Lee salutes Molyneux stunner as Pools win
GRAEME Lee reckoned Luke Molyneux’s stunning strike at Harrogate was “unbelievable” even by the yound midfielder’s high standards.
Molyneux bent an exquisite 25-yard effort into home keeper Mark Oxley’s top-right corner to cancel out former Victoria Park team-mate Luke Armstrong’s opening goal for the hosts and pave the way for the impressive David Ferguson to seal a win for the visitors.
It was the 23-yearold midfielder’s ninth goal of the season and Hartlepool boss enthused: “We’ve seen him do it so many times.
“He’s scored some terrific goals for us and that was one of them. It was an unbelievable goal.”
Armstrong had given the home side a 21st-minute lead after latching on to a Jack Diamond flickon and cutting inside Jamie Sterry before calmly beating Ben Killip with his left foot from 12 yards.
But Hartlepool levelled in stunning style four minutes later when Molyneux collected a short pass from Mark Shelton before drifting in from the right flank and curling an excellent effort into Oxley’s top corner.
The visitors should have then led at the interval with Tom Crawford steering a free shot on goal wide from 15 yards.
Hartlepool continued to press after the break with Omar Bogle and Joe Grey calling Oxley into smart saves.
But Ferguson made no mistake just past the hour when he drilled home a firm edge-of-the-box strike following Bogle’s layoff. Sub Calum Kavanagh then squandered two excellent chances for a home equaliser, clearing the crossbar from three yards before steering a free header wide in front of goal.
Simon Weaver felt his defenders were “soft” at times, particularly in their handling of powerful Pool striker Bogle and believed his team did not respond well to Molyneux’s wonder strike.
“We were very confident in the first half an hour and played some really good football,” the Harrogate boss reasoned. “We were dominating but, as soon as they equalised, a few players looked disappointed.
“That’s when you need to keep passing and creating.
“You will always have setbacks in games, but there wasn’t enough character in our response.”