Ronnie Moore made two changes to the Tranmere side that won 3-0 at Bradford, as the injured Chris Shuker and Robbie Stockdale were replaced by Mike Jones and Ben Chorley in the starting XI. Calvin Zola retained his place upfront, whilst Ian Goodison, Shane Sherriff and Paul McLaren, all listed as doubtful before tonight's game, started the match. There were places on the bench for Jennison Myrie-Williams and Craig Curran.
The game couldn't have started any worse for Tranmere, as after just three minutes the home side Hartlepool took the lead.
Rovers failed to clear an early corner and the ball fell to Gary Liddle who smashed the ball into the back of the net from inside the penalty area after Liddle had gone past one Tranmere defender, leaving Coyne in the Rovers goal with no chance of saving the ball.
The Pool were on the attack again one nine minutes, and but for a terrific one handed save by Danny Coyne, Joel Porter would have doubled the scoring, with Coyne firstly coming out of his goal to narrow Porters angle before diving low down to his left and getting a firm fist on the ball.
Rovers had one weak attack as Paul McLaren hit a weak shot towards the Hartlepool goal which Budtz saved at ease before The Monkey Hangers got their second goal with just eleven minutes on the clock.
James Brown managed to get all the way down the Hartlepool right wing, easily passing Tranmere loanee Andrew Taylor, before shooting across Coyne and into the net, once again the Welsh International had no chance of saving the ball.
The goal pretty much silenced the 137 hardy souls who had made the journey up from the Wirral, not Liverpool as the stadium announcer said, and most were reduced to returning to the burger bar and buying the foot long hot dog. At £3, it was not only a bargain but put in a much better display than the Tranmere defence.
Rovers looked to attack but nothing would come of them getting forward as despite a very strong wind, they seemed intent on playing hoof-ball, the defence in particular, which just saw the ball being blown in all directions.
The only time Tranmere did gets into the penalty area they had reasonably strong claims for a penalty, as a miss-controlled ball by Shane Sherriff bounced up and hit the Hartlepool defender on the arm.
From then on, Tranmere threatened to threaten, if that's not too confusing, but any attacks seemed to fizzle out into nothing. Shane Sherriff saw one shot blocked out for a corner, but Rovers wasted the set piece as Paul McLaren took it short to Mike Jones who put a very poor cross to the edge of the area from where it was comfortably cleared.
The Wirral side should have got at least one goal back on 41 minutes however, as Calvin Zola came inches away from netting.
Paul McLaren found Mike Jones out on the right wing and after the Rovers number 21 had made it into the area, he was caught in two minds as whether to shoot or cross, and despite only being a few yards from goal, he slid a decent ball across the six yard line which the sliding Calvin Zola just couldn't quite reach.
This late effort gave Rovers some hope as they went in for half time and indeed they did have a couple of early efforts in the opening five minutes of the second period, with Budtz forced into making saves from Calvin Zola's 30 yard effort and then Shane Sherriff's weak shot from inside the area after the Australian had managed to hold off his man and run into the area with the ball.
Rovers were well and truly back in it on 54 minutes however, as Shane Sherriff scored an excellent goal, his second of the season.
Chris Greenacre was fouled 25-yards from goal and on the right hand side of the penalty area as Rovers looked at it. The left-footed Sherriff stepped up to take the kick and the Rovers number five managed to curl it over the 15 man wall and into the top corner of the goal.
This was Tranmere's best spell of the game, and they almost levelled minutes later as Rovers had won a corner on the Hartlepool left. Paul McLaren sent the delivery goal wards and it was brilliantly headed off the line by the Hartlepool defender and out for another corner.
The resulting corner saw Tranmere have another chance of scoring but this time Calvin Zola sent his effort over the bar.
Rovers' pressure wasn't to last long however, as on 58 minutes they handed the game to Hartlepool, courtesy of a shocking back-pass by on loan Blackburn defender Andrew Taylor.
