Paul Hartley had this to say about Hartlepool United's pre-season campaign following Sunderland draw

Pools completed the third of their friendlies at the Suit Direct Stadium against Alex Neil’s Championship side and earned a creditable draw after Jake Hastie forced Trai Hume to divert into his own net inside the opening five minutes before Elliot Embleton levelled things up from the penalty spot on half-time.

Pools had to endure plenty of the game without the ball but manager Hartley was left pleased with what he saw from his side as attention now turns to Saturday’s trip to Walsall.

“It was a tough game, it was a hard game for us,” said Hartley.

“They moved us about the pitch. We had a good start to the game after a couple of minutes with Hastie going down the side and puts a dangerous ball into the box.

“But after that we had to defend at times. I thought we were a little bit careless with our passing.

“We didn’t have enough quality in the first half but the second half was a lot better.”

Hartley made seven changes to his side at the break including new signing Mikael Ndjoli as Pools held the Wearsiders, who struck the post after the restart through Luke O’Nien.

“We had to make seven changes because I don't want to give too much away for the weekend but overall it’s been a good pre-season.

“It’s been tough, we’ve faced some good teams and we’ve managed to come out of it with some reasonable success.”