FC Halifax Town 1 – 2 Harrogate Town

8 March 2013

Harrogate TownHarrogate soon made amends for Tuesday’s home defeat, with a battling win over F C Halifax.

The Shaymen made a dynamic start with a Dan Gardner free kick hitting the bar and then he followed up to force Craig MacGillivray into a full length save.

However, as is now their habit, Town scored an early goal.

The home defence failed to deal with an Adam Bolder corner and Matt Bloomer was on hand to poke the ball into the roof of the net.

For the second time in the match the woodwork came to Town’s rescue when Alex Titchiner’s close range effort was turned on to the bar by MacGillivray.

On 11 minutes, to the concern of the large vociferous home crowd, Harrogate doubled their lead.

A mix up in the home defence enabled Paul Bolland to gain possession and calmly chip Matt Glennon to make it two.

Unfortunately, the visitors celebrations we quickly cut short as within a minute, Gardner shot through a crowded defence, to make it 2-1.

A pulsating first half saw both sides have chances; for Harrogate, Adam Bolder tested Glennon with a thirty yard cross shot and home defender Liam Hogan injured himself in denying Chib Chilaka, after he had been sent clear by Bloomer’s header.

A neat turn and shot by Titchiner whistled over Town’s bar and Sean Williams was just too high with a half volley.

The Shaymen threw everything at Town in a tremendous second half effort, with overlapping full back, Scott MacManus,shooting over the bar and then being thwarted by an excellent block by Adam Nowakowski.

Dwayne Samuels relieved the pressure with a powerful run and cross which forced Liam Needham into conceding a corner.

Alan White and Lee Elam replaced Nowakowski and Bolder, as Town sought to turn the tide.

Chilaka,who was having a fine game, managed to clear the danger as Halifax managed to spring the offside trap and Town hearts missed a beat as MacGillivray spilled a long shot, only to see the ball trickle past the post.

F C Halifax were given a shot in the arm as Referee Ricky Wootton signalled an over generous 5 minutes stoppage time and they almost made it pay off.

Gardner shot at MacGillivray and Williams fired across goal, but it was sub Adriano Moke, who almost evened matters,when he ghosted in from the right and slammed the ball on to the bar.

Even then, Town had to watch a late header flash wide before the ref called a halt.

It was a magnificent, fighting performance by the whole team and they thoroughly deserved any luck which came their way, as they left the field to the cheers of the travelling supporters.

Harrogate Town

1 MacGillivray, 2 Samuels, 3 Merris, 4 Nowakowski (White 55), 5 Bloomer, 6 Killock, 7 Platt, 8 Bolland (c) 9 Knowles (Youhill 82), 10 Chilaka, 11 Bolder ( Elam 57)

Unused subs 14 Dean, 17 Da Veiga.

Scorers Bloomer 5, Bolland 11. Bookings Chilaka, Bolder.

Attendance 1133

1 Comment

  1. Very very lucky harrogate side…how we lost that beats me!! Looking forward to the reverse fixture…we’ll def make play offs…might see you in the mix come may?

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