Pools Youth Team had to be content with a point despite being the better side on a difficult afternoon for football in Mansfield.

Micky Barron's men were forced to play up a slope on a bobbly pitch and in to the wind during a testing first half which also saw them lose Callum Martin to injury and Anthony Wakefield to illness in the first fifteen minutes.

The conditions played a part in the opening goal as a long distance strike found its way past Grant Herbert to put Mansfield Town in the driving seat going in to half time.

After the break, and with the wind behind them, Pools began to force the issue more and created numerous chances to get back on level terms.

However, they couldn't quite find the finishing touch and the home keeper enjoyed some good fortune as Pools were denied an equaliser time and again.

And just as it looked as though the hosts would hold on for the points Daniel Johnson rammed home a twenty-yard volley in the 89^th minute to rescue a draw.

"I was pleased with the way lads kept on going until the end," Barron explained afterwards.

"If one team deserved to win the game it would have been us so it was good that we managed to get the point in the end.

"Today will have been a good experience for the boys because you can't always play your pretty football, sometimes you have to battle and they certainly did that very well."

Full Time: Mansfield Town 1 Pools 1

Pools: Herbert, Pearson, Purvis, Selby (Marshall 70), Rowbotham, Marron, Martin (Wilson 8), Liddle, Wakefield (Snaith 15), Richards, D Johnson.
Sub not used: Dodds.