Result: Macclesfield Town 0 Hartlepool United 0

IF anyone at Hartlepool United had any illusions of grandeur about football in League Two, they were firmly broken last night.

Pools went to Macclesfield and, in front of just 1,843 spectators played out a goalless draw when chances were too far and few between.

After playing at the likes of Nottingham Forest, Hull and Bristol City in the past three seasons, this was their reality check.

Welcome to League Two.

Pools are taking some time to find their feet under Danny Wilson and a new 4-3-3 formation. Sometimes it works to good affect, but on other occasions the central striker is left isolated as his strike partners drop deep to forage for possession.

After (somehow) drawing a blank against Swindon, it was another no score last night.

On this occasion, however, they created nothing like the 18 attempts at the weekend against a side who surely didn't work as hard as this last weekend in Darlington.

A quick early interchange of passing saw Antony Sweeney try to feed the on-rushing Matty Robson, but the pass spun away on the greasy surface.

Nine minutes in and it was the first sign either side wanted to play.

It was another nine minutes before anything happened. Joel Porter fed Sweeney, but again the zippy surface saw the ball slide out of reach.

The home side showed some intent for the first time when Martin Bullock won a corner after going past Matty Robson.

But Konstantopoulos punched away and Porter's lightning break was stopped by the backtracking Bullock.

The home side tried to find big strikers Matty McNeil and Marvin Robinson at every chance and Ben Clark and Micky Nelson had an on-going physical battle with the pair.

Porter then ran through the home defence at ease and his hopes of shooting were unceremoniously ended by Carl Regan.

Free-kicks against Swindon at the weekend were below par. Gavin Strachan was back in the side last night to improve them and and his dead ball from the edge of the area was destined the net before Dave Morley nodded it away.

Best chance of the half, however, fell to the home side. McNeil looked offside as he stood by Darren Williams in the six yard box, but he wastefully poked wide.

Ritchie Humphreys fizzed a volley across the goal which evaded the pack of black shirts in the area.

Just 90 seconds into the second period, Sweeney charged into the area and slid his ball low across goal, just out of reach of Brown.

Then Brown's trickery created space on the opposite flank, but again the cross evaded all.

After Konstantopoulos saved a low Kevin McIntyre free-kick, Robson attacked from deep, beat three defenders, but was crowded out as he posed to shoot.

Central defender Clark reveled in pre-season that he and Nelson had been doing extra defensive sessions with new coach Ian Butterworth.

Last night they will have felt the benefits of the work as they nodded away countless balls.

Bullock was the home side's busiest player and he drove low at Konstantopoulos from 25 yards.

Michael Proctor replaced Brown on 62 minutes and he created and almost finished soon after, his low shot on collecting a return pass deflected wide.

And, with ten minutes to go, Konstantopoulos earned his corn with a fine double block. First he pushed out McNeil's cross before pouncing on the loose ball to stop Dave Morley.

*Lewis Emanuel's first goal for Luton was enough to maintain the Hatters' impressive start to the Coca-Cola Championship season as Sheffield Wednesday's home campaign began in disappointing fashion.

The summer signing from Bradford unleashed a low 25-yard strike which deflected past on-loan Owls goalkeeper Brad Jones in first-half stoppage time.

In a pulsating start, the visitors almost opened the scoring inside the first 20 seconds, John Hills heading Feeney's follow-up clear after Jones had saved at the feet of Carlos Edwards.

Moments later, Wednesday full-back Frank Simek had a penalty shout waved away, while lone front man Steve MacLean's turn and shot was narrowly wide.

There was no let-up to the frenzied opening, Jones with a superb point-blank stop from Feeney after Edwards' ball was headed back across goal.

The best chance of the half seemed to fall to Burton O'Brien, who raced clean through only to see his low finish turned away brilliantly by Marlon Beresford.

But Emanuel had the final say of the half with his deflected opener.

Leon Barnett's challenge stopped Brunt netting a certain equaliser in the second half after MacLean's brilliant control set up his now strike partner.

Luton needed some increasingly desperate defending to seal the points, Langley resorting to bundling over Graham Coughlan in the box only for the referee to wave play on