Live Commentary

Match Report

Hartlepool had to battle their way back for a point in a 1-1 draw at Victoria Park after League One pacesetters Walsall had threatened to tighten their grip on the top of the table.

It was always a tight game, but Pool are still waiting for their new players to blend into a winning team.

The man who haunted them in this game was Walsall skipper Chris Westwood, who left Hartlepool at the end of last season after almost 300 games.

He scored his team's early goal, and was then a star in defence as Walsall held on for a draw in a hectic finale.

Walsall were in front at the break, thanks to Westwood. Now skipper at Walsall after his summer switch, he powered in an unstoppable header in six minutes after a corner by Kris Taylor.

Walsall were clearly in command at this stage, and it was hard work for Hartlepool, though big striker Jon Daly got in an early header from an Eifion Williams cross that was saved by Andy Oakes.

But Daly beat Oakes in the air on the half-hour, only for his 15-yard header to drift narrowly wide.

Pool soon took off Williams and sent on last season's top scorer Adam Boyd in an attempt to get something going up front, and they began to play a bigger part in the game.

And they took over after half-time, Oakes saving his team twice in the opening minutes.

He did well to turn a Thomas Butler shot round his right-hand post seconds after the break, and on 48 minutes his one-handed stop from a shot on the turn from sub Boyd was a cracker.

But Butler's effort on 62 minutes was too hot even for him to handle. He stopped it, but couldn't hold on and as the ball broke wide on the left, Tony Sweeney slotted a great angled shot into the far corner through a crowded area.

Corners

Fouls

Goal attempts

Shots off target

Offsides