Keith Curle justifies Mark Shelton decision after ex-Salford City midfielder grabs goal and assist in Harrogate Town draw

Shelton was featuring in the Hartlepool United defence for the second successive game after starting as a centre-back in the 2-1 defeat against Mansfield Town.

Here though, following an injury picked up by Jamie Sterry in that defeat to Mansfield, Shelton was moved to the right of a back four for the visit of Harrogate and found himself heavily involved at both ends of the pitch.

It was Shelton’s low cross early in the second half which would fall for Mohamad Sylla, who put Pools in front, before he was then beaten for pace by Sam Folarin who levelled things up at 2-2 just moments later.

But Shelton’s advances from right-back saw him give Hartlepool the lead again when taking a precision ball from Nicky Featherstone in his stride to then curl in excellently with his left foot before Simon Weaver’s side would again peg Pools back through George Thomson’s fine strike.

And while it was a surprise to see Shelton starting at right-back, given a more natural right-back in Reghan Tumilty was playing at left-back and left-back David Ferguson was paired with Rollin Menayese at centre-back, Curle has explained his reasoning behind the decision.

He told The Mail: “Did you see the pace of the kid [Folarin]? We thought Fergie is a natural defender, Rollin is a natural defender, Reghan is able to play left and right-back and still understand the position.

“I thought our right-back position could be an area where we could suck them over to one side of the pitch and we could use Mark Shelton’s technical ability to put some good balls in.

“We had a couple of opportunities, a couple of crossfield passes, and his link up play in the final third was good. One assist and one goal, that ain’t bad.”

He added: “What I like about it is the attitude to accept the challenges that have been thrown upon him.

“But I would not ask a player to do something if I don’t think he could bring something to the team or something to that position.”