Hayter on target but it's not enough

JAMES Hayter's second goal in as many games couldn't save Rovers as they were sunk at the seaside by a late Richie Barker penalty.

The former Bournemouth striker's superb diving header in the 71st minute cancelled out Godwin Antwi's opener for Hartlepool three minutes before half-time.

And with the wind behind them in the second-half, Sean O'Driscoll's side fancied their chances of emerging from Victoria Park with their second win in five days.

But the visitors first away win of the season wasn't forthcoming as Mark Wilson's needless foul on Pool midfielder James Brown with nine minutes remaining proved costly.

Wilson, who had been cautioned by Cheshire referee Mike Dean in the first-half, was lucky to stay on the pitch for his reckless lunge.

However, even though luck was on the midfielder's side, it wasn't on his team's. Barker stepped up to fire home the spot-kick for his second goal in successive games.

Rovers clung on to hopes of a point when full-back Robbie Elliott was sent-off with six minutes left after receiving a second booking for his foul on the impressive James Coppinger, back in the side after recovering from a knee injury.

Elliott didn't feature in Hartlepool's 2-1 midweek Carling Cup win over Scunthorpe United, but with Matty Robson moved to left midfield, was given his chance to shine.

But his clumsy challenge on Coppinger, who teased the Pool defence all afternoon, made for a frantic finish.

"I didn't think it was a particularly good game, but we had good chances in the second half," reflected O'Driscoll, whose side thumped Lincoln City 4-1 in the first round of the Carling Cup last Tuesday night.

"But they got a goal just before the break. With the wind behind us after the second half, I thought we improved, got a goal back and I thought the game was going to peter out for a 1-1 draw.

"And they got the penalty and the way the game was going it was going to be something like that which settled the tie.

"It was a good move for their first goal. It was a well-worked corner and you've got to give credit to the home side for that.

"But apart from that both teams had a lot of balls into the box and they never troubled either keeper all game. The best ball of the game was the one we scored from. "It was quite gusty because of the wind and you could get the ball forward a lot more. We caused them a few more problems with the wind behind us and built up a bit of momentum.

"In some ways that was the same scenario that Hartlepool started the game. But they got the penalty late on, and that made life difficult for us because time was short, and even when they went down to 10 men we couldn't get the breakthrough a second time."

The last time Rovers beat Hartlepool at Victoria Road was 10 years ago when, in the 1996-97 season, Colin Cramb netted a hat-trick and Jon Schofield was on target in a 4-2 win.

But any chance of Rovers re-writing the history books vanished when Barker scored his second spot-kick in as many games.

"I thought there wasn't a save made by either goalkeeper, but our forward game wasn't on song and that cost us," added O'Driscoll.

"Defensively I thought we battled away and it looked as though both teams might score from a set-play.

"But from the standards that we've set, we definitely weren't on firing on all cylinders, especially attacking. We had no fluidity in the way we played.

"I'm disappointed with the result, so there's lots of things we can look at. But there's plenty of good things we've done. We know we've got to do them week in, week out. That's a lesson we can't take for granted!"

Rovers were slower out of the blocks than their hosts and nearly paid the penalty in the sixth minute when Jamie McCunnie's long throw from the right touchline caused problems.

The ball was flicked on to Robson, but just as he was about to pull the trigger and unleash a close range shot, right-back James O'Connor made an excellent last-ditch tackle to charge the effort down.

Robson had a shot charged down midway through the first half, before goalscorer Hayter had a Rovers' first real chance, only to see his powerful drive was blocked.

Former Liverpool defender Antwi popped up to score his first-ever league goal just before the break, heading home from close range after the ball had ricocheted back off the crossbar and into his path. Rovers keeper Neil Sullivan had no chance.

Martin Woods saw a long-range shot charged down after the break, before Pool keeper Jan Budtz spilled a Coppinger corner and the ball was frantically cleared.

Paul Heffernan, who netted in midweek, raced on to a pinpoint Coppinger pass shortly after the hour mark, but his shot on the turn was dealt with by Budtz.

Coppinger, at the heart of Rovers' best moves, provided a deft cross for Hayter to head home and give the visitors hope in an exciting finish.

But Barker ended any hopes of a victory with a cooly taken penalty after Wilson's late blunder.O'Driscoll's view

"I'm disappointed with the result because I thought we could have got more out of the game, but there were some positives for us.

"The important things is we carry those positives into the next game and use them this season.

"`We battled well to come back in the second half and when we had the better of things before we scored. It's just a shame we couldn't score again when we had the momentum."