RELEGATION from the National League might, just might, not be inevitable.

Events away from the football field may yet condemn Hartlepool United to an even greater fall from grace than they experienced last May when they lost their membership of the Football League.

However, Pools are now showing the fight on the pitch their long-suffering fans have been demanding to see.

Seven days after scrapping their way to a goalless draw with only ten men against promotion hopefuls Boreham Wood, they fought back in spectacular fashion in Arctic conditions to steal a point at another club with aspirations for a move out of the division, AFC Fylde.

When the in-form Lancashire club, the National League’s leading scorers by some distance, transformed a 1-0 interval deficit into a 3-1 lead going into the last quarter of an hour, the thoughts and fears of the travelling faithful turned to the worst.

Fylde, after all, had scored seven the previous Saturday against a team going for automatic promotion.

Pools looked destined to move ever nearer to the bottom four, but there was to be a late, late comeback.

First, with just over 60 seconds of normal time remaining, Jake Cassidy pulled the trigger from 30 yards to beat Jay Lynch in the home goal.

Pools were left with four minutes of stoppage time to find an unlikely leveller. It took them just three.

Sub Devante Rodney, who served notice of his talent against Doncaster on the final day of last season, produced something even more dramatic at Mill Farm.

Moving in off the left side, the teenager took aim from the edge of the box with his right foot, with his shot flying into Lynch’s top-left corner.

If the Fylde keeper could have done better with Cassidy’s wind-assisted piledriver, he had no chance with Rodney’s and Pools had a point and, over the balance of the play, not an undeserved one.

Will Rodney score a better goal, Matthew Bates was asked afterwards.

“I hope so,” smiled the caretaker boss. “I hope he has a few more of them left here.”

Bates will have his fingers crossed for some more in the remaining nine matches of this season.

However, it would seem he no longer needs to hope or pray for some blood and guts.

For two Saturdays in a row, Pools have dug deep and they must now do it again on Wednesday night at Barrow, where they must avoid defeat in a vital 19th v 20th battle at Holker Street.

Bates said: “We are showing a great togetherness, not just as a team, but as a whole unit, players, coaches and staff.

“Against Boreham Wood we never gave up to hold on to a point, but at Fylde it was a case of not give up to try to get a point.

“That’s the attitude we need to show every week, we have a huge game now at Barrow in midweek where we must turn that point into a very good result on Wednesday.

“When we were 3-1 down I was stood there thinking ‘how are we losing?’ after grafting so hard in the first half into the wind to lead 1-0.

“We defended magnificently and had chances to score other goals so it was disappointing we went behind, but we showed a never-say-die spirit we need to keep going until the end of the season. “

Pools, watched by prospective new owner, Raj Singh, and his friend and former manager, Craig Hignett, looked anything but a struggling side, another encouraging sign.

Defensively, Pools were organised and determined against not only the elements but a home team who regularly had five up front.

The back four were solid and if Fylde got their shot through, Scott Loach saved from both Jack Muldoon and red-hot striker Danny Rowe.

Pools had some great openings of their own, Conor Newton going wide from a cross by Rhys Oates who was denied by Lynch’s save from a narrow angle.

Cassidy had two gilt-edged opportunities, going high and wide when he tried to place his shot instead of just putting his foot through it into the wind, while Lynch made a good stop from him.

But Pools looked the equals of their slick hosts, with the midfield of Nicky Featherstone, Newton, Michael Woods and Lewis Hawkins getting through great work.

And the reward did come when Blair Adams swung over a teasing cross from the left in the 39th minute which defender Jordan Tunnicliffe could only head past his own goalie.

After the break, a strong start was vital, but they conceded 60 seconds in, with Andy Bond, having been pressed forward from defence into midfield, equalising at the second attempt.

He pulled out a beauty from the edge of the box to give Fylde a 2-1 lead on 56 minutes and after Jonny Smith had a ‘goal’ chalked off for offside, the sub seemed to have wrapped things up in the 77th minute following a neat finish from Muldoon’s cross.

But Bates’s side proved they are made of sterner stuff as they repeated a St Patrick’s day feat of the Pools promotion class of 2007, who fought back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 at Stockport. This result might just prove even more crucial to the club’s future.