The Hartlepool Mail's Robbie Stelling reacts to Saturday's agonising draw with Dagenham and Redbridge

The Hartlepool Mail's Robbie Stelling reacts to Saturday's agonising draw with Dagenham and Redbridge.

Transcript

00:00I'm here at Victoria Road following Saturday's 1-1 draw between Hartlepool United and Reliation

00:05threatened Dagenham and Redbridge. It was a game that had pretty much everything. There

00:09was certainly no shortage of drama on this sunny afternoon here in London. Pools started

00:15the game well but spurned a golden opportunity to take the lead when Manny Desirouet had

00:19his penalty saved by Jake Turner after the industrious Joe Gray had been fouled in the

00:24box. Pools did go ahead after 17 minutes when Paul Campbelli inadvertently turned Joe Gray's

00:29effort into his own net. There was then a controversial string of moments. Tom Parks was booked when

00:36Dagenham and Redbridge fans felt he should have been sent off after he fouled Josh Umera when

00:41the former Pools frontman threatened to bear down on goal. Moments later however Louis Stevenson

00:47received his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card in the space of four minutes

00:52after charging down a Dagenham free kick. Pools then had to grit their teeth, dig their heels

00:58in and hang on and hang on. They did for a long time. Dion Pereira was an influential substitute.

01:05He hit the post in the second half. However the visitors were cruelly denied in the 87th minute

01:10when defender Harry Phipps skewed an effort into the corner of the net to salvage a point for Dagenham

01:17and Redbridge to keep them just about in touch with those teams above them in the National League's

01:22battle for relegation. For Pools it was a spirited performance and a decent result given the difficult

01:27circumstances. However, it all but extinguishes their slim hopes of sneaking into the playoffs.