Chorley lost the ball near the centre circle but it eventually came back to Andrew Taylor who was about ten yards outside the Rovers box. Under a bit of pressure, Taylor completely miss hit his pass back to Coyne, not putting enough weight on the ball, and it fell straight into the path of the now sprinting Hartlepool attacker Joel Porter.
Coyne tried his best to retrieve the ball as he slid in on Porter and was unlucky as he took the ball but it fell kindly to the Hartlepool attacker, who picked himself up and hit the ball into the empty net.
The Rovers attacks still came, albeit infrequently, and there was a distinct unwillingness to shoot when the Tranmere players got in the right positions.
On 66-minutes, Chris Greenacre was on the end of a Calvin Zola through ball, but instead of shooting, the striker decided to go the hard way and round the keeper and he ultimately lost possession.
Tranmere did have the ball in the net soon after also, as Mike Jones crossed the ball into the area where Chris Greenacre netted at the far post, but the linesman had judged Jones to be offside when the ball was played to him.
On 75-minutes, Ronnie Moore finally made his first substitution, bringing Jennison Myrie-Williams on for the poor Mike Jones. For some increadible reason, this was to be Tranmere's only substitution, as despite having Craig Curran and Gareth Taylor on the bench, Ronnie Moore decided not to put the strikers on and try and get atleast one goal back.
Hartlepool were the one's having the best chances however, as they pressured Tranmere into making more mistakes and one shot across goal drifted just wide of Danny Coyne's goal.
Rovers had a few of chances themselves though. Chris Greenacre hit one just over the bar after Shane Sherriff's pass whilst Myrie-Williams had one effort as the loan player ran past a few Hartlepool challanges before hitting a low shot towards goal, but his effort lacked power and it was saved easily again by Budtz.
The best chances were still coming at the other end though. Hartlepool once again made their way into the penalty area after a move involving a string of passes before the ball was hit goal wards and well saved by Coyne, fisting the ball away whilst Brown hit the bar with a good curling effort from 18-yards.
The final couple of chances fell to Tranmere, as Greenacre hit one effort wide on 88-minutes before Steven Jennings powered his way into the Hartlepool area and hit a powerful, low shot towards goal which Budtz did well to save, diving low to his left.
The performance was ultimately very poor and lacking in effort however from Tranmere, and Hartlepool thoroughly deserved their win.
The Rovers defence for the first time this season looked very poor, with not a single player in the back line putting in a good performance. If it wasn't for a couple of saves from Coyne, the score line could have been very embarrassing indeed.
In midfield, Tranmere lacked passion and commitment, with Jennings looking like the only one who wanted to win the game as he made some good bursting runs and was the only person really putting in any tackles.
Upfront, Tranmere were even worse, with both strikers Greenacre and Zola having particularly poor games, which makes it even more confusing as to why at least one of Craig Curran and Gareth Taylor didn't make it on to the pitch from the substitutes bench.
The travelling Tranmere fans were understandably very angry with the performance that their team had put in. With many having taken days off work and paid a lot of money to be at the game, the least they were expecting was some effort from the team but only Jennings showed that on the night.
It is a clear sign of how badly the team player when for five minutes of the second half the Tranmere fans cheered every touch by a Hartlepool player and booed every (rare) touch by a man in a black Rovers shirt.
With Rovers now five games without a league win, and only one goal to their name in that run, they have slipped to twelfth in the League One table, with Hartlepool just one of the teams moving above them following last night. If things don't improve, it might not be long before Tranmere find themselves in a relegation fight.
Jones' Man Of The Match: Only Coyne and Jennings can really come out of this game knowing that they put any effort into the match, although winger Myrie-Williams did look as if he actually wanted the ball and did run at defenders when he finally came on for the shocking Sherriff. Coyne made some decent saves, but ultimately I thought Jennings was the best of a very poor bunch of players on the field for Tranmere in this match.