Hartlepool United suffered their first defeat of the season in the Enterprise National League at the hands of a 1-0 loss to Forest Green Rovers at the New Lawn

Kairo Mitchell opened the scoring after 22 minutes to give Robbie Savage’s side the lead.

Pools were unable to find an equaliser despite chances from Danny Johnson, Alex Reid and Besart Topallaj.

Harvey Cartwright was called into action early in the match as Nick Haughton threatened in the opening ten minutes.

Alex Reid attempted to open the scoring in acrobatic style as his technical turn and shot was saved by Luke McNicholas in the Rovers net.

Kyle McAllister saw Cartwright off his line on 15 minutes, but his attempt to lob the ball into the net was wide of the target.

The hosts took the lead in the 22nd minute as Tom Knowles burst down the left wing and his initial shot was fumbled in on the line by his teammate Mitchell.

Reid and Topallaj had consecutive chances to get a goal back in the 34th minute, but both of their shots were blocked.

Mitchell came close to a second before half-time from close range but was denied by Cartwright.

Pools’ best chance came with ten minutes to go when Luke Charman squared to Danny Johnson who couldn’t get a clean strike off and his effort went straight to McNicholas.

Rovers had the ball in the net on 90 minutes, but the referee blew his whistle for a foul on Brad Walker.

Pools: Cartwright, Benn (Johnson 65’), John, Kouogun, McNally, Charman, Sheron ©, Miley (Folarin 80’), Reid, Topallaj, Daly (Walker 80’)

Unused subs: Smith, Parkes, Hunter, Featherstone

Away attendance: 125