Fair's Fair

The Pilgrims' seven-match winning run in all competitions was brought to an end at Home Park, but Derek's side were still able to battle back from behind to make it eight games without a defeat.

After a positive start for Argyle, the visitors grew into the game and found themselves in front on 21 minutes, as a miscued delivery from Nathan Thomas looped over Luke McCormick and into the far corner.

"I thought we started the game very well, for the first five or ten minutes," said Adams. "We had an opportunity down the right-hand side. Then Hartlepool were able to get their goal, and [they] sat back in for the majority of the game, and we found it very difficult to break them down.

"It was a cross - it wasn't a shot, anyway. I think it was a misplaced cross that goes into the far post. I think it skims the bar and hits the post at the same time."

The Greens found it hard going breaking down an organised Hartlepool side, but their persistence paid off six minutes from time. Substitute Jimmy Spencer was fouled in the box, allowing Jake Jervis to slot home an equaliser, but Argyle left themselves too little time to complete the turnaround.

"I think that when you try and put your foot up that high, and Jimmy Spencer's going to head it towards goal, then it's always going to be a penalty," said Derek on the spot-kick. 

"You can't be on the wrong side of the defender, turn your body round and then try and swivel and kick it. When your foot is six foot in the air, in front of somebody's face, it's a stonewall penalty kick.

"We probably took too long to get it to 1-1. It was always going to be difficult to get it to 2-1 after that, but we've kept our unbeaten run going.

"I thought that Hartlepool defended well. They came back in numbers and they worked hard. I thought they were good on the ball at times, without really creating any opportunities against us."

Despite his side's late dominance, as well as the dismissal of both Scott Harrison and Pools manager Craig Hignett late on, Derek was happy to take a point after an under-par performance from his side, and will look to take Argyle's unbeaten run to nine games when they visit Leyton Orient on Tuesday.

"There was a lot of stoppage time in the second half," said Derek. "Their players seemed to go down a number of times with injuries, and that stopped the game - it stopped the flow of the match. We were just trying to get on with the game and trying to get ourselves back into the game.

"In the end, we got what we deserved, which was a point. You have to sometimes say 'listen, we'll take a point and move on'. Could we have won the game? We probably could've in the end, but did we deserve to win the game? Probably no."