WHEN Chris Brandon fired over in the final minute with the goal at his mercy, it just about summed up Town's night.

Peter Jackson's side failed to capitalise on some decent spells of pressure and then got punished themselves with two sloppy goals given away in 90 second-half seconds to a well-drilled Hartlepool side.

It was Pool's first ever win on Huddersfield soil and strikes by on-loan Kevin Betsy and the crafty Mark Tinkler stunned the home contingent in a crowd of 9,968 - not bad considering torrential rain before the game and live Sky TV coverage.

Chris Turner and Kevin Blackwell - managers of Town's next opponents Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United respectively - were there to witness a close contest featuring a storm warning for the rest of Town's season.

The ball didn't roll freely for either side on the soaked surface, but referee Andy Hall let play run pretty well and there were some gripping snippets of action if not the all-out entertainment which was often a feature of Town's performances on home soil last term.

That Town lost on a night when they were hoping to christen the newly-named Galpharm Stadium with a first home win to move third in the table - Town must have a sound home record this term - was down to three major factors.

Firstly, Town let their normally high defensive standards slip twice in just a minute and a half to hand Hartlepool the advantage - David Mirfin twice letting the impressive Adam Boyd free to set up his teammates for goals on 67 minutes and 38 seconds and then 69 minutes and eight seconds.

Secondly, Jackson's strikers failed to force visiting keeper Jim Provett into a single save in the whole 90 minutes.

And, finally, despite all their honest endeavour and a busy display by the lively Brandon in his first start for the club, Town couldn't find that vital midfield spark to consistently open up two solid banks of four marshalled well by centre-backs Chris Westwood and Michael Nelson.

It was a shame, because Town did have their moments.

One, crucially, came as early as the ninth minute when Junior Mendes put Andy Booth clear in the box only for his left-foot cross shot to slide beyond Provett and his lefthand post.

Town had already threatened through the returning Nathan Clarke at a Tony Carss free-kick and, had Booth's effort gone in, it may well have knocked enough stuffing out of the visitors for Town to establish control.

Instead, Hartlepool hit back to make Town look shaky with Phil Senior making a brilliant close-range block from Boyd, Brandon blocking on the line before Mirfin cleared at a corner and Boyd heading over after Williams had beaten Sodje in the air.

Town's uncertainty was underlined when a long throw-in bounced on top of the bar, but they recovered to create heading chances for Efe Sodje and Carss and, at the start of the second half, for Mendes after excellent work by Town's top man, Rob Edwards.

Betsy's goal, after Mirfin and Clarke had been left on their backsides, sent the travelling contingent of 743 wild and they were still celebrating when Tinkler added the second.

The introduction of Pawel Abbott and Danny Schofield - with Town's fans trying their best to inspire the team - gave the solid Hartlepool back line a few scares, although they were probably relieved to see the back of Mendes because of his pace, even though he wasn't on the end of a decent chance.

Brandon's low drive six minutes from time was, in fact, Town's only shot on target and that was booted away from the six-yard box by Nelson.

If that suggested Town were going to draw a blank again (this is the first time in almost two years they've failed to score in successive home games) then Brandon's miss confirmed it.

It was easier to score as the ball ballooned up off Booth only seven yards out in the final minute, but the midfielder snatched at the chance and blasted it over.

Town will get fewer chances at this level and, to move up from 15th in the table, they will have to take a higher percentage.