After Hornchurch forward Angelo Balanta tucked home from a corner in the opening seconds of the second half, Hartlepool fought back to win, despite having defender Neo Eccleston sent off for a second bookable offence in the 68th minute – his third dismissal of the season.

Hartlepool’s comeback started just two minutes after going down to 10 as striker Will Harris reached Nathan Sheron’s flick-on to level.

Pools then grabbed the winner in the 80th minute as Sheron laid the ball off to substitute Luke Charman and he found the back of the net with a superb strike from the edge of the box.