Pools were knocked out of the Isuzu FA Trophy after a penalty shootout defeat to Hampton & Richmond Borough at the Suit Direct Stadium.
Lennie Lawrence made two changes to the side from the 2-1 defeat at AFC Fylde on Tuesday, with Tom Parkes and Courtney Duffus being named in the starting line-up for the first time.
It was a slow start to the game, but Pools still managed to create a few half chances in the early stages. Tom Crawford and Luke Hendrie both had long-range efforts, but neither threatened Adam Desbois in the Hampton & Richmond Borough net.
Duffus and Anthony Mancini seemed to strike a promising partnership and managed to create the best opportunity in the closing stages of the first half, but Duffus’ flick didn’t have enough power to threaten Desbois.
Hartlepool piled on the pressure early in the second half as Joe Grey beat his man with ease before finding Duffus in the box, but he was denied by an incredible double save by Desbois.
Chris Wreh replaced Duffus after 76 minutes and made an instant impact as he set up Joe Grey on the edge of the box, but his effort was blocked once again.
Another substitute in Jake Hastie had a golden opportunity to put Pools ahead but despite finding so much space in the visitors’ box, he hit his attempt straight at Desbois.
Pools were reduced to ten men with just minutes to go, after Hastie was shown two yellow cards in quick succession.
Connor Kurran-Brown, Jake Grey and Daniel Wishart both had late opportunities to snatch a victory for the visitors but couldn’t find the target, sending the game to a penalty shootout.
Penalty misses by Nicky Featherstone and David Ferguson sent the visitors on their way to a 4-2 victory with top scorer Ben Seymour converting the winning penalty.
Pools: Dixon, Hendrie, Onariase, Parkes, Ferguson Wallace, Featherstone, Crawford (Stephenson 80), Mancini (Hastie 71), Grey, Duffus (Wreh 76)
Subs (not used): Jameson, Dolan, Pruti, Paterson