COOPER IS CHUFFED BY STALEMATE
HARTLEPOOL United boss Colin Cooper admitted he could have no complaints after seeing his side held at home by Portsmouth.
Cooper set his side out to get the maximum haul on home turf as they went in search of a first win in four games.
But in the end, it was honours even and Cooper felt that was a fair result as he saw his side climb out of the relegation zone.
“I think I’ve got to be happy with the draw,” he said. “Everybody sets out with a plan to get all three points and I think early on Portsmouth could have grabbed a couple of goals.
“The game ebbed and flowed a little bit, but they had the better chances, and if I’m Portsmouth boss Andy Awford I’m expecting to take the lead.
“They didn’t and we had spells of pressure in the second half where we possibly could have nicked it.
“I think Andy said afterwards there were 15 or 20 minutes where he was getting a bit anxious, we didn’t just quite have that quality to finish it off.
“Their front two will give most people a hard afternoon and Jed Wallace has a trick and an edge, but they’ve not scored and we have to build on that.”
Patrick Agyemang shanked a shot wide inside the first ten minutes and Scott Flinders had to make a number of key saves.
The away side suffered an early setback as James Dunne received a blow to the head, and had to be replaced Nigel Atangana.
Although Pompey boss Andy Awford revealed afterwards, that there was no real cause for concern.
He said: “It was just a bump on the head. Our doctor was there, and we just took him off as a precaution.
“I’m sure if it was the FA Cup final I’m sure he would have stayed on the pitch.
“I don’t think there’s any worries that he won’t be OK for next week, and it was nice to see Nigel Atangana make his comeback.
“It was probably a bit sooner than we would have liked, and he was blowing at the end, but that will have done him good.
“I keep saying we need to be more clinical in front of goal, and that was the case again.
“It’s always good to get a point, especially here. It’s not an easy place to come, but we felt we could have maybe taken all three.”
Atangana should have netted after coming off the bench but somehow blazed over as he teed up by Agyemang.
At the other end of the field, Portsmouth defenders managed to snuff out Pools attacks, blocking several shots although the home side never really found a cutting edge.
After the break, the hosts were far brighter and had a sustained spell at the end where they could have perhaps nicked all three points.
But at the final whistle the draw was probably a fair result, as both managers seemed to agree.