Mixed emotions for Hartlepool United captain Ryan Donaldson following AFC Fylde comeback to draw 2-2

Two superb finishes from former Fylde forward Gime Toure put Pools in control before two goals in the space of two minutes late in the game from The Coasters’ Ryan Croasdale saw the spoils shared on Tuesday evening.

It was Donaldson’s second start of the season after recovering from a calf injury, but after helping his side to a two goal advantage, he was substituted and forced to watch Fylde’s comeback from the sidelines.

“Playing Saturday, Tuesday was always going to be tough for me and I wasn’t sure how far I was going to get,” he admitted.

“After 70 minutes my hammys started to go you’re looking now and thinking, could I stay on for 10 more? I don’t know, it’s an annoying one.

“There were a lot of good things about the performance but we have to see that out at 2-0.

“Fylde are a very good team who can do that to you but first goal went in 82 minutes gone, we’ve got to have more about us to see that out which is very disappointing.

“Fylde are a dangerous team and we controlled their threats well until late on obviously.

“They had a lot of the ball but we knew that was going to happen so it was a bit of a role reversal from us on Saturday and last Tuesday where it was us who saw a lot of the ball and had to break the opposition down.

“I think we were a big threat on the break with Gime of course and I think that suits us to be honest.

“It’s probably not ideal to watch but against a good team like Fylde sometimes you just have to sit in, keep a good shape and see what you can do with it.

“It worked for 80-minutes but they just got us twice in the last 10.

“We’ll probably come back in on Thursday and reflect on the game and say that was a decent performance overall.