Hartlepool United manager hails his side's character after Pools come from two goals down to sink Solihull Moors in memorable encounter
Hartlepool United manager Nicky Featherstone hailed his side's character after Pools came from two goals down to beat Solihull Moors 4-3 in a remarkable contest in the West Midlands.
Saturday's trip to a Solihull side who knew that three points at Damson Park would have seen them leapfrog Pools in the National League table had just about everything - good and bad.
The visitors looked down and out when Gavan Holohan scored a remarkable own goal in the 24th minute as Solihull raced into a two-goal lead but Pools battled back to secure a thrilling win that keeps them in the race for the play-off places.
While it wasn't always a game packed full of quality, it was an afternoon defined by incident, accident and occasional chaos as both sides made plenty of mistakes in difficult conditions at Damson Park. In the end, Pools summoned up the spirit, character, grit and determination that has been lacking at times this term to all-but end Solihull's hopes of gatecrashing the top seven.
Featherstone admitted in the lead up to Saturday's showdown that his side's trip to the West Midlands felt like a must-win game for Pools. Yet there were few signs that the visitors understood just how much was on the line in a dire opening 35 minutes or so that saw Solihull open up a two-goal lead.
Having produced a much-improved performance against title-chasing York last time out, fans might well have been surprised to see Featherstone revert to a flat-back four at the weekend having employed a 3-4-3 formation against the Minstermen as Tyrese Sinclair, Cameron John and Gavan Holohan all returned to the starting XI.
Even so, few fans could have foreseen quite how poorly Pools would start the game and the visitors found themselves a goal down after eight minutes when Conor Wilkinson sent Nick Hayes the wrong way from the penalty spot. Although there was more than an element of misfortune in terms of the awarding of the penalty - although the ball appeared to hit a Pools hand, Wilkinson had diverted the ball against it from extremely close range - the visitors could have few complaints at going behind after a tentative start to the contest.
Things got much worse midway through the opening period when Holohan inadvertently doubled the home side's advantage in truly bizarre fashion. With Pools struggling to cope with Solihull's purposeful press, the Irishman tried to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper from some 25 yards but failed to look up and see that Hayes was not in his goal. As a red faced Holohan threw his hands into the air in panic, the ball nestled in the back of the net and Pools appeared down and out.
Just when it was looking as though the visitors could wave goodbye to their play-off hopes for another season, Pools hauled themselves back into the contest with two quickfire goals before the break.
First, Alex Reid ended a run of four matches without scoring in the 40th minute before a piledriver from Jamie Miley three minutes later drew Pools level and left Solihull shell-shocked. Almost out of nowhere, Pools had restored parity in time for Featherstone's half time team talk.
At the break it would not have been a surprise were Featherstone to have pointed to Solihull's last home game, when Chris Millington's side forfeited a two-goal advantage to lose 3-2 to Eastleigh. Whatever the case, Pools played with a renewed energy and purpose as the rain bucketed down after the restart.
After the visitors failed to make a spell of pressure pay, Solihull appeared to have regained a foothold in the game when Sinclair, who scored three goals in 10 matches during a productive loan spell at Damson Park earlier in the campaign, turned home his first Pools goal six minutes from time. Following a long and harrowing delay after what looks to be a serious injury to the popular Luke Charman - Featherstone admitted after the game he feared that the attacker, who was stretchered off after receiving oxygen on the pitch, could now be set for a long spell on the sidelines - substitute Matty Daly picked out Sinclair with a looping ball to the back post and the York loanee put Pools ahead for the first time.
The visitors looked to have put the game to bed midway through 13 minutes of added time when the outstanding Sinclair beat Laurie Walker with a free-kick but there was still time for another twist in the tale as Emmanuel Sonupe acrobatically pulled one back for the hosts after Bradley Stevenson cannonned Solihull's second spot-kick of the afternoon against the crossbar.
In the end, Pools held on to secure three points that keeps them in the hunt for a National League play-off place. Although Southend, who thumped Brackley 3-0, appear to be strong favourites to clinch the coveted seventh spot - Featherstone told the press afterwards that he felt his side had an "outside chance" of usurping the Shrimpers - a heavy defeat for Halifax means Pools remain right in contention.
Whatever the case, the manner of the win has the potential to prove significant for Pools ahead of Wednesday's visit of promotion-chasing Carlisle. Whereas Pools might well have wilted earlier in the campaign, Featherstone's side stood up to the considerable task facing them when Solihull eased into a 2-0 lead and, somehow, summoned up the necessary reserves of grit and spirit to turn a memorable contest completely on its head.
"It was a really poor start from us, we lacked energy in that first 30 minutes," Featherstone told BBC Radio Tees Sport.
"We were unlucky to give the penalty away and then we've conceded a freak goal, I haven't seen many of them in my time as a player or a manager.
"It wasn't a great start, I wasn't happy although we got back into the game before half time. I went into the dressing room at half time and told them a few home truths.
"I thought we responded really well, in the first 15, 20 minutes of the second half we were front-footed and we had sustained pressure. We didn't manage to score in that time but I thought we had a purpose behind the start to the second half. What we can't do is give good teams a 2-0 lead every week, it's not sustainable to go two goals down and win games of football. It's brilliant that we've managed to turn it around but if we want to kick-on, we can't be starting games like that.
"You're always worried that, if you don't take chances when you're on top, you'll get hurt on the counter as the game develops in the second half. I was pretty confident, I thought as long as we were solid at the back we'd keep creating chances because of how they (Solihull) play. I'm really, really pleased with the group; I was harsh with them at half time and they responded brilliantly.
"We had to win today (Saturday) if we wanted to have any chance of making the play-offs; it was a must-win game. There's definitely character there - any team that goes 2-0 down and comes back to win 4-3, there's something there.
"Like I say, it's not sustainable to keep giving good teams at this level a head-start, whether that's giving goals away or starting slowly; the lack of energy was alarming for me. We did everything right, we had good training days and the players have been looked after, so I didn't see that coming. In terms of character, it was brilliant to get back to 2-0 at half time after such a dire first half."