Hartlepool United 3-1 Harrogate Town: Ex-Bradford City man scores first Hartlepool goal as Keith Curle's side ease into round three

They may have been words used to describe England’s display in their goalless draw with the USA in the World Cup group stages but the same can’t be said of Hartlepool United who eased into the third round of the FA Cup with their performance of the season against Harrogate Town at the Suit Direct Stadium.

Callum Cooke scored his first goal for Hartlepool before Josh Umerah grabbed his ninth of the season from the spot five minutes later after Harrogate defender Joe Mattock was shown a red card for bringing down Umerah in the area.

Cooke’s fierce free kick and Umerah’s spot kick gave Keith Curle’s side a commanding lead at the interval and it was a lead they would not pass up with Umerah adding to his tally in the second half when powering home from inside the area.

Curle will be slightly frustrated his side were unable to keep a clean sheet thanks to Josh Coley’s consolation little more than a minute after making it 3-0 as Pools booked their spot in the third round of the competition.

Curle was forced into making a move in the transfer market ahead of the game for the second week in a row after the signing of Chris Missilou ahead of kick-off at Barrow a week ago with Fleetwood Town goalkeeper Alex Cairns.

Cairns joined on an emergency seven day loan after No.1 Ben Killip picked up an injury in the week and was unable to come through a fitness test in time. And with Kyle Letheren, Hartlepool’s backup goalkeeper, also injured, and teenager Patrick Boyes on loan at Stockton Town, Cairns was brought in to start his first competitive game since April in a 4-2 defeat at Bolton Wanderers for Fleetwood.

Cairns has over 200 appearances for the Cod Army but was thrown in behind yet another makeshift defence for Pools which did, however, feature the welcome return of Rollin Menayese.

Menayese and Cairns were two of five changes from the league defeat at Barrow as Clarke Oduor and Cooke returned to the side with Umerah leading the line following his suspension. Killip, Euan Murray, Brody Paterson, Jack Hamilton and Theo Robinson were those to drop out - Murray and Robinson joining Killip out of the squad altogether as academy trio Campbell Darcy, Joe Kitching and Louis Stephenson were back on the bench.

But despite a makeshift look to the Hartlepool line-up it was a bright start from Curle’s side as Jake Hastie forced an error from Mattock to win a corner in which Umerah flashed a header narrowly wide of the near post.

Ex-Rangers winger Hastie was involved again moments later when Oduor slid a ball through to him in the penalty area before his effort was turned into the side netting with Missilou bringing a comfortable save from Pete Jameson.

Jameson was called into action again from Umerah when the striker looked to curl one into the far corner from Cooke’s driving run before Hastie brought another save low to his left from a quickly taken free kick.

It was pretty much one way traffic in the opening half an hour with Menayese bringing a much-welcomed calmness to the Pools defence in ushering out the returning Luke Armstrong on a number of occasions with emergency loan signing Cairns having little to do.

Hastie and Cooke continued to probe for Hartlepool who created a number of half chances - Cooke seeing an effort blocked wide before Reghan Tumilty headed over from a corner.

But the breakthrough their first half performance merited came five minutes before the interval as Cooke’s driving run won a free kick, central, from the edge of the area.

Cooke picked himself up to take the free kick and hammered low through the wall and through goalkeeper Jameson to notch his first goal for the club.

And it was Cooke who was heavily involved again five minutes later as Pools doubled their lead.

The midfielder capitalised on a loose ball in the Harrogate half but instead of looking for goal himself he rolled a fine ball into the path of Umerah who was then brought down in the area by Mattock as referee Sam Purkiss pointed to the spot.

Mattock received his second yellow of the game, having earlier been booked for a late foul on Missilou as Harrogate were reduced to 10 men.

And Umerah stepped up to calmly slot the ball into the bottom corner from 12-yards, sending Jameson the wrong way, to double the lead.

Curle has been keen to see his side string consecutive 45 minutes together and they got it in the main as they began the second half on the front foot with Hastie seeing an effort blocked by Warren Burrell before flashing an effort over the bar.

Cairns was finally called into action in a Hartlepool shirt 10 minutes after the restart when Danny Grant worked a shooting opportunity for Josh Falkingham who drove a low effort towards the bottom corner which was well met by the Fleetwood Town loanee.

But Pools were able to take any potential sting out of a Harrogate comeback as they controlled things before extending their lead 20 minutes from time.

Cooke picked up space on the edge of the area and drew a number of defenders out of position before finding Joe Grey who slid an excellent ball into the path of Umerah who was able to turn and hammer into the roof of the net beyond Jameson.

It rubber stamped what was a dominant display from Hartlepool, although they were to be denied a clean sheet when Coley found space in the area to grab a consolation with a neat finish.

Hamilton almost added a fourth when denied well by Jameson from close range as Cooke flashed another effort just wide as Hartlepool advanced into the third round of the competition for the second successive season.

Hartlepool United XI: Cairns, Tumilty, Menayese, Ferguson, Oduor (Stephenson ‘75), Sylla, Featherstone ©, Cooke, Missilou (Grey ‘66), Hastie, Umerah (Hamilton ‘80)

Subs: Darcy, Kitching, Stephenson, Paterson, Taylor, McDonald, Grey, Ndjoli, Hamilton

Harrogate Town XI: Jameson, Mattock (sent off ‘45), Falkingham © (Frost ‘59), Burrell, Grant (Coley ‘66), Headley, Pattison (Thomson ‘45), Austerfield (McArdle ‘45), Muldoon (Folarin ‘66), Ramsay, Armstrong

Subs: Welch-Hayes, Thomson, Coley, Folarin, Richards, Frost, McArdle, Horbury, Giles

Referee: Sam Purkiss