Hartlepool United 2, Boston United 1.

AT the sixth time of asking Danny Wilson finally celebrated his first three points as Hartlepool United manager in style last night.

After defeats to Swindon, Walsall and Hereford and a share of proceedings with Macclesfield and Torquay, Pools edged past Boston United courtesy of two outstanding goals.

The first was a bullet strike from Antony Sweeney just before the half hour and the second was a fine Jon Daly finish that capped off a memorable move with 20 minutes left.

Daniel N'Guessan's strike seven minutes from time was not sufficient to affect matters too severely and Pools prevailed.

Had things not gone the way of Wilson then he could have been manager of a side propping up the bottom tier of the Football League by close of play tomorrow night.

Instead, having tasted his first success in front of the club's fans, the Pools boss will now look up and beyond and will be hoping to make further inroads on the promotion hopefuls with a victory at MK Dons a week today.

The dismissal of left-back Jon Brackstone, after a late lunge on Boston's Stewart Talbot, made for a tricky ending but Pools piled the misery on Boston - whose only other league visit to Victoria Park ended in defeat in 2002.

The numbers had been evened up by the end when Paul Ellender was shown his second yellow card for a foul on Daly with three minutes to play.

Given the way transfer deadline day passed without any outward movement at Pools, there will be a sense of relief on Wilson's part that he knows what he has to work with in the coming months.

There is still a chance he could make loan moves for players at the back end of this week - with Middlesbrough's Danny Graham and Jason Kennedy two to have been consistently linked.

There was the acquisition recently of Willie Boland and he was drafted into the middle of midfield at the expense of his old Cardiff team-mate Lee Bullock. Boland was not exceptional but did everything neatly on his debut.

His role was to break things up in the middle and distribute and that allowed Sweeney to push on and drive with the sort of runs that made him one of the most coveted midfielders in the lower leagues not too long ago.

As well as Boland making his home bow, centre-back Gary Liddle was also eager to impress in front of the Pool faithful and he did so having played his first two games on away soil.

But, while assured for the rest of the encounter, there were early signs of communication problems with his new team-mates and the first of those arrived after just seconds.

A routine centre from David Galbraith looked harmless enough until Liddle's attempted backward header fell loose at the back post, fortunately for Pools Francis Green's outstretched boot could not gain control.

Galbraith, on the left of midfield, was demanding to take every dead ball and proved to be Boston's main source of supply. In two further instances before half-time his crosses nearly created the opening goal.

Firstly Talbot, stationed at the back post, headed wide and then Paul Tait got the better of Konstantopoulos but his effort rebounded off the bar and was cleared by Michael Nelson.

The better efforts did fall to Boston early on but the visiting defence could be rattled if pressured but Joel Porter, on two separate occasions, wasted good opportunities when he was put through over the top.

And on 29 minutes Porter turned provider. As Pool attacked down the left, the Aussie flicked the ball into the path of the onrushing Sweeney who took a touch before striking the sweetest of right foot volleys from 22 yards high into Andy Marriott's net.

There was some heavy handed tactics from the Boston defence, but referee Graham Laws had very little of it and the many free-kicks played a part in the remainder of the first half being stop start and without too many chances.

After the restart Boston did push on and that allowed Pools to counter-attack. Sweeney had an effort fly over the bar and then James Brown fired over from close range after good work by Porter and Sweeney.

The sending off of Brackstone, who dived in recklessly on Talbot after mis-controlling, threatened to derail Pools' hopes of success.

But, instead of buckling under pressure, the ten men performed heroically to not only hold onto their advantage but add to it.

It was a bold move by Wilson to introduce Daly from the bench after losing a man but within a minute it worked.

Liddle, outstanding after a few early nerves, broke up a Boston attack and fed the ball out wide to Sweeney. He then held play up before rolling the ball back to Robson who in turn found Boland.

The Irishman's incisive slide rule pass was perfect for Daly and he slid in to apply the finish past Marriott.

Boston substitute N'Guessan was on hand to turn a loose ball into the Pools net late on but this, finally, was a little home comfort for Wilson, whose side could have won by more had Michael Maidens' late drive top been saved by Marriott.