TRANMERE dropped a place closer to League One’s bottom rung on an afternoon when the performance of Les Parry’s team suggested the most likely direction of their future travel is upwards.
The majority of Rovers’ away defeats this season left those who watched them in no doubt about why they were deep in the relegation zone.
The sixth and latest setback may not have stopped the rot in terms of results, but there was a significant and encouraging improvement in the way the side mounted their resistance at Victoria Park.
The 200 fans who made the journey to the northeast saw Tranmere continue the positive progress instigated by caretaker manager Parry and evident in the home games against Stockport and Brighton during the previous week.
They were stronger, fitter, better organised and more resilient than in the majority of away games this season and genuinely unfortunate to finish the afternoon empty-handed.
On the balance of a tight and sometimes untidy contest, a point was the least Tranmere’s efforts merited.
They had nothing to show for all the hard work because the home side knocked a couple of efforts off the line and converted their one clear cut chance when full-back Peter Hartley headed the winner from corner on 43 minutes.
Hartlepool, inconsistent in front of their own supporters this season, were happy to hang on for the points through five minutes of extra time against a visiting side reduced to 10 men.
Tranmere lost substitute Charlie Barnett to an 88th minute dismissal for a tackle on Neil Austin that looked innocuous from the vantage point of the press box.
Referee Gary Sutton, who was much closer to the incident, judged that it merited a straight red.
Barnett’s mood of frustration as he left the ground was understandable. The young midfielder was offered few first-team opportunities during John Barnes’ brief spell as manager and now a suspension could block his attempts to break into a side finding their collective feet under the guidance of long-serving physio Parry and coaches Shaun Garnett and Wayne Allison.
The “back to basics” line may become overused in reference to Rovers’ approach since Barnes departed but their style and tactics on Saturday were fairly staple fare for a League One team on the road. They set out to prevent the opposition playing, defended from the front, hustled in midfield and kept their discipline on the back. There was not a possibility, at any stage of the contest, of the team being overrun.
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