Dreadful defending and a blatant lack of confidence and cutting edge in front of goal sent Scarborough crashing to their sixth home defeat of a so far miserable season.

Buoyed by the 1-0 midweek victory at Rochdale - Scarborough's first win in ten games - manager Mick Wadsworth scrapped his usual 4-4-2 home formation and kept faith with the five at the back that had served the Seasiders so well at Spotland.

But his best laid plans were in tatters after just 14 minutes following some woeful defending.

Hartlepool's towering centre forward Steve Howard rifled a low drive in from the edge of the area that Boro 'keeper Tony Elliott did well to push around the post.

But from former York City winger Paul Stephenson's resultant corner pint sized forward Craig Midgley - who spent two loan spells at the McCain Stadium when a player with Bradford City - rose unmarked to score with a bullet header.

Hartlepool continued to cause the greater threat and went 2-0 up on 28 minutes as the Seasiders' defence cracked at another set piece.

Stephenson whipped in a free-kick that Scarborough, despite what seemed like a hatful of opportunities, failed to clear.

Howard hit a fierce drive that was well saved by Elliott only for the ball to fall at the feet of Stuart Brightwell who lashed his shot into the corner of the net.Wadsworth immediately replaced teenage centre-back Michael McNaughton for striker Liam Robinson.

The words of Wadsworth were obviously still ringing in his players' ears as they came out a team transformed.

Hope was restored just three minutes after the restart when player coach Jamie Hoyland headed home from Bullimore's corner.

With Hartlepool reeling a revived Boro stepped up the pressure. But despite plenty of effort the lack of a cutting edge was evident once more and Pool hung on to three precious points.

Boro play their FA Cup first round replay against Rochdale at Spotland tomorrow night.

MATCH FACTS

Scarborough 1, Hartlepool 2

Scarborough: Elliott, Kay, Atkinson, Worrall, Lydiate, Russell, Bullimore, Hoyland, Brodie, McNaughton (Robinson 28 min), Williams. Subs (not used): Carr, Jackson. Scorer: Hoyland 48.

Hartlepool United: Hollund, Knowles, Clark, Ingram, Lee, Di Lella, Brightwell, Stokoe, Howard, Midgley, Stephenson. Subs (not used) Irvine, Evans, Hutt. Scorers: Midgley 14, Brightwell 26 Caution: Lee, dissent.

Attendance: 1,715.

Referee: M Fletcher (Warley)

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.