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It was really a game we should have won, but we didn't take our chances and with the game ending all square we then had a wait until one of the assistant referees disappeared for some ten to fifteen minutes to determine whether we should play extra time or go straight to penalties.
You have to wonder about a set of officials not knowing the rules of a competition but given their display in the ninety minutes it was hardly surprising. But it wasn't the ref to blame when we went 1-0 down in the very first minute of the game. Dean Stott headed the ball back over his own keeper Stef Ritchie and left the Pools' striker with the easiest of chances.
It took us just about all of the first half to draw level, but the number of chances we failed to convert was incredible. Chris Anderson's nickname is 'Scorer' due to his ability in front of goal but he missed a couple of gilt edged chances whilst the usually reliable Adam Kay had a penalty, one that looked a bit harsh, saved by the visiting keeper.
With the clock past the 45 minutes Scorer did get the ball in the net and that saw the scores level at the interval and the hope of a storming second half. To some extent we got it, but a combination of missed chances and some inspired goalkeeping kept us out for much of the time.
However, we did get a second but it was something of a fortunate goal. James Craggs was surely crossing the ball but it sailed into the keeper's far top corner. The assistant referee flagged for offside but quickly realised his error and lowered it again. That wasn't good enough for one Hartlepool supporter who, like the rest of football, had no idea of the offside law.
We should have then gone on and won the game but Hartlepool went straight down and levelled and it was then a matter of whether we could get a third or not. The referee added on almost six minutes of stoppage time, although no one knew why, but in those added minutes the keeper twice came out quickly to deny Wes Fletcher and they also cleared one off the line.
The final whistle duly came and then we had the long wait to find out whether there should be extra time or not. There certainly was last time we reached this stage of the competition but when the Steve Jones look-a-like assistant referee returned he indicated it was straight to penalties.
We went first and scored four of our five through Thomas Bradley, Ben Hoskin, Alex MacDonald, Adam Kay but unfortunately the keeper saved well to deny Dean Stott, tipping his effort onto the post. Hartlepool scored all five of theirs and went through to the Northern Final.
Burnley's team: Stef Ritchie, Ben Hoskin, Dean Stott, Chris Lynch, Thomas Bradley, Chris Anderson, Adam Kay, Alex-Ray Harvey (Rob Turner), James Craggs, Alex MacDonald, Wes Fletcher.