NEVER has there been such a high level of expectancy in the stands of Victoria Park for a Division Three opener than was evident for the visit of Mansfield Town.

Before kick-off Hartlepool fans truly believed this could be their year for promotion.

But, although confidence is still probably brimming, it needed a strike from Ian Clark 12 minutes from time to ensure Chris Turner's men did not start the new campaign with defeat.

This may not have been the perfect result for the 3,534 crowd in the three stands at the Vic, but 1-1 is also a scoreline that could well prove a good one against a young, dogged and impressive Mansfield.

The Stags are going to upset a few teams over the next nine months and it would be no surprise if they are up there pushing for a play-off place.

Pool did not look as dangerous in the attacking third of the field as many were hoping, and Turner was the first to admit that he will be looking for improvement.

He said: "Our sharpness in front of goal could have been a little better and if we had been sharper then it could have got us an equaliser earlier in the match.

"Second half I thought we did well and we looked a stronger team and more like ourselves. Mansfield are a good footballing team, though."

"But for the first game of the season you are never going to be firing on all cylinders.

"There are going to be things that need to be touched up, it doesn't matter how many pre-season games you play, they're never going to be like a real league match."

Pool could not have got off to a worse start when the visitors took the lead after just eight minutes.

Giant striker Andy White tackled ChrisWestwood and it allowed winger Wayne Corden to find space to cross down the right.

Highly-rated Mansfield forward Chris Greenacre then rose to head powerfully home.

The hosts struggled to find a breakthrough and were restricted to long shots, most notably a Ritchie Humphreys drive on the turn that had to be saved by Kevin Pilkington.

Bill Dearden's youthful midfield of Craig Disley and Lee Williamson, both 19, showed no inexperience throughout and caused their opponents problems.

When Mark Tinkler had a header fly over the bar with quarter of an hour left for Pool it seemed they would not find the equaliser.

However, Tinkler found himself beating players to get to the bye-line three minutes later and his neat pass fell nicely for Clark to run on to and shoot home.

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