Hartlepool United Women begin new season with dramatic win over Spennymoor Town Ladies

Pools looked as though they would have to settle for a draw when Drew Seymour converted from close range in second half stoppage time to level the scores a 2-2 before Atalia Robinson completed her hat-trick moments later.

Robinson had twice given Pools the lead at Grayfields, who were starting the new season in the Northern Division following their relegation from the North East Regional Women’s Football League Premier Division after a six year spell.

And new boss Bage got off to a perfect start thanks to Robinson’s late strike.

“It was good. It was as expected, it was tough at times. But our pre-season and what we’ve been working on seemed to come together,” said Bage.

“Spennymoor pressed us in parts of it and took us right to the last minute, but the girls did good and they showed our talent and what we’ve been working on is starting to come into fruition.

Bage added: “We seem to have that mindset now where we’re going to grind until the last minute.

“It’s hard with some of them because they’ve still got that youth mentality, but that’s starting to fade away now and they’re really starting to put a shift in.

“We spoke at half-time when we were 1-0 up that our first priority was to protect it, but if we do concede then keep your heads up and we go again and that’s what happened.

“We’ll take big confidence out of that. They needed that win today.”