Hartlepool United played out their first pre season game in a 1-1 draw with a Newcastle U23 side at their Academy ground.
A lively game saw Pools turn out two different teams for either half to give players a run out for fitness.
The game started in the wrong way for Pools as after two mins one of the Trialists brought down his man and the referee gave Newcastle a penalty. Elias Sorensen stepped up for the Magpies and converted the spot kick to make it 1-0.
Pools reacted well to going a goal down and created a few decent chances throughout the half. The first one came from a corner ball as Holohan was able to get his head on it but unfortunately direct it over the bar.
The second chance fell to Mark Shelton, who picked the ball up on the edge of the box after Newcastle tried to clear their lines but he could only direct a half volley attempt over the cross bar.
Despite Newcastle hitting the cross bar, the chances still came for Pools and it was Rhys Oates who should have equalised. A ball into the box was met by Oates but his strong header was also guided over.
Pools ended the first half strongly but still searched for an equaliser as they went into the break 1-0 down.
A completely different team in the second half saw Pools really get on the front foot from the start. Pools were able to narrow Newcastle to only one or two chances where young Goalkeeper Brad Young made two fantastic saves to keep us in the game.
Josh MacDonald caused lots of problems down the right hand side as Pools pushed forward and the first big chance of the second half came from Josh beating his man, getting the ball into the box and Luke Molyneux being denied from close range by the Newcastle goalkeeper.
David Ferguson made a good impact on the left hand-side with lots of crosses into the box and it was his ball in that brought us the equaliser.
The ball broke to Josh MacDonald, who was able to hold the ball up before laying it back to Ferguson and he crossed it to the far post where Claudio Ofosu was waiting to volley it home right into the top corner. A thoroughly deserved equaliser.
The game finished level as Pools deserved the draw. A good run out for a lot of the players and the team will continue to train in preparation for the next pre season games versus Spennymoor Town.
Full time: Newcastle U23s 1-1 Hartlepool
1st half team: Killip, Donaldson, Trialist, Trialist, Odusina, Shelton, Trialist, Featherstone, Oates, Holohan, Trialist
2nd half team: Young, Cunningham, Liddle, Trialist, Ferguson, Crawford, Campbell, Molyneux, MacDonald, Bloomfield, Ofosu