SATURDAY, for Hartlepool United, turned into everything it wasn’t supposed to be.

Instead of celebrating safety with victory over Leeds they lost; there was no rip roaring lap of honour at the end to mark the end of their home season, the players came out to thank those supporters who stayed but it was a muted affair; and Joel Porter failed to make much impression on his last appearance at Victoria Park.

Even their League One status isn’t totally secured just yet.

Pools can be caught by fourth-bottom Carlisle, providing the Cumbrians beat Millwall at home and Pools lose at Bristol Rovers, turning around a six-goal deficit in goal difference in the process.

Brighton and Northampton – both a point behind Pools – are the others in the mix.

Relegation shouldn’t happen, but stranger things in football have occured.

Boss Chris Turner has long been certain that the outcome of the season would go to the final game and Jermaine Beckford’s 33rd goal of the season for Leeds United made sure it would.

“We were nearly there against Leeds and it sums up our season,’’ reflected Turner.

“We have nearly beat some teams, nearly beat others, nearly scored more goals.

“We have played all the top teams and lost by the odd goal after putting in decent performances and not giving away goals like we have done throughout the season.

“I expected it to go down to the last day all along, but I would sooner be in our position than Carlisle and we will go down to Bristol and put in a performance.’’ Whether Porter is there for his final outing for the club before heading back home to Australia depends on how he recovers from a hamstring strain suffered in the closing minutes on Saturday.

His 110th and final outing at Victoria Park wasn’t what he, or the crowd who idolise him, wanted.

From when he emerged from the dressing room to cheers for the warm up at 2.22pm, to when he collected two player of the year awards at 2.40pm and finally exited stage left at 4.51pm, the hope of a dream departure was never fulfilled.

The departing hero had a goalbound header saved after three minutes and that was about it. Well shackled by a strong Leeds central defence, he got little change from either Sam Sodje or referee Colin Webster.

“Saturday wasn’t the best for me personally – I wasn’t too happy with the way I played,’’ he admitted. “But Leeds are a good team with good defenders and sometimes that happens.

“I will be looking to get fit for Bristol and help Hartlepool get the point they need to stay up.

“We can’t look and hope that Carlisle don’t score five goals and we don’t concede two.

“We’ve got to look at getting a point minimum – that’s what we tried on Saturday but we were a bit unlucky that Leeds are in form and playing well. We’ll go there the same as we have approached the last two away games and we’ve got results out of both of them.

“It’s fantastic that we don’t have to win, but we still need to get a result. If we defend as a team and play a little bit better when we’ve got the ball, it shouldn’t be a problem.’’ Pools have already suffered at the hands of Bristol Rovers on the last day of the season in recent years – Danny Wilson’s side missed out on the League Two title after losing at home to Paul Trollope’s side in 2007.

Rovers, however, surely won’t be as efficient or strong as Leeds. It’s now one defeat in 14 for Simon Grayson as he plots a course through the play-offs.

In truth, Pools never looked like eloping with the points and could have been out of sight and buried by half-time.

With the prospect of goal difference saving their season, it’s a good job they weren’t.

Beckford had a goalbound shot deflected away from goal just two minutes in, Bradley Johnson cracked the crossbar and Sodje headed against it.

Pools’ best first-half opening came when Daniel Nardiello’s one-man run through the visiting defence ended in a shot at keeper Casper Ankergren.

But they could have taken the lead seven minutes before the decisive goal. Gary Liddle started the move, and fed Ritchie Jones while continuing his forward run.

Jones’ pass found the rightback, but he pushed his leftfooted shot wide when he should have been celebrating a goal.

“I thought when Gary Liddle got into the box it was going to be his moment,’’ admitted Turner. “That’s where you need a good pass into him, take a touch with the left, hit with the right and score, but we didn’t do it.

“We couldn’t get a clear cut chance – the winning goal wasn’t a clear cut chance but he created it for himself.

“There was little between the teams chances wise, we may have edged a couple, they had a couple of decent situations.

“But what you expect from a club like Leeds is a bit more class, they had more quality on the ball and time to use it.’’