Keith Curle believes Hartlepool United have 'put another building block in place' with Mansfield Town fightback

For large parts of the game it seemed as though Curle would suffer his first defeat since taking over as interim manager after early second half goals from George Lapslie and Riley Harbottle had given the Stags a commanding lead.

Lapslie converted first time from inside the area when he latched onto Kellan Gordon’s cross from the right before Harbottle pounced on a loose ball in the six-yard box just eight minutes later.

But Pools displayed the kind of spirit which has been missing so far this season, with substitute Josh Umerah scoring twice to snatch an unlikely point away from the One Call Stadium, first capitalising on Harbottle’s misplaced back-pass to goalkeeper Christy Pym before a cool finish a minute from time to provide Curle and his side a potential springboard in the league.

“It’s a draw but it’s a good draw,” Curle told The Mail.

“I’ve been in games where I've managed teams and we’ve been 2-0 up and then you do feel like you’ve thrown points away. We’ve earned another point today.

“I’m a big believer in you get what you earn and the changing room knows they’ve come and earned a point.

“We’ve come away to a very difficult place and put another building block in place and with that attitude in the face of adversity you will get rewards.”

Curle added: “We have a range of emotions. Mansfield are a good team. They’re well drilled, they’ve got a level of consistency about their results at home so you know you’re going to be challenged.

“At 2-0 down then you know you’ve got a mountain to climb but then you’re looking for the reaction from the players. But we turned up and we didn’t shirk the challenge. There was no despondent body language, it was a case of us finding an extra yard then.

“We need to find that extra yard earlier in games.”