John Askey reflects on dramatic first game in charge of Hartlepool United in 3-3 draw with Walsall

It looked increasingly likely that Askey would suffer defeat on his Suit Direct Stadium bow after Tom Knowles and Isaac Hutchinson had given the Saddlers a commanding lead.

Knowles broke the deadlock inside half-an-hour of a first half largely dominated by Michael Flynn’s side before Hutchinson fired in an excellent second early in the second half.

Askey’s side were handed a lifeline when referee Darren Drysdale pointed to the spot for an off the ball incident involving Jack Hamilton before loan star Dan Kemp reduced the deficit from 12-yards.

But Hartlepool’s momentum was short lived as Matt Stevens restored Walsall’s two-goal advantage when getting the better of Mouhamed Niang to beat Jakub Stolarczyk.

It felt, at that stage, Hartlepool were heading for another defeat before they were given slight hope as the clock ticked onto 90 minutes as Oliver Finney was tripped inside the area by Liam Kinsella.

Up stepped Kemp once again as Pools had four minutes of stoppage time to salvage a draw.

And that came when Connor Jennings was able to meet Edon Pruti’s header back across goal to power home in front of the Town End.

“I don’t think you can sum it up really. It’s a game that had gone from us at the end,” said Askey.

“To come back as we did in my first game is great but we all know we want wins, so you’re never satisfied. It’s a start but we’ve got to improve.

“But one thing the players did was they kept going and if you’ve got that you’ve always got a chance.

“To do what they’ve done, they’ve stuck together at the end, we could have just fallen apart.

“But when that second one went in you’re just hoping you get one more chance and we did.”

He added: “Overall it wasn’t good enough.

“The commitment was great and it was fantastic to do what we’ve done, the lads can only get confidence from getting a draw when it looked as though it was lost, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”