A win for the Gulls, the importance of those three points being impossible to judge fully at the moment, but it keeps us hanging on with the slimmest of hopes. And it's pleasing to report no crowd trouble or disruption to the match. Having seen it as my duty to inform the Safety Advisory Group concerning talk of match disruption late last week, they informed me that my proposal that they deny entry to Plainmoor to anyone wearing a Smiths T shirt wasn't really feasible.
I hadn't been aware of the onerous schedule that Halifax had faced in the past week, and on reflection their lack of spark was probably accounted for by the number of games they've had squeezed into a short time. The Shaymen packed their defence but they did it quite effectively. And, as I see Gary Owers has observed, they defended deep and in considerable numbers. Our build up play was good, or at least looked good, and maybe that was due to the space afforded, but once you hit the edge of the penalty box it was mass congestion.
As others have mentioned, Young and Lemonheigh Evans both battled well against their midfield opponents, and when finding time and space used the ball well. The first time I'd seen Rhys Healey, and I think the lad is still struggling with his fitness. His inability to keep his feet again didn't win him any penalties but nor did it get him any further 'simulation' yellow cards.
A first half of good football, in a match that was allowed to flow by a sensible Referee. We'd created chances but not good enough ones to avoid the half time scoreline being Gulls 0 Shaymen 0
50/50 money was £210, claimed by holder of ticket No.13530. No takers for the Crossbar challenge, despite the holders of tickets 13836, 12760, 13852 all being given the chance to step forward. Eventually one of the Sponsors kicked the three balls goalwards to give us something to watch. But it was what we had to listen to that alarmed me. No sooner had the halftime scores been read out that 'How Soon Is Now' came blaring over the PA system; those unmistakable vocals of that Rusholme Ruffian, Morrissey, giving rise to concerns that maybe even the half time music selecting has now fallen into the hands of the Militants !!. Compound that with then having it pointed out to me that the programme listed today's Match Sponsor as Michel/Mike Thomas, and the second half couldn't start soon enough.
We again didn't panic, played neat and intelligent football, and concentrated on getting 'round the back' of the massed Halifax defensive line. The goal when it came wasn't a masterpiece, but Jamie Reid had made a good enough and powerful enough connection to get his shot over the line before a Halifax defender could clear it out of the goal.
I think we now expected an even more open game, with Halifax having to come out and try to take the game to us if they were going to salvage something and avoid heading back to Calderdale country empty handed. But for the most part they didn't...or possibly couldn't. Their seeming lack of interest in mounting an attack of their own, or at least one that involved three or four of their players needing to run all the way into our half of the pitch, stayed mostly unchanged.
A slight rally in the final minutes (they were down to 10 men by now) was about all they managed, as Vincent Dorrel enjoyed the quietest of afternoons, and certainly didn't have to face a barrage of incoming fire, such as his countrymen had been dishing out to some empty garden sheds in Syria just a matter of hours earlier.
Not many wheels left on the wagon, but it just about rolls on to Hartlepool next Saturday.
