Hartlepool United 2 Leeds United 2

Feb 7 2010 by Stuart Rayner, Sunday Sun

IN recent seasons Hartlepool United have made a bad habit of playing well and losing to Leeds United.

Yesterday for an hour they tried a different approach and, although Pools are still to beat Leeds, it felt like a victory when Anthony Sweeney headed his 94th-minute equaliser.

Sweeney’s goal was created by Adam Boyd, scorer of Hartlepool’s first, but most of the credit for a massively-improved final half-hour belonged to Ritchie Jones.

Fifty-eight minutes of largely poor Pools football had gone when substitute Jones left the bench.

Within seconds he had a shot, quickly followed by a couple more. Pools responded with two goals in the final 22 minutes, refusing to be beaten by the Lucianio Becchio strike they sandwiched.

The game was slow to get going, so the Leeds fan thrown out after less than 12 minutes certainly did not get his money’s worth.

Even by then the visitors’ extra class was as visible through the fog as their yellow kits, but it was yet to translate into work for goalkeeper Scott Flinders.

As the misbehaving visitor was frogmarched out, that changed. Leaning back, Becchio’s excellent header forced Flinders to do likewise. The ball cannoned off the bar to safety.

Jermaine Beckford crossed for the opener, with Becchio’s header looping over the stranded Flinders.

Just two minutes earlier Pools had wasted a glorious chance. Boyd had been fed by Colin Larkin, himself picked out by an excellent Humphreys through-ball. But he ignored the unmarked Sweeney and shot over.

Once Becchio scored, Hartlepool heads visibly dropped and the Victoria Park grumblers began getting on the back of a side without a win in five matches.