HARTLEPOOL boss Neale Cooper hailed his side's fighting spirit after they staged a dramatic comeback in Tuesday's thrilling LDV Vans Trophy win over Hull City.

Pool were on the verge of crashing out of the competition at the first hurdle after finding themselves two-goals down two minutes into the second half.

But they hauled themselves back into the game to take the tie into extra time before eventually going through to the second stage winning 4-1 on penalties.

Cooper said: "The lads showed great character to come back and win the match and I'm proud of them for that."

There were several heroes on the night - and not just Greek goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos and the four successful penalty takers - and those fans who stayed away because they felt the 40-year-old Scot was not taking the competition seriously were sadly mistaken. The Hartlepool boss knows the LDV Vans Trophy represents the best chance of silverware and his decision to leave out five of the team who played against MK Dons last Saturday was not to rest weary legs.

"I think too many players are in the comfort zone at the moment so I decided to bring in some new faces," said Cooper. "But I think the lads who played against Hull on Tuesday put in a good performance to really challenge these people for places.

"I still believe we have to be more clinical. Hull only had a few chances and they put them away, whereas we had ten or so chances and didn't convert them."

* Antony Sweeney will serve a three match suspension for his sending off against Milton Keynes Dons last Saturday.

* Former Wales manager Bobby Gould last night resigned as Peterborough head coach during the half-time interval of their 1-0 LDV Vans Trophy defeat at Bristol City.

Posh boss Barry Fry said: ''Bob told me at half-time that he didn't want to be associated with the team any longer, and that was it"

Read more about Hartlepool here.