Hartlepool striker Joe Allon scored twice in two minutes to deny struggling Fulham a precious three points in a relegation battle at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
The Fulham fans protested against the management of Ian Branfoot before the game despite an appeal from the man in the hotseat in the matchday programme and the boo boys were back by the final whistle. Fulham took a fortunate lead in the nineteenth minute when Pools centre back Ian McGuckin turned home a cross from Rob Scott under pressure from the on-loan Phil Barber.
Mark Blake doubled the lead after half time with an emphatic header from Duncan Jupp’s free-kick, but Fulham never looked comfortable despite holding what appeared to be a commanding lead. Hartlepool, so often the side who have let winning positions slip from their grasp in the closing stages of games this season, kept pushing with player-manager Keith Houchen’s snapshot was just about kept out by Tony Lange.
Houchen kept plugging away and he nodded a cross back in the direction of under-fire Allon who buried his own header in time and space at the back post. Fulham looked shell-shocked and they conceded again shortly afterwards when Allon nodded in a corner from Sean McAulay.
FULHAM: Lange; Jupp (Hamill 72), Herrera, Cusack, Moore, Blake, Marshall, McAree, Barber; Conroy, Scott. Subs (not used): Williams, Angus.
GOALS: McGuckin (o.g. 19), Blake (55).
HARTLEPOOL UNITED: Horne; Ingram, McAulay, Billing, McGuckin, Reddish, Allon, Tait, Houchen, Halliday (Oliver 67), Howard. Subs (not used): Lee, Lynch.
GOALS: Allon (78, 80).
REFEREE: Steve Bennett (Orpington).
ATTENDANCE: 3,700
