Barron - happy

By Charlie Summerbell
October 28 2012

They needed two own goals, one of them in added time, but Hartlepool United responded positively to the midweek departure of Neale Cooper with a battling 2-2 draw at Brentford.

There’s even evidence to suggest they deserved it.

It certainly wasn’t as one-sided as many of their games this season, Pools working hard, playing well at times and getting the breaks they needed.

Paul Hayes put the Londoners ahead with a close-range goal, but with Ryan Noble forcing good saves out of home keeper Simon Moore before Antony Sweeney’s cross was turned into his own net by Harlee Dean.

Hayes headed a second for the home tea, but Pools kept battling away and right at the death Evan Horwood’s corner was headed in by Tony Craig.

Caretaker boss Micky Barron was, needless to say, happy with the result.

“I thought we deserved the point, specially with our first-half display,” he told the club website.

“We played some great football and created a good number of chances, so we could really have been three or four up at half-time. (Steady on Micky, don’t get carried away).

“We got a bit of luck, obviously, but I think we deserved that because I would have been very disappointed to have left with nothing.

“In the second half we didn’t really keep the ball as well, but overall I was happy with the performance – it gives us plenty to build on.”

Barron will no doubt believe that he is now ready to be given the reins on a more permanent basis, but the list of contenders for the Pools job is growing daily.

Darrell Clarke, making a great job of managing Salisbury, is the current favourite, but guessing the thoughts of Pools chairman Ken Hodcroft has always proved a tricky business and the job could be anybody’s.