Hartlepool United verdict: 'Wild' Swindon Town success could be catalyst for Pools survival

There hasn’t been much to shout about at all this season from a Hartlepool perspective - and the season may yet still end in heartbreak.

But if Saturday’s drama with Swindon Town is anything to go by, which you can make a strong case to suggest it will be based on the events which have unfolded since John Askey’s arrival as manager, then we are in for an eventful dash to the finish line over the course of the next month.

If you could bottle the final 10 minutes of Hartlepool's triumph over Swindon and sell it you would be far wealthier than any words can give justice to, such was the sheer jubilation at the unforeseen events that took place thereafter.

To score once in the closing stages of a game would have at least maintained the order, given Crawley Town were being thrashed by Mansfield Town elsewhere, but to go and do it again, four minutes into stoppage time, was almost impossible.

It’s exactly why we all love, and persist, with this game and invest so much time, energy and emotion into it.

Those moments don’t come around too often in a season, even less so in a season like the one Hartlepool are currently enduring.

And yet, since Askey’s arrival, Hartlepool are making an uncanny habit of such moments.

In just six games, Askey’s side have now scored five times beyond the 80th minute. Hardly the trait of a team who are throwing the towel in when it comes to their survival hopes.

But the audacity of Hartlepool to find a winner against Swindon is what’s, perhaps, most telling.

Having struggled the most we have seen under Askey at times against Swindon, to claim a point would still have been welcome. It would have maintained their unbeaten run since his arrival and at least chipped another point away at Crawley.

Instead, however, they went for the jugular and got their rewards.

The scenes throughout three of the four stands at the Suit Direct Stadium are ones which will be looked back upon and talked about in years to come should the club preserve its Football League status over the coming weeks: ‘Can you remember those two late goals against Swindon?’

There, inevitably, will be further twists and turns in the final weeks of the season – maybe even times where Hartlepool fall on the wrong side of such drama, as the battle for survival reaches its climax.

This result against Swindon, though, could be the catalyst they need to get over the line this season and it was a moment which has been long overdue for the majority of the 4,815 inside the Suit Direct Stadium.

The Hartlepool supporters brought their A-game to help their side get over the line and demonstrated just what they can bring to the party again when there is hope to cling to.

And it is hope which has been restored.