Hartlepool boss Keith Curle hails ‘fantastic’ fans after stunning comeback

Posted Sunday, February 19, 2023 by PA

Keith Curle hailed Hartlepool’s travelling fans after his side snatched a point at the death in a 2-2 draw against AFC Wimbledon at Plough Lane.

Dan Kemp’s second goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time snatched a thrilling point for Curle’s strugglers after Ali Al Hamadi and Diallang Jaiyesimi had given the hosts a 2-0 lead.

Hartlepool sit 22nd in Sky Bet League Two, though Curle was thrilled his side could give supporters something to cheer late on.

He said: “It’s fantastic – and the noise and the celebration at the end!

“I want to thank each and every one of them because they are valued, not only by myself, but by the staff, the football club, the owners and all stakeholders at the football club.

“They know what this football club and our results mean to the supporters. You get 500 people coming here and it’s not an easy place to come to.

“So it’s respected, the effort, the commitment was put in by the supporters because they know we need them.

“Physically I thought we got aggressive after the ball and that’s why we’ve not won that. If you win those balls you’ll find you have a better chance of winning it.”

Meanwhile, AFC Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson was left ruing the late equaliser, believing his side spurned a good chance to take three points.

“I’m disappointed because I thought on the balance of the game we had done more than enough to win it and conceding so late makes it even worse,” he said.

“We wanted to win today, we felt it was a good opportunity and to only get the point…I think the way we played for most of the game probably warranted more. It’s disappointing not to get all three.

“It’s the worst moment in football when you concede that late, so it’s just a disappointment. When you’ve only got that one-goal lead you leave yourself open to that, and I thought for the amount that we created today and the opportunities that we had, we should have had more to show for it.

“We did score two, just today it wasn’t enough. Obviously we haven’t been scoring a lot of goals and we haven’t been conceding, so the irony is today we’ve created a lot, scored two good goals, but we left the back door open.

“Their first goal is obviously a great strike, you have to take your hat off to the boy for that one, but as a team obviously we’re disappointed with that one at the end.”