Notts County boss Ian Burchnall was again left disappointed as his faltering play-off chasers were held at Altrincham – and he labelled the result not good enough.
After trailing by two goals, United pulled one back through Connor Lemonheigh-Evans before they found themselves a man down after sub Josh Umerah received his marching orders for a second bookable offence, only 20 minutes after coming on.
With the business end of the season very much upon us, the broadcaster will be making sure you won’t miss a kick during the closest title race for years.
They swept Notts County aside with a powerful display at Victoria Park and, with Sutton not playing until Tuesday night when they face Torquay, Pools can enjoy looking down on the rest.
The Bulls were ten games unbeaten before they knocked out Woking last weekend in the FA Trophy semi-finals to set up a Wembley return, five years on since the reformed club reached the FA Vase final, against Hornchurch
When the Hornchurch coach pulled back into the club car park last Saturday, Chris Dickson could be forgiven for feeling like he was back in Cyprus again.
For new boss Ian Burchnall it was more like the sound of relief as he got his Magpies reign up and running with a huge three points against their promotion rivals in his third game in charge.
The rookie boss’ nightmare start to life at Meadow Lane continued on Tuesday night as they followed their home FA Trophy semi-final defeat to Step 3 Hornchurch on Saturday with a 1-0 home reverse to Aldershot Town in the league.