Hignett annoyed at Nsiala early red
THAT’S entertainment. The PA announcer at Hartlepool United called it right, playing The Jam following a non-stop 90 minutes.
Pools and Newport County could not be separated in a game that never let up. After four minutes, it was 1-1 and the home side had a man sent off.
Both teams had second-half openings to win it, Pools looking the more likely despite being a man down for 87 minutes.
Nicky Featherstone gave Craig Hignett’s team the lead on 93 seconds, volleying in from ten yards to complete a fine passing move after he burst into the area to collect a Michael Woods pass.
From the kick-off, the Exiles hit the ball forward, defender Toto Nsiala was caught off-guard and stuck out an arm to clear the ball as Sean Rigg was ready to pounce.
Referee Andy Haines had to show red.
From the free-kick on the edge of the penalty area, Rigg drilled in low under the defensive wall and only three minutes and 44 seconds had passed.
Pools, playing with only one up front, should have gone ahead, but Lewis Alessandra rolled a low finish wide when in on goal.
But Newport took the lead with an outrageous piece of skill from Jon Parkin. The big and ageing striker chested the ball down, turned and volleyed in from 25 yards.
From an Alessandra corner, Padraig Amond was free to nod in a simple header.
And in the second half it was the ten men who looked most likely to win it as they pressed.
Nathan Thomas had a header pushed on to the post before keeper Joe Day tipped over a 25-yarder.
But at the other end, a low free-kick from Jack Compton was saved, before Rigg, in the last minute, fired over.
Pools boss Hignett said: “I think we’d have won the game comfortably without the sending off. We still created the better chances with ten men. “But, unfortunately, we had a man sent off straight away and you have to deal with that. I thought we coped with it really well.
“We didn’t look like we were a man down and I thought we were excellent. I know we got a point, but I was disappointed with that.’’
Exiles’ chief Warren Feeney said: “I felt we were poor, our final ball was poor and the goal we conceded in the first minute typified us. We huffed and puffed and the quality wasn’t there.
“They go to ten men and it gets too easy at times.”