Hartlepool got off to a promising opening with a first-day blank at Rochdale.

With 12 shots on target, they held the upper hand when it came to attacking and will feel disappointed not to have turned their advantage into victory.

They got off to a bright start and could have been two goals after only seven minutes.

Joe Gamble's shot from 18 yards was parried by Josh Lillis before Andy Monkhouse took a pass from James Brown only for his shot to be knocked off the line by the packed home defence.

Scott Flinders then came into his own, making two strong stops.

Both times he denied Gary Jones, the second time after producing a fine reaction stop to deny the midfielder.

Antony Sweeney went close for Pool at the start of the second half. First he headed over from close range before unleashing a piledriver from distance that was tipped over by Lillis.

Sam Collins almost won it for Pool in the closing stages, his headed beat Lillis but lacked the pace to cross the line.

Rochdale: Lillis; Wiseman, Holness, Dawson, Widdowson, Barry-Murphy, Kennedy, Jones, Akpa-Akpro (Elding 66), Thompson (Andre 84), O'Grady. Unused subs - Edwards (gk), Flynn, Done, Redshaw, Goodall.

Hartlepool: Flinders; Austin (Haslam 82), Collins, Hartley, Horwood, Brown (McSweeney 73), Gamble, Murray, Sweeney, Monkhouse, Bjornsson (Boyd 46). Subs: Mackay, Fredriksen, Rafferty (gk), Larkin.