'Mixed emotions' for Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor following 2-2 draw at King's Lynn

But with four draws out of five, the Pools boss was frustrated to see his side drop more points against a side currently struggling near the bottom of the table.

Hartlepool twice trialled at The Walks following goals from Kairo Mitchell and Michael Gyasi but a goal in either half for Luke Armstrong and substitute Rhys Oates saw them return to the north east with a point.

“We did enough to win but you can't afford to be scoring three goals away from home to win,” Challinor told The Mail.

It's another one unbeaten and another point on the board, we'd have loved for it to have been three.

“With the quality that has gone in there, we needed to put the ball in and can't become too reliant on Luke.

“It’s mixed emotions for me, I'm delighted with the character to come from behind twice which we haven't done enough of this season but I would have loved to have come away with three points.

“We know how they play and it's easier to play how they play without the millstone of relegation around their neck.

Without it sounding the wrong way, we have everything to play for and they have little to play for.

"If you give a team something to hang on to then everyone loves playing football. We started well but knew our shape needed to alter a little bit.

“We then gave them a poor, poor goal. The defenders have had pats on the back but Lidds [Gary Liddle] has got to do better and Ben [Killip] is in a poor position.

"That gave them a lift and when you've got a young energetic team like they have, they would have enjoyed that.

"We concede a poor goal just before half-time but then it becomes about character and we did really well in the second half to press them. We got the equaliser and then were millimetres away from going on to get the winner.”

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