Exeter were a pale shadow of the side who won at Charlton last week and drew at Carlisle on Tuesday. They were all over the place at the back and it was two defensive errors which led to Hartlepool taking a 2-0 half-time lead.
The Grecians failed to deal with a long ball forward and Monkhouse lashed the ball past Ben Hamer from the edge of the box for the first goal.
And Monkhouse added a second when Billy Jones' woeful attempt to play offside led to the Pools striker drilling the ball in off the far post to double the lead.
Hartlepool had chances to put the game beyond the Grecians, but Exeter pulled a goal back after 59 minutes following some great work by Ryan Harley who crossed for Jamie Cureton to finish with a smart volley. Cureton came close to a late equaliser but his close-range header was well saved by Scott Flinders.
Hartlepool`s Ritchie Humphreys appeared for the final eight minutes to break Watty Moore`s club record of 472 appearances.
Source: PA
Source: PA