Sub-edited by Carlos Acosta Juckes
Halifax Town travel to the Bob Lucas Stadium this evening, to face newly promoted Weymouth. Weymouth came into the National league in high spirits, following a playoff promotion campaign, but have struggled to ignite that same form against tougher competition. After being out of action for a number of weeks, due to a Covid outbreak in the squad, The Terras didn’t have the best returns to weekly football after suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Chesterfield. They will hope to bounce back quickly with a win today, allowing them to climb out of the relegation zone.
It hasn’t been plain sailing for Halifax either, only picking up two victories in their opening ten games. They finished in the playoff spots last season, but sit seventeenth in the league currently. Having said that they did score five in their most recent game against Barnet. Could this be the start of the big turn around they need to reach those heights of last season?
Harry Buckett will be taking you through all the action.
Starting Lineups:
KICK OFF Halifax get us going in this game. The 800 home fans that have been allowed in are in full voice. What a difference it makes to have them back.
1′ SAVE Weymouth put a good passing move together up until Shamir Mullings’ pass goes slightly wayward slowing down the attack. They manage to keep on the pressure and a ball is sent into the box, finding an unmarked Sean Shields. His shot is straight at Sam Johnson, allowing him to parry the shot out for a corner. Good start for the home side.
3′ Nyal Bell has a shot from range but it flies wide of the post to a chorus of cheers from the crowd.
8′ Weymouth still looking to quick counter attacks for their way through the Halifax defence and it’s working. Halifax going for a slower approach, but starting to look more in control.
10′ GOAL (HAL) What a belter to open the scoring. Luke Summerfield mishits a volley sending the ball high into the air and towards the six yard box. Danny Williams controls the ball in the air and hammers home on the volley, striking the bar as it goes in. Poor marking from Corey Jordan and Calvin Brooks gave Williams the space, but you can take nothing away from the finish.
13′ CHANCE The ball isn’t cleared properly in the box and Kieran Green pounces on the opportunity to shoot. His toe poked effort isn’t cleanly struck and goes wide of the goal.
18′ Andy Robinson’s headed attempt goes high over the bar after a good delivery from a free kick.
22′ SAVE Green shoots from the edge of the box and it takes a defelction off Josh Lesie-Smith. Jack Bycroft gets down low to make the save. A good curving run from Bell to opened up the space for Green to drive into
23′ GOAL (HAL) It’s a second for The Shaymen. The corner isn’t dealt with by Weymouth, allowing Niall Maher to place the ball across goal and into the net. On second viewing it’s clear that it took a rather big deflection off of Leslie-Smith’s leg. It will probably go down as an own goal.
28′ The three Weymouth defenders just can’t quite handle the Halifax attackers. With both sides playing a 3-5-2, it’s allowing the attacking team to overload the opposition when countering. Weymouth may need to consider dropping an extra man at the back, or playing the wing backs deeper if they don’t want to concede further goals.
31′ SAVE Chances at either end all within thirty seconds. The ball pops up nicely for Mullings to hit on the half volley but it’s Johnson to deny The Terras again with a good stop. Weymouth then break away, allowing Niall Maher to shoot just inside the box. Bycroft gets both hands to the ball, pushing it over the bar.
32′ So close to a third. A drilled shot takes multiple deflections and looks to be heading in. Bycroft scrambles across the goal and claws the ball off of the line. Weymouth really struggling to contain Halifax.
36′ A small stop in play as Brennan Camp is down with an injury. After a quick bit of treatment he is okay to continue.
43′ Jeff King creates a bit of space on the edge of the box and opts to have a strike. He’s off balance after cutting onto his left and it’s nowhere near on target.
HALF TIME Weymouth 0-2 Halifax Town
Weymouth started the half looking bright, but an early Williams strike seemed to squash any momentum they had. Containing the Halifax attack has been a major problem for the home side, making it too easy for them to get through on multiple occasions. Expect to see some changes, whether that be in personnel or formation and tactics for The Terras, as something needs to desperately change if they are to fight back into this game.
46′ The teams are out and we are back underway.
47′ CHANCE An early chance for Halifax as Bell takes the ball wide and fires across goal. It’s not the best of efforts from the twenty-three year old and it rolls wide.
50′ The fans screaming for a Weymouth penalty for a push in the box, followed by shouts for a red moments after when King goes in very late on Jake McCarthy. The referee waves away the penalty and appears to not even see the second challenge. The linesman has it in clear view and it’s a mystery as to why he doesn’t flag for the foul.
60′ Weymouth have managed to keep Halifax on the back foot for much of this half. A period of back to back corners for the home side kept Halifax working hard to keep their lead at two. Better from Weymouth.
65′ GOAL (WEY) Game on! Halifax completely switched off as Weymouth take a quick short corner. It’s dinked into the box and Josh McQoid meets it with his head, sending it past the keeper. You have to say with the way Weymouth are playing now, a comeback is far from being out of the question.
67′ CHANCE Almost an equaliser. It’s another corner, delivered perfectly to Jordan but he slips as he goes to shoot. The home fans in full voice now, really getting behind their side.
68′ A stop in play as a fan has run onto the pitch. Such a stupid thing to do, especially in the circumstances we are in. It’s things like this that could ruin being back in stadiums for everyone. He is taken off the pitch quickly though, good to see the stewards are quick to close these events down.
72′ GOAL (HAL) An excellent finish restores the two goal lead. Halifax won back the ball and found Gevaro Nepomuceno in the final third. He cuts onto his right foot and finishes superbly from range, into the far bottom corner leaving no chance for Bycroft. It’s taken all the momentum out of Weymouth’s advances. They will need to show real character to come back from this.
79′ GOAL (HAL) Surely that’s it now. After the original free kick is cleared, King drives in a follow up cross which Tom Bradbury gets himself on the end of at the back post. Halifax are probably home and dry now after looking like they could lose their lead for so long.
81′ YELLOW Jack Senior is booked for kicking the ball away.
82′ GOAL (HAL) They are just scoring for fun now. Woeful marking from the Weymouth back line as Senior delivers an inch perfect ball to allow Jake Hyde to head it home. Halifax have now scored ten goals in their last two games, a good looking stat for The Shaymen going forward.
90′ There will be four minutes if added time
92′ King comes inside with the ball and makes his way into the box all to easily. His shot goes wide but Weymouth really need to switch on. They may be four goals down but they could be five or six down if they remain vacant at the back.
FULL TIME Weymouth 1-5 Halifax Town
A clinical second half performance sees Halifax bring the full three points home. Weymouth looked to be making their way back into the game and had all the momentum in the opening periods. If I’m honest the real changing factor was when the fan ran onto the pitch. It sucked all the energy and urgency out of The Terras and allowed Halifax to put themselves back in the driving seat.
You can’t take any credit away from Halifax’s performance, after putting five past the keeper. They had only scored six in their opening ten, and now they have netted ten times in their last two, involving nine different scorers.
The result means Halifax climb two places up the table, into fifteenth. With this new found form, they may be looking at jumping up a few more places in the coming weeks. Weymouth stay exactly where they were down in the relegation zone. It’s looking bleak for Weymouth, they could be in for a long season.
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