Brown (right) appeared to twist his knee as he tried to get away from a Rovers defender. There was no foul, but Brown needed a stretcher and limped out of the ground after the match on crutches with his knee heavily bandaged.
While he has not been at his best in recent weeks, he was playing well against Rovers.
Now he faces a scan to determine the extent of the injury, and Pools can ill afford to be without a first-team regular like him at this stage of the season.
But in Robson they might have at last got a player with potential to realise it.
He started the game at left-back and delievred some great crosses both before and after making Michael Nelson's (left) early Pools goal.
Then in the second half he moved forward after Richie Humphreys replaced the ineffective Andy Monkhouse, and Robson had a blinder.
His direct approach caused Rovers loads of problems and twice hie crashed in great shots from the left that keeper Steve Phillips did well to keep out.
How the match sponsors managed to give the man of the match award to Ben Clark - who played well enough on his return to the defence - when Robson was clearly so outstanding is a mystery. Perhaps they'd had a few?
Clark switched to the defence in place of Sam Collins, who was not considered because of a family illness, and he and Nelson looked something like the partnership that did so well in the promotion season. The League's top croer Ricky Lambert hardly got a sniff, though Jo Kuffour was always a handful.
But while the likes of Robson, Clark and Richie Jones shone out, there were a few who weren't at their best. Kevin Kyle and Joel Porter each hit the Rovers woodwork, but were otherwise generally kept in check.
So it was a night of mixed fortunes - but at least they didn't lose.
 

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