Pools Youth Team slipped to a narrow defeat to Chesterfield at Saltergate on Saturday morning.

It was Micky Barron's men who started the brightest and quickly put their hosts on the back foot, creating a number of decent opportunities to open the scoring.

Chay Liddle's incisive pass found Darryl Scaife in space but he fired a shot over the bar, while Gary McRoberts' cross was headed wide by Callum Martin.

At the other end, Pools keeper Nick Thomas was called in to action on several occasions but showed good handling to deal with balls in to the penalty area.

The second half was as tightly-fought as the first as Pools switched from a 4-3-3 formation to a 4-4-2 which seemed to cause their counterparts more problems.

Barron's youngsters looked the most likely to score, with Chesterfield relying on counter-attacks - Lee Mason and Callum Martin were both denied by the visiting keeper.

On 85 minutes Pools were handed a golden chance to win the game when a penalty was awarded for handball, but the keeper brilliantly saved Mason's spot-kick.

And on 88 minutes the sucker punch arrived as Chesterfield burst in to attack and grabbed a dramatic winning goal.

"It was harsh on the lads to lose that game, we didn't deserve that," Barron insisted afterwards.

"But hopefully that will be a valuable lesson to the lads that sometimes football can be cruel and we have to show the character to bounce back now.

"Overall, the effort the lads put in was pleasing and I can't really argue with the way they performed," he added.

Full Time: Chesterfield 1 Pools 0

Pools: Thomas, Purvis (Quantrill), Blackford, Marron, Sharples, Ashman, Martin, Liddle, Scaife, Charlton (Mason), McRoberts (Wakefield).
Subs not used: Herbert, Johnson.