Carlisle 3 - 3 Hartlepool United FC: Points shared in last-day thriller

Posted Sunday, May 03, 2015 by PA

Carlisle let a three-goal half-time lead slip as Hartlepool staged a second-half revival to snatch a 3-3 draw at Brunton Park.

With both sides safe from the threat of relegation they served up an entertaining final-day treat, although it should have been a stroll for Carlisle after first-half goals from Kyle Dempsey, Steven Rigg and Jason Kennedy had them looking set for a convincing win.

However, Michael Duckworth scored in between Jordan Hugill's brace after the break and the points were shared.

Carlisle made a brisk start and Scott Flinders was kept busy in the Hartlepool goal, tipping over a Kennedy header then blocking efforts from Rigg and Brad Potts.

Poolsl, whose journey had been delayed, looked slow out of the blocks in the first half although Hugill missed a great chance to snatch the lead against the run of play when he glanced his header across the face of goal from Jonathan Franks' cross.

Dempsey gave the hosts the lead in the 25th minute, regaining possession from his own free-kick to curl a shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the net from 20 yards.

Another Dempsey free-kick fed Potts whose deep ball was met by Rigg at the far post and he slid the ball home from close range for Carlisle's second goal in the 31st minute.

Two minutes later a scramble in the box led to Kennedy making it 3-0 with a close-range header.

The whole complexion of the game changed when Hartlepool scored twice in a three-minute spell midway through the second half.

The first goal came in the 63rd minute and it was a tap in for Hugill after Mark Gillespie could only parry a cross by Marlon Harewood.

Then, in the 65th minute, Duckworth really brought Pools back into the picture with a superb individual goal - a right-foot blast from 25 yards which left Gillespie helpless.

Hugill made it 3-3 with just four minutes remaining, hammering the ball into the roof of the net from close range after latching on to a cross from the right.