1st half only one winner--then they gave away a stupid one

After that both sides went for it---they were good as well not just hoofball and gamesmanship

They were all over Kemp but he got an assist which says how good he is
Ferguson excellent again.

Proper battle with both sets of players going for it--glad we have 5 days rest and that wasnt 1st game of the easter weekend

You'd get the impression from stat watching that was the case but it was as usual in this League as of recently, the other team plays high fast pressing in the first half and Pools sit back a bit and soak it up, they didn't really have a clear chance aside from the goal.

Second half Pools mostly dominated, Stevenage came back on the counter a few times but Murray missed an open goal from about 4 yards out, Finney had a wide open goal to shoot at from about 6 yards out and messed up his touch and he also had another great chance a little earlier. Stevenage did have one cleared off the line with the final touch of the game on a counter from the Finney chance.

A good point but out of the two I'd say Stevenage did "well" to get a point.

That second half was littered with chances for us…ok they never went in but a good omen, especially against teams not as well drilled as Stevenage.

Based on what I've seen of Crawley if we play like we have been we will absolutely annihilate them.

Crawley will get a hiding at our place

As a life long Poolie, have come to understand that being over-confident is never a good idea.

Mental game. Nobody left the Millhouse till the final whistle, which is unheard of. Pools only controlled the game for about 20 minutes after Featherstone's equalizer, Stevenage missed a bagful of chances - but so did we! Hope the buggers do go up because they are horrible to play against.

Was impressed by Askey's substitutions. Forlan wasn't coping with Rose and needed to go off - Sylla made a big difference when he came on. Cooke, Featherstone and Kemp were all knackered from trying to compete in the land of the giants when they went off.

Dodds my MoM, closely followed by Murray. Fergie was good going forward but gave the ball away in really dangerous areas 3 times in a 5 minute spell towards the end.

I pray that we don't regret those two easy chances we missed.

Football is never that simple, but one thing I will say is I can't see any team in the division putting 4 past Pools the way we are battling. Crawley's morale must be a lot more brittle than ours.

We have heard this about crawley before and then they went and got 10 points out of 12. They have two very winnable games at home next up. We have two very tough away games.

The game against them won't be easy, anyone thinking that will get a shock.

Crawley are terrible, listen to their managers post match interview.

Read their forum.

Read social media, watch their highlights, they were shocking today whereas we have been a range of good to excellent for the past 8 games.

Crawley have no chance unless theres some ridiculous red card and penalty decisions.

No team wants to come to the Vic as they know last 10-15 mins we absolutely batter teams with our fitness and quality options on the bench.

Crawley will be fighting for their lives too, and Rochdale are now on a run...we have still left ourselves a lot to do

Newport, Crawley and Barrow are must wins, do that and we are effecitively leaving Crawly needing 10 points from their other 4 games which wont be easy and Rochdale needing to win all their last 5

We still have a lot to do but most of us thought we'd already be down by now (not too long ago). We have put ourselves in pole position just got to keep our current run going.

Ratings

Keeper 7 solid again e nice to see him back next year
Ferguson 8 MOM--another proper shift
Murray 6--poor positioining a couple of times including for the goal but fair play he is giving his all
Foran 6- unlucky to be subbed due to change in formation
Pruti 7 Good again
Dodds 7, good battle v Reid, is a proper footballer

Feather 7 outmuscled for their goal, good finish for his
Cooke 6--tried but quiet
Kemp 7--their locked him up very well, but excellent assist still

Jennings 6 battled away
Umerah 6 as above--laid one on a plate for Finney at the end

Sylla 7 excellent and fully committed, hopefully in for the run in now--Stevenage fans thought he was our best player which says a lot

Crawford--comment--mistake putting him on, v lightweight espeically for a game like this and almost got caught a couple of times in possession

It’s going to go all the way. I see us stuttering at both Newport and Salford. Must win matches against Crawley and Barrow - and then a showdown of automatic promotion and relegation survival for Pools and Stockport on the final day.

I agree. I also think we've got to be safe before the Stockport game.

Ever the optimist. It's true that Pools' run in doesn't get any easier, but here's a fun fact. Over the last 6 games, only 2 clubs in the division have taken more points than Pools - Stockport and Northampton.

Looking at the fixtures, Colchester are still very much in the relegation mix. Crawley v Colchester a week Tuesday is another 6 pointer.

We started to slow in the first half. Letting them press and not instilling any forward momentum. I think the substitution was a good one in the first half as we needed someone to take control and break things up. Sylla is good at this and when he gets stuck in and gets the ball forward it enables our creative players to express themselves and play the ball on the floor. This we did in the second half. Don’t take any notice of the stats. Stevenage play shit football . Very one dimensional and Pools took them to task and really should have won the game . It’s a credit to the manager and the players that even thoe we are not quite there yet, stray passes few to many and starting slow the lads never give in and you can’t complain about the effort. At the end of the game both pools players were sat on the pitch shattered. Still think that Cooke needs to try and get on the ball more, Ferguson passing needs to improve but I don’t want to be to critical. I can’t fault the effort. If you look at the form guide, last 6 games Pools are 4th. Shows how far they have come in a very short time period.

Even worse was the delusion of the Stevenage fans and their oaf of a manager post match.

I know you can’t judge a game by highlights but Pools seemed to give the ball away too easily in midfield, well done Ferguson for the goal line stop, that would have been a killer blow.

didn,t watch the game so cannot comment, surely though back pre JA we would have been delighted with a draw against them. i,d have took that before the game anyway as it keeps the momentum going.

The last 20 minutes it could have been 3 points or none - both sides were attacking, Pools couldn't keep hold of the ball in midfield, it was a free-for-all. The sort of game where you want the win but are desperate not to get beat.

Composed goal by Featherstone. After scoring i have never seen him run so fast in celebration.

I bet Stevenage playing Sutton is a veritable feast for the eyes for the purists of the beautiful game.

certainly a game where you could not imagine a single neutral attending. if it was televised live the viewing figures could be less than the 43rd repeat of murder she wrote.

hopefully Finney watches his chances back over and over !

doesnt need to take so many touches - both chances where blown due to too many touches of the ball - the second blatant open goal opportunity needed just a touch of any sort towards the goal and it would of went in - very frustrating !

hopefully Finney watches his chances back over and over !

The problem was it was behind him and he couldn't take it first time and had to try and control to get a shot off.

More frustrating was when Murray missed that chance just before josh hit it and it hit pruti who stopped it going in that's how it came out to Murray.
Just our luck.

Exactly this.
They gunna put us through the Rollercoaster of emotions for sure.
Strange scenario were im hoping for 2 major favours from Crawleys opposition sat n Tuesday.
As i dont see us getting more than 2 pts from next 2 games.
Maybe last minute G/D comes into play.
Surely it can't be as cruel as last time.
UTP.

It nearly always goes down to the wire with Pools, at both ends of the table. I'm hoping for something different but more or less expecting the same. Ronnie Moore got it right - safe with a game to spare.

If we go down it won’t be those ‘two easy chances we missed’…. but the tripe before Askey came and steadied the ship.

at least we missed chances. pre askey i doubt we would have created any never mind them. fans have short memories where they quickly forget games where there was not even a proper shot on target in them.

Well that took a good 45 minutes to come back and smack a few poolies in the face. Crazy writing the opposition off.

Who employed those 2 cranks.

I think we all know what needs to happen at the end of the season no matter which league we are in. It's not looking good with Tuesdays fixtures.