A quiet night at the Prestige Group Stadium turned into a dramatic encounter as Pools scored two in the final 20 minutes to secure a Tuesday night win over Fylde.
Lennie Lawrence named an unchanged 11 from Saturday’s win at Solihull Moors, with Kazenga LuaLua replacing the injured Greg Sloggett on the bench.
Both sides had goals ruled out in the first half, while Mani Dieseruvwe clashed a header against the crossbar from a corner.
The second half took a while to get going, with Luke Charman delivering dangerous crosses into the Fylde box but not finding a Pools attacker.
Nick Haughton almost found the opener from a free-kick on 65 minutes for the away side, driving narrowly wide.
Hartlepool broke the deadlock on 70 minutes as David Ferguson’s corner was headed down into the turf by Tom Parkes before finding the back of the net.
That was the defender’s first goal of the season to put his side ahead.
Ten minutes later, Fylde had another ruled out for a foul in the build-up, before Haughton dragged an effort wide from distance.
Gary Madine was introduced in the 86th minute and almost scored with his first touch after fantastic creativity from Anthony Mancini, though his shot was met with a great save.
The striker wasn’t to be denied for much longer, though. He followed in a rebound from Adam Campbell’s strike to make it 2-0, scoring his first Hartlepool goal.
With the game wrapped up at 2-0, Lawrence’s side now turn their attention to Saturday’s home fixture against title-chasing Barnet.
Pools: Young, Sheron, Waterfall, Parkes, Ferguson, Hunter, Featherstone, Campbell, Charman (Mancini 75), Grey (LuaLua 60), Dieseruvwe (Madine 86)
Subs (not used): Smith, Sass-Davies, Bondswell, Mathurin