BEFORE he replaced Neale Cooper two weeks ago, Martin Scott's greatest managerial achievement had been leading Hartlepool's reserves to the Pontins Division One East League Championship last season.

After last night's nerve-jangling penalty shoot-out success at Tranmere, the former Sunderland full-back is just 90 minutes away from leading the senior side to Southampton and Leeds. The change in his fortunes, like the change in Hartlepool's status, has been little short of staggering.

By steering his side to the League One play-off final, Scott has set up the biggest day in Hartlepool's history in ten days time. He has also put paid to a play-off jinx that was looking terminal.

Some things are just not meant to go together. Oil and water don't mix, gas will cause havoc near a lighted match, and Hartlepool shouldn't be allowed to enter the end of season lottery. It is far too agonising.

Losing one play-off semi-final from a winning position with three minutes to go can be considered unfortunate. To come so close to doing so two years in a row must be unprecedented.

Yet, after almost throwing away a season of hard work by conceding two late goals to Tranmere, Hartlepool's players summoned the resilience and the nerve to win the most dramatic of shootouts.

More than 4,000 minutes of football condensed into one shot that Dimi Konstantopoulos saved and another that Ritchie Humphreys converted. One dream shattered, another sustained.

For most clubs, a 2-0 advantage from the first leg would have represented a comfortable safety net. But, for Hartlepool, Friday night's win merely presented another opportunity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Three years ago, Chris Turner's side travelled to Cheltenham and established a 2-1 aggregate advantage in the second leg, only to crash to a heart-wrenching defeat on penalties.

Things were even worse last May, when Hartlepool were within three minutes of their first play-off final before Bristol City scored twice to dash their dreams.

Hardly the best of luck to carry to Tranmere, and the more superstitious members of Pool's 2,000-strong travelling army will also have noted that yesterday marked the 13th day of Scott's Victoria Park reign.

It was a triumph over the odds. With both sides locked in a pre-match huddle, the expectation around Prenton Park was palpable. Forget 'Survival Sunday', the prospect of a 'Triumphant Tuesday' was setting nerves a jangle.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, those nerves seemed to transmit themselves to Hartlepool's players in a game that was fraught and frantic but largely finesse-free.

With Adam Boyd's flicks going awry and Humphreys' touch deserting him, the visitors found themselves pinned inside their own half as Tranmere eschewed flowing football for a more route-one approach.

That route ended at the feet - or more often than not the head - of Eugene Dadi, a striker who can best be described as old-fashioned.

His physical approach posed the question "Who's the daddy" - fortunately for Hartlepool, the answer was Chris Westwood.

The centre-half was every bit as big and every bit as bruising as his awkward opponent and, time and time again, his aerial ability hauled Pool out of trouble.

He was unable to prevent Iain Hume striking the crossbar but it was no was no coincidence that things started to fall apart when he was switched to full-back.

Konstantopoulos had made two fine saves by that stage but, with their direct approach having failed, Tranmere looked to have run out of steam by the mid-point of the second half.

Hartlepool being Hartlepool though, things are never that simple. Ryan Taylor's 70th-minute free-kick was a bolt from the blue but, for those in blue and white, it was merely an expected twist to the tale.

David Beresford's 87th-minute leveller was every bit as predictable, but no less hurtful as a result. The best, though, was still to come.