Wealdstone manager Matthew Taylor felt his side "dominated" large parts of Saturday's encounter with Hartlepool United.

The former Portsmouth, Bolton and West Ham defender was full of praise for Pools goalkeeper Adam Smith, who made a string of impressive saves in the second half, the best of which was when he denied Stones skipper Adrian Mariappa with an instinctive stop from close range.

Pools had hoped to put a testing few days behind them after a video showing a training ground bust-up between two players emerged online on Tuesday.

However, a challenging week became even more difficult when both Joe Grey and Anthony Mancini were ruled out through injury, with Grey expected to miss around six weeks after undergoing surgery on a groin problem.

Wealdstone manager Matthew Taylor, who played under Lennie Lawrence at Luton, felt his side dominated the second half of Saturday's clash and hailed the heroics of Pools goalkeeper Adam Smith. Picture by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images.

placeholder image — Wealdstone manager Matthew Taylor, who played under Lennie Lawrence at Luton, felt his side dominated the second half of Saturday's clash and hailed the heroics of Pools goalkeeper Adam Smith. Picture by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images.

Pools went in front through Gary Madine after 21 minutes but missed Grey's pace and Mancini's invention, producing a rather pedestrian and ponderous performance.

The visitors were comfortable if unconvincing in the first half but the second period was an entirely different story, with Wealdstone creating a number of gilt-edged chances.

And while Pools might have been disappointed not to return to the North East with all three points after Enzio Boldewijn's late strike deflected beyond Smith to make it 1-1, it could have been much worse had it not been for the heroics of the experienced goalkeeper.

Smith denied attacker Sam Ashford, who also had a goal ruled out for offside, on several occasions while he made an excellent save with his legs to keep out Kallum Cesay's low drive.

In the end, a point did little for Pools, who slipped back into the bottom half and lost ground on a number of their play-offs rivals.

And Taylor, who was handed his professional debut as a player by Lennie Lawrence in 1999, felt his side could have been out of sight had it not been for Smith's superb display.

"I think it was probably a game of two halves," he told Wealdstone's official club website.

"Hartlepool are a really solid National League team with men in their side that know exactly what's expected of them. They're experienced. In the first half they had one shot and it's gone in.

"We changed things at half time because we needed to. We changed shape ever so slightly.

"There was only one team in it in the second half. If I look at the balance of chances created, the balance of possession, we've really dominated that game in the second half. Their goalkeeper, without a shadow of a doubt, was man of the match. He made an absolutely unbelievable save from Adrian Mariappa.

"We've created some unbelievable moments. I'm really pleased we created so many chances, but to get to that next level we have to start taking them.

"There were moments in the game where I thought if we'd taken our chances then it would have been a comfortable 2-1 or 3-1 victory for us.

"Hartlepool are very good at what they do, they've got some real quality in their group. I'm extremely happy with my players, I can't have any complaints other than maybe we could have been a bit more clinical in front of goal."