Heroic Vauxhall Motors relish chance to give Hartlepool another game after cup draw

Nov 10 2010 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

VAUXHALL are relishing a second bite at League One side Hartlepool United after a battling performance earned a deserved replay a week on Tuesday at Rivacre Park.

Despite being forced to defend in numbers for long periods, the Motormen more than held their own and any neutral fan watching would not have known that there are currently 74 places between the two sides.

After 9 minutes, Motors had their first decent chance when Neil Prince put Paul Brown through but with only keeper Jake Kean to beat, the on-loan Blackburn Rovers stopper pulled off a fine save diving to his left.

Vauxhalls did have the ball in the back of the net after 30 minutes when Prince whipped in a dangerous free-kick from the right and captain Josh Wilson rose highest to head home but his effort was unfortunately ruled out for offside.

At the other end Hartlepool midfielder Antony Sweeney could have scored twice in the first half after he saw an early one-on-one saved by Tynan and then tried to lob the keeper only for the ball to drop on the far side of the post.

The second half saw Pool pressing for a breakthrough but the Motors defence held firm and were well marshalled by man-of –the-match Andy Taylor.

Vauxhall could have snatched it on 81 minutes when a Craig Mahon left footed strike went inches wide of the post, much to the relief of the stranded Hartlepool keeper.