett (Parsons ‘98), Kelleher, Coker, Storer ©, Sbarra (Vaughan ‘98), Dallas (Reid ‘88), Osbourne (Maycock ‘54), Whelan (Kelly ‘66), Jones

Subs: Boot, Wood, Gudger

Referee: Sebastian Stockbridge