Ben Clark's 91^st minute penalty sealed three vital points for Pools on Tuesday night at Swindon Town.

And while he was happy to step up and take the spot kick, Clark admits it took a while for him to realise the referee had awarded the penalty,

"I couldn't believe it - I thought 'what's gone on here like?'

"I thought it was only a free-kick but Lidds came up and told me it was a penalty.

"I thought it was a free-kick so I was going to let Liam (Henderson) take it but when I realised it was a penalty, I knew I would take it.

"It was a fantastic time for us to get the penalty as well."

Clark reveals that it wasn't a spur of the moment decision for him to take the kick as he had actually volunteered earlier that day,

"On the morning we'd spoken to Chris (Turner) and I'd said if we got a penalty I'd take it. Nards said the same so then we decided if he went off, it would be me who would take it."

The former Sunderland man was quite intent on sticking to his word - taking the ball from Liam Henderson who showed early signs of wanting to take the kick,

"To be fair to Liam, he has shown great character to offer to take it because he's only a young lad.

"I was quite calm when I took it actually - it was a chance to win it for the lads because we had worked so hard throughout the game.

"Andy Monkhouse came up to me just before I took it and said 'come on, make sure you score this'."

And while Clark's may not have been the most convincing spot kick, with the ball sneaking in at the post after Peter Brezovan got a touch on it, the result was still the same,

"I know the keeper got a hand to it but it definitely went in and I was delighted with that.

"It still said 'Ben Clark - Goal' and that's all that matters.

"I think on the night we deserved to come away with the win although we were a bit lucky the way it happened."

And while luck was on Pools' side in the game, the journey afterwards proved a different story as bad traffic on the M1 delayed the team coach for over 3 hours - meaning the players did not get back to the North East until nearly 8am this morning.

"It would have been a terrible journey for us if we hadn't won," Clark admitted with a laugh.

"It was alright for me though, I just went round telling everyone on the bus how to take a penalty.

"I actually didn't make it round to every single person so I was a bit disappointed to get off the bus in the end!" he joked.