Late own goal denies Hartlepool United all three points in Wealdstone draw

By the time they lined up against Wealdstone at Victoria Park on Saturday afternoon, it had been a full two weeks since Hartlepool United were last in National League action. Over the course of a highly encouraging 90 minutes, however, Pete Wild’s men showed few signs for ring rust, but were cruelly denied all three points by a late own goal in a hard-fought 1-1 draw

On a crisp and bright afternoon, Pools had substitute Brooklyn Ilunga to thank for putting them into a well-deserved lead, only for a Reiss McNally own goal at the death to ensure a sharing of the spoils.

It was the home side who started on the front foot, creating a string of chances inside the opening few minutes as they looked to stun Wealdstone from the off. First, Jack Nolan stung the palms of Dante Baptiste after stellar work from Cole Deeming, before Will Harris and Nathan Sheron both went close in quick succession.

When Pools’ next meaningful sight of goal came just past the quarter-hour mark, Deeming and Harris would be involved again - the latter glancing a teasing cross from the former wide of the far post.

As the half wore on, Wealdstone continued to struggle to establish an attacking foothold in the contest. For all of their endeavour, however, Hartlepool’s search for an elusive opener dragged on - Deeming probing superbly to no avail and Max Clark twice going close to breaking the deadlock.

The final chance of the first period saw Nolan curl a spectacular effort just over the crossbar from distance, but as the half-time whistle sounded, a largely dominant Pools headed in - almost inexplicably - level.

Pools’ would look to maintain their momentum after the interval, with Jamie Miley testing Baptiste in the 50th minute through a driven effort and the impressive Liam Gibson narrowly nodding wide from a wicked corner.

As the minutes slipped away, so too did a number of fleeting opportunities for the home side. Clark blazed an ambitious volley over the top after connecting with a searching ball from the right, before Harris would direct a header straight at the grateful Baptiste after fine work from Miley and Nolan. When Harris and substitute Luke Charman then failed to capitalise on a defensive mix-up following a devilish Deeming ball in behind, Hartlepool must have started to feel as if it was going to be one of those afternoons.

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With the clocking ticking over in to the last 20 minutes, Wealdstone would finally register a shot on goal, as Ronan Maher’s volley was deflected into the side-netting.

And then, the breakthrough. Substitute Brooklyn Ilunga had barely been on the pitch more than two minutes before he seized on a loose ball in the final third, took a beat to compose himself, and then drilled a pinpoint drive into the bottom corner to give Hartlepool a long-overdue lead.

From there, Pools looked to be home and dry, digging in admirably until McNally inadvertently turned a low cross into his own net at the near post with one of the final touches of the contest in a gutting blow.

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