Moors suffered their first loss of the pre-season campaign as Hartlepool United came from behind to claim victory at The Brewery Field on Saturday.
Richie Bennett had put Tommy Miller’s men in front with a beautiful finish early in the second half but the visitors mounted a spirited response to turn the game on its head.
Moors boss Miller was without a significant number of his squad due to holidays, with Glen Taylor, Rob Ramshaw and Junior Mondal all away, while Brad James remained sidelined through injury.
It was Pools who got on the front foot early on and former Moors man Corey McKeown almost found a route to goal when his speculative cross-shot to the far post was turned over the bar by the trialist keeper.
From the resultant corner, the shot-stopper was forced into action again to palm away a firm header from Reiss McNally as Lee Clark’s men applied some pressure.
Another former Brewery Field attacker in Will Harris should have broken the deadlock for Pools but dragged a shot wide, before Brooklyn Ilunga’s low drive came back off the post as Moors lived dangerously.
However, it was Miller’s men who scored first on 53 minutes. Former Pools duo Danny Johnson and Richie Bennett combined well as the latter escaped in behind the visiting defence and, spotting the keeper off his line, lobbed a wonderful finish over him from 25 yards to make it 1-0.
Pools equalised with 20 minutes left when the tricky Jack Nolan found space to cut inside from the right and curl a superb shot into the far corner of the Moors net for 1-0.
Terry Bondo then got to a ball first inside the area and was brough down to give the away side a penalty on 81 minutes which was rammed home confidently by Nolan to provide them with the lead.
Matty Dolan almost rescued a draw for Moors when he clipped a wonderful free-kick from 25 yards over the wall, only to see it come back off the bar as Pools survived.
Full Time: Moors 1 Hartlepool United 2
Moors: Trialist, Stephenson, Jones, Cantrill, Whelan, Pollock, Jenkins, Bennett, Johnson, Trialist, Trialist.
Subs: Dolan, Beals, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist.
Referee: Andrew Miller
Attendance: 821