Pools boss Challinor pleased with ‘never-say-die’ attitude

Hartlepool manager Dave Challinor praised the “never-say-die” spirit of his side as they fought back from two goals down to salvage a draw at Exeter and keep their FA Cup run going.

The National League side looked dead and buried as Ryan Bowman and Nigel Atangana gave the Grecians a deserved two-goal lead at the break.

But Nicky Featherstone’s 25-yard blockbuster and a tap-in by Nicke Kabamba, following a howler from Exeter goalkeeper Jonny Maxted, levelled things up and mean they have to do it all again in a replay at Victoria Park.

“The players are an honest bunch and they epitomised that never-say-die attitude. If we lose matches and are not successful that is a minimum,” Challinor said.

“The lads gave it everything they have got. We have seen before that goals change games.

“Nicky Featherstone’s strike gave us a real injection of energy and we have got a draw out of it.

“At half-time we spoke about not going out wondering what if. We conceded poor goals and it is about learning from that. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and the players take all the credit for keeping going.

“Exeter are a good side at the top end of League Two with an opportunity of getting promoted. They don’t lose many games and don’t concede many goals, so we knew it was a real challenge.”

Exeter manager Matt Taylor could not hide his disappointment but felt his side were well off their game all afternoon.

“I wasn’t comfortable at half-time  and I didn’t think we were playing particularly well, despite being 2-0 up,” Taylor said. “There was certainly a threat about the opposition today.

“They are not calamity goals, but they are poor goals from our point of view and the first one is compounded by the fact we had three opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net and make the tie 3-0.

“We didn’t go up the other end and score and the second goal was a really poor mistake, but there was a softness in all our aspects of play today.

“In possession, we didn’t make any forward passes, we were too safe with backward passes from our midfield and, generally, we didn’t compete enough when the ball was bouncing around. When we were able to gain some control, we didn’t hold it and were too wasteful in possession.

“Obviously I am disappointed with the goals conceded in the second half, but as much as we were in control at half-time and will criticise the goalkeeper and the defenders, our attackers have got to take responsibility as well because if they take those chances, it’s game over.”