Hartlepool 1 Notts County 1!!!! - report

Last updated : 20 April 2007 By Andy Van Hagen
Promoted Hartlepool's title hopes took a blow as they were held to a draw by a Notts County side still battling to get into the play-offs.

Both teams had a player sent off in a tense second half in which County refused to allow the home team to hit their stride after they got off to a great start.

Hartlepool were in front in the third minute when James Brown lashed in a low angled shot from wide on the right of the area after picking up a short corner and turning past two defenders.

But Brown, who had gone close from the edge of the area already, went on to miss two more.

One shot whistled narrowly wide and the other deflected wide as County battled hard to stay in the game.

They did it well though and grabbed a shock equaliser in first-half injury time when Jason Lee squared from the left and Andy Parkinson cashed in as two defenders slipped on the edge of the area before slotting a low shot into the bottom corner.

There were fewer chances in the second half as County cancelled out the home attack, but there were plenty of incidents.

Home defender Ben Clark was sent off on 61 minutes after he hauled down Lawrie Dudfield just inside the area and conceded a penalty.

But after the red card was shown, keeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos came to Hartlepool's rescue as he dived to punch out Austin McCann's spot-kick.

That gave County the edge against ten men until the last four minutes when they had defender Steve Hunt sent off for two yellow cards in the space of two minutes.
Coca-Cola League Two, Friday 20th April 2007 @ 19:45; Victoria Park
Click for Hartlepool United squad list
Brown 3
Parkinson 45
Click for Notts. County squad list
Starting Line-ups
1Konstantopoulos 6
5Nelson 6
6Clark 6
8Humphreys 6
18Liddle 7
17Boland (Tinkler 81)8
35Monkhouse 7
23Williams, D 6
10Barker 7
11Williams, E (Porter 78)6
20Brown (Sweeney 66)6
Substitutes
21Provett
16Bullock
15Sweeney (Brown 66)6
4Tinkler (Boland 81)
9Porter (Williams 78)
14Goal Attempts9
6On Target3
8Off Target6
0Hit Woodwork0
11Offsides4
9Corners2
6Fouls12
Starting Line-ups
1Pilkington 6
18Hunt 7
4Edwards 6
3McCann 6
2Pipe 6
24Ross (Byron 88)6
17Weston (Martin 45)6
6Somner 6
11Parkinson 8
10Dudfield (Walker 83)7
9Lee 7
Substitutes
23Deeney
21Byron (Ross 88)
8Martin (Weston 45)6
7Walker (Dudfield 83)
15N'Toya-Zoa
Referee
M Pike, Cumbria
Attendance
6174
Hartlepool U. Cards
Clark62professional foul
Notts. County Cards
McCann53dissent
Hunt85unsporting behaviour
Hunt87second bookable offence