Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor assesses Aidan Keena's late winner at Solihull Moors

Aidan Keena’s 86th-minute strike proved to be the winner as the Irish forward finished a ruthless attacking move started by Nicky Featherstone and delivered by Macauley Southam-Hales.

The 1-0 victory saw Pools climb closer to the play-off places after picking up 10 points from their last 12 available.

“I prefer wins like that to be honest over maybe scoring a bit earlier,” Challinor said.

“The worst bit is after your score when you’re thinking how long is left and you’re like, ‘three minutes’ then he puts up the board and it’s three minutes and when you get to the back end of that we go down to 10 men with Macca’s injury and you have to defend a throw-in.

“We knew it would be tough coming here. We played well without having that quality at the top end of the pitch.

“As much as I could be critical of the players, you have to give credit to the opponents. They got five back and two sat in front and at any level that’s going to be difficult to get through and they defended very well.”

Despite keeping a clean sheet, Pools rode their luck at times as Solihull failed to capitalise on a number of lapses in concentration.

“The opportunities they got came from our mistakes,” admitted the Pools boss.

“There were little errors which were the type we’ve been punished for over the course of this season but fortunately, we weren’t on Tuesday.

“It came down to one great bit of quality with the run and the forward pass and if you want anyone in the squad to be on the end of it you’d pick Aidan.

“If you were looking at an away performance and away win for a boring defender like myself you’d take it all day long.

“It’s a win that gives us plenty of confidence and belief moving forward and sends our brilliant supporters home happy.”