It's all over bar the shouting for Pools

Hartlepool United 0, Walsall 0 - the least said about that the better.

The game was as miserable as the bitterly cold weather, the result as bad as so many others in this awful season.

And Pools are back where they have spent so much of the campaign – at the foot of the League One table, their prospects of escaping the big drop as remote as ever.

With only half-a-dozen games to go, it’s all over bar the shouting. Pools will be in league Two next season.

"It's goals that win you football matches and we possibly had the best change of the game with Antony Sweeney's header," boss John Hughes told the club website.

"For twenty minutes in the first half I thought we were playing some nice stuff and possibly edged it, but we never got out of the traps in the second half and Walsall could have gone on to win it.

"But we showed character in being resolute in our defending and we it was much improved in terms of spirit and organisation on Tuesday night.

"Obviously at this stage of the season we want wins and it would have been nice to nick a goal and give ourselves something to hang on to but it wasn't to be.

"With six games to go we may have to be a bit more expansive and fly by the seat of our pants a bit more in search of the goals - if we have to play a more attacking system then that's what we'll do."