A resilient Weymouth held on to beat Hartlepool 1-0 at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
A dominant first half of possession from Pools saw very few clear chances. After five minutes Armstrong looked to get on the end of a Oates cross but his near post effort was saved by Ross.
Ross then saved the hosts once again, two huge double savesdenied Pools getting the opener after a scramble in the box.
Weymouth would have their turn to attack with a cross intothe box met by McCarthy but headed effort was over Killip's net.
Pools would continue to dominate possession and on 30 minutes,Oates stung the gloves of Ross with a strong effort from outside the box.
39 minutes in, a long ball forward from Weymouth resulted in
Harfield being fouled by Odusina with the defender receiving a yellow card. The
free kick that followed was headed in by the captain Josh McQuoid to put the hosts
1-0 up going into half time.Pools started the second half strong. Five minutes in, a
long ball fell to Holohan who attempted the acrobatic effort but it hit the
side netting.The biggest chance of the second half came after 55 minutes. Oates found himself in space, beat his man, onto his left foot but dragged his shot wide.
A triple change
followed for Pools with Molyneux, Bloomfield and Williams all coming on for
Shelton, Odusina and Oates.Pools thought they were level on 62 minutes. A ball into thebox was headed by Bloomfield but it was fantastically tipped wide by Ross.
Things went from bad to worse for Pools on 68 minutes. A Luke
Molyneux high boot was deemed a red card by the referee and Pools were reduced
to ten men.Despite Pools continuing to dominate possession and put continuousballs into the box, the hosts held on for the 1-0 victory.
Yellow: Odusina 39' RED: Molyneux 68'
Subs: 59' Williams, Molyneux and Bloomfield forOdusina, Shelton and Oates