Lennie Lawrence: Hartlepool United boss laments lack of end product after Pools dumped out of FA Trophy by cup experts Tamworth

Pools looked to be heading through after Gary Madine scored his second goal in two games with a little over 20 minutes of normal time remaining but the visitors levelled late on through Chris Wreh.

Wreh became the fourth ex-Pools frontman to score against his old side this season, joining Rakish Bingham, Josh Umerah and Devante Rodney in returning to get one over on his former employers.

His goal took the game to penalties and Tamworth, who beat League One side Burton Albion in an FA Cup shootout at the beginning of the month, maintained their fine form in knockout competitions after scoring all three of their spot-kicks.

The home side left a lot to be desired from 12 yards as Mani Dieseruvwe, who was brought on in added time specifically to take a penalty, Gary Madine and Kazenga LuaLua all missed.

Lawrence was frustrated by his team's failure to make more of a number of promising positions throughout the 90 minutes.

Pools made eight changes from the side that held National League leaders Barnet to a goalless draw but shaded the game against a strong Lambs XI that included experienced goalkeeper Jas Singh, long throw specialist Tom Tonks and top-scorer Dan Creaney.

Anthony Mancini impressed all evening and struck the post after 21 minutes while the lively Roshaun Mathurin forced a sharp save from Singh in the second half.

The visitors had chances of their own and Creaney fluffed his lines from close range when it looked easier to score five minutes before half time.

While Pools might be frustrated with the manner of their exit, it does at least allow them to focus on their National League play-off push.

And Lawrence admitted his side were left to rue their failure to make the most of their opportunities as Pools once again fell at the first hurdle in the Trophy.

"At 1-0 we were thinking we could see the game out," he said.

"We made the subs that we needed to make.

"There was a lot of rotation in the team selection, a lot of players haven't started a game for a long time and I needed to find out what they can do.

"They needed a game otherwise, when they are called upon to start, they've had no minutes and it's difficult for them.

"We played some decent stuff at times - our approach play was good, the end product wasn't good enough.

"We got into some terrific attacking positions, especially at the start of the second half, but we couldn't find that final bit to convert one of them to a goal.

"You think you're going to see the game out but we conceded in what was a disappointing manner.

"Then anything can happen in a penalty shootout."