NEVER has there been such a high level of expectancy on the stands of Victoria Park for a Division Three opener than was seen for Mansfield Town's visit.

Before kick-off Hartlepool United fans truly believed that this could be their year for promotion.

But, although confidence is still probably brimming, it needed a strike from Ian Clark 12 minutes from time to ensure Chris Turner's men did not start the new campaign with defeat.

This may not have been the perfect result for the 3,534 crowd in the three stands at the Vic, but 1-1 is also a scoreline that could well prove a good one against a young, dogged and impressive Mansfield side.

The Stags are going to upset a few teams over the next nine months and it would be no surprise if they are up there pushing for a play-off place.

Pool did not look as dangerous in the attacking third of the field as many were hoping, and Turner was the first to admit that he will be looking for improvement.

He said: "Our sharpness in front of goal could have been a little better and if we had have been sharper then it could have got us an equaliser earlier in the match.

"Second half I thought we did well and we looked a stronger team and more like ourselves. Mansfield are a good footballing team though.

"But for the first game of the season you are never going to be firing on all cylinders. There are going to be things that need to be touched up, it doesn't matter how many pre-season games you play , they're never going to be like a real league match.

"We have got new players playing in this team. Players like Tommy Widdrington have not played at this level and it will take time to adjust.

"But teams that won on Saturday are not necessarily going to finish at the top of the league, it's a long season. "It's going to be a long hard process and we are not going to walk away with the league."

Turner dropped last season regulars Anthony Williams and Paul Arnison for the clash, in favour of laying Martin Hollund between the posts and summer signing Jon Bass at right wing-back.

And the Pool chief stood by his decision, but revealed players could change in future matches.

"We have picked the best team that we thought should start this season," insisted Turner.

"We had to pick what we believed to be the best starting 11 on the basis of how everyone has performed in pre-season.

"Now we go into another game next week and we have to think which is going to be the best 11 to face Shrewsbury. It may take six or seven games to fathom out the best team."

Pool could not have got off to a worse start when the visitors took the lead after just eight minutes.

Giant striker Andy White tackled Chris Westwood and it allowed winger Wayne Corden to find space to cross down the right.

Highly-rated Mansfield forward Chris Greenacre then rose to head powerfully into Hollund's bottom right-hand corner.

The hosts struggled to find a break through and were restricted to long shots, most notably a Ritchie Humphreys drive on the turn that had to be saved by Kevin Pilkington.

Bill Dearden's youthful midfield of Craig Disley and Lee Williamson, both 19, showed no inexperience throughout and caused their opponents problems.

When Mark Tinkler had a header fly over the bar with quarter of an hour left for Pool it seemed that they would not be able to find the equaliser.

However, Tinkler found himself beating players to get to the bye-line three minutes later and his neat pass fell nicely for Clark to run on to and shoot into Pilkington's bottom right.

A draw was not what the supporters wanted, but Turner's side have recorded their first point.

POOL: Hollund 7, Bass 7, Clark 8, Barron 7, Lee 7, Westwood 7 (Sharp 84), Stephenson 8, Widdrington 6, Tinkler 7, Humphreys 6, Henderson 6 (Lormor 69 6). Subs not used: Arnison, Williams, Clarke.

MANSFIELD: Pilkington 7, Hassell 7, Robinson 7, Reddington 8, Tankard 7, Lawrence 8, Disley 7, Williamson 7, Corden 7, Greenacre 8, White 7. Subs not used: Binghm, Pemberton, Asher, Williams, Bacon.

Referee: G Salisbury (Preston)

Goals: Greenacre 8 (1-0); Clark 78 (1-1).

Bookings: Lawrence 46 (Mansfield)

Attendance:3,534

Read more about the Quakers here.