Charlie Caton the hero as Hartlepool United beat Truro City 1-0

Charlie Caton scored the only goal of the game as Hartlepool United claimed a 1-0 win at National League bottom club Truro.

The home side felt they should have had a penalty in the 13th minute when Dominic Johnson-Fisher was brought down in the box, but appeals were waved away.

Alex Reid fluffed a golden opportunity to put Hartlepool in front shortly afterwards, missing his kick from two yards.

The visitors did take the lead early in the second half when Caton fired home at the second attempt after goalkeeper Aidan Stone had saved his first effort.

Hartlepool goalkeeper Nick Hayes pulled off a superb save to deny Luke Jephcott an equaliser from close range just after the hour, but for all of their endeavour, Truro could not find a leveller.

The victory leaves Pools in ninth in the National League, on 54 points, five points adrift of FC Halifax Town in the final play-off spot in 7th and with a game in hand. Both play-off rivals FC Halifax Town and Southend United won today, beating Boreham Wood 3-2 and Forest Green 2-0, respectively.

How did play-off rivals Southend United get on?

Southend ended a four-match winless run by dispatching fellow promotion play-off hopefuls Forest Green 2-0 at Roots Hall. The Shrimpers took just three minutes to open their account, with James Golding heading home at the back post from Harry Boyes’ perfectly-placed corner.

Further chances followed as the home side took full control of the first half. Tom Hopper saw his shot headed off the line by Rovers centre-back Ryan Inniss after 28 minutes, while Gus Scott-Morriss struck the woodwork with his low effort.

Forest Green threatened an equaliser on the hour mark but goalkeeper Collin Andeng Ndi got back well to stop Kyle McAllister from chipping the ball home from inside the area.

And Southend made sure of the points 13 minutes later when Scott-Morriss supplied the finishing touch to Oliver Coker’s assist.