Hereford United 1 Hartlepool United 1

ALREADY operating with a reduced squad this season, Danny Wilson couldn’t have been much harder hit of late.

Shorn of five players through injury and suspension, Wilson had another five in Saturday’s squad for the trip to Hereford suffering from the affects of flu.

But Wilson isn’t the sort to make public his problems. Instead, one players’ misfortune is another’s opportunity.

And so it proved on Saturday, as Jonny Rowell made a seamless step up from the youth and reserve teams to League One.

The 19-year-old has long been recognised at Victoria Park as a talent of some promise. A 25 minute run out in a JPT game with Leicester this season was his only firstteam competitive action before the trip to Edgar Street.

Wilson is keen to nurture the midfielder, reluctant to throw him in unnecessarily.

Rowell began on the right side, before swopping roles 30 minutes in with Gary Liddle which allowed him to play in his preferred central position.

And from then on he grew into the game’s most influential player. Small in stature, but big on ability and aptitude, it may be harder now for Wilson to leave him out than it was to put him in.

“Jonny had a terrific debut and we know what he can do, there’s never been any doubt about his ability,’’ admitted Wilson. “We have to nurture him and keep him right. We changed his role and moved him into the middle of the park and he did very well – a terrific debut from a young kid in there.

“With Jonny it’s important to understand that he’s not played at this tempo before.

We wanted him to start outside, but tucked in.

“He’s got a lovely balance about him and we wanted him to come inside and drift in, but as the game went on when he had the pace of the game he would move inside.

“He felt his way into the game and got his position and the rest of the game went his way, he played very well. He kept possession and still has a massive amount of learning to do, but we have to nurture him through and take it easy.

“We might have to take him out of the picture and not get carried away with one game, thinking that it’s job done.

But we feel we have a decent player of some potential on our hands.’’ Wilson’s side has not won in League One since seeing off Carlisle on October 28 – a run of six games – and the manager added: “If players come up to the plate then that is what you want to see – people may say Jonny is inexperienced, but how does he get that experience? He is an exciting player and we don’t want to lose him in terms of hammering him into the ground.

“He had some space and he has that great ability to drift into positions and I’m delighted for him to have a debut like he did.’’ He added: “We’ve a lot of players missing and sometimes good things come from it. We are using players in the squad and trying to find out what we have got in there.

“Sometimes in adversity you get little nuggets coming through. David Foley came on and did well, he got into some great areas and used the ball well.

“He caused problems running with the ball and that was a bonus – everyone will talk about Jonny Rowell of course, but there was lots of other good things happening.’’ All those good things came in the second period, when Pools were a changed outfit from the one which played in the first half.

They fell behind when Steve Guinan was given too much space to knock the ball in after he scuffed his first attempt.

And they would have been trailing by more if it wasn’t for Jan Budtz. After a solid return seven days previous, he again showed he is over the confidence problems which affected him last season.

But in the second period he was largely a spectator.

Pools levelled when Matty Robson’s cross was perfectly met by defender Dean Beckwith who outjumped Kevin Kyle to head into his own net.

From then on, Michael Mackay went on a 30-yard run in which he didn’t seem to have the ball under control, but beat four defenders and was blocked, Matty Robson’s quick thinking saw him intercept a throw from home keeper Craig Samson and see two efforts saved and cleared off the line, Micky Nelson had a header kicked off the line, Kyle, Liddle and Sam Collins had shots saved.

“We could have had there points on the second-half performance,’’ added Wilson.

“Our tempo went up and we put them on the back foot for long periods, the pressure was on their goal instead of ours.’’