FA
Trophy 2nd Round Replay - 22nd January 2008
At Recreation Ground - Att 2,875
Report
Only one away side has come emerged from The Shay with all three
points so far this season. City narrowly failed to emulate Exeter's
achievement in a pulsating Yorkshire derby that flowed from
end-to-end. Heading into the last few minutes leading 2-1, a
stray Stuart Elliott
pass allowed substitute Mark Whitehouse to level matters to
send City back home frustrated.
Halifax started much the brighter and dominated the opening
quarter hour, but without creating too much by way of clear-cut
chances. Matt Doughty came closest in the early exchanges and
City didn't really get to grips with his running out wide until
a change of formation in the second half.
Eventually, City did find a forward gear and dragged themselves
into the contest. Ben
Purkiss carved out chance after chance from his right wing-back
position. A cheeky ball to Martyn
Woolford saw the former Frickley man tee up Anthony
Lloyd who blazed a shot about a cigarette paper's width
over and Elliott hit a 30-yarder wide after Purkiss laid on
an inviting ball. The best chance fell to Onome
Sodje who headed Purkiss's cross down only to see it bounce
over the bar.
Woolford had a number of chances to put the Minstermen ahead,
first scraping the post after Leo Fortune-West and Sodje had
combined well and he dragged a shot wide of the near post after
Lloyd had put him clear.
It felt almost inevitable then that Halifax took the lead with
a real sucker punch of a goal. A free-kick was swung into the
box and Tom Evans
decided to stay on his line. The heads went up about 10 yards
out and it was Nathan Joynes who rose highest to nod it past
the stranded keeper.
The lead would be short-lived as City fired straight back at
the Shaymen. A City corner was only half-cleared by the home
defence and Elliott played it back in for Sodje to run on to
and slide the ball past Adam Legzdins for parity. Back came
Halifax - it was that sort of game - and Joynes had a chance
to put them back in front, but he headed millimetres over.
Halifax started the second half much as they had the first.
A quick City free-kick went awry and with a four-on-three break,
Town somehow managed to completely butcher the opportunity,
overplaying it massively. Inexplicably, they contrived to do
the same just moments later as no-one seemed to want to take
responsibility for having the shot. The City midfield was being
over-run, so decisive action was needed and taken with Darren
Craddock making way for Manny
Panther. The switch to 4-4-2 immediately stifled Halifax's
main men in midfield and offered more protection to the defence.
Slowly, City got back into the attacking groove, though Woolford's
shot after a period of excellent and patient approach work troubled
only the corner flag. He made amends with a glorious free-kick
that put City in charge. Tom Kearney had been booked for kicking
out at Fortune-West and from the resultant kick, Woolford bent
it around the wall and into the bottom corner.
Halifax responded by bringing on former Premiership man Andy
Campbell and going three up top, but City's back four - with
David McGurk yet
again outstanding - had them more or less under control until
Elliott's defence-splitting pass allowed Whitehouse to run away
and pass the ball into the net past Evans. Despite the disappointment,
Craig Farrell
- a late substitute for Sodje - almost snatched a winner with
a shot that caught an evil deflection causing it to loop up
and over Legzdins, but it cleared the bar by not very much.
Given Halifax's home record, and the fact it's always a real
Yorkshire hotpot of a derby when City are in town, a point would
seem a reasonable outcome, but the manner in which it happened
left a very real sense of frustration. Colin
Walker was rather more philosophical in saying "When
we're disappointed at coming to a place like this and only drawing
shows we've come a long way. It was a shame the way the last
goal went in, but we've still not been beat",
which is a fair point as the run now extends to seventeen matches.
"It was a tactical battle. We
both changed shape a few times", the boss continued.
"We went 4-4-2 as they were starting
to win the midfield battle and they brought on a Premiership
player of only a few years ago to go three up front".
He closed his post-match comments by summing up everybody's
feelings: "I'm chuffed with a
point, but disappointed with how it came about".
The job now is getting that disappointment out of the system
before Saturday's trip to Histon.
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