Post by trev on Sept 1, 2018 16:41:00 GMT
Unfortunately, I was unable to locate my lucky Sutton United shirt for this fixture, so with minutes to go before kickoff, I grabbed the nearest non-football related top instead. It wasn't until I got to the game, that I realised the foolishness of wearing a Black Sheep Brewery t-shirt emblazoned with "YORKSHIRE" on it, to a match facing opponents from said county. What a wally!
If that wasn't enough of a jinx, Halifax were on us from the opening whistle, overloading our left flank and playing a very high line. We weathered a very tough opening 10 minutes, without Captain Fantastic in the back four. Fortunately, Wish was playing a blinder, although their number 19 looked dangerous when he edged past Clough to drill in a low driving shot. Seldom have I seen an away side so attacking from the outset, brimming with confidence, which was befitting for a club leading this division before kickoff.
Having missed the last couple of games, this was my first opportunity to get a proper look at Wayne Brown, who was very active at the heart of our midfield, and really needed to be, against such lively opposition. He was one of our stand out performers today, exhibiting neat footwork, getting into spaces quickly and moving back to defend when required. A shrewd signing.
Drinan was involved in a one on one with their keeper in the opening 30 minutes, with only a heavy touch preventing him from having a strong goalscoring opportunity.
As the first half progressed, we shifted more bodies over to counteract their overloading of our left side, and that diluted much of Halifax's early attacking potency.
In about the 33rd minute, a Halifax striker found himself in space outside our penalty area, unleashing a screamer which bounced off Butler's left post. A good chance that came out of nowhere, and equally good fortune that the woodwork saved us.
Shortly thereafter, their number 14 was booked for simulation just outside the area. Feigning injury didn't help him to avoid the yellow, it's not often we get to see such shrewd refereeing at this level. More of the same, please!
Our back four coped admirably without JC, and Wishart worked our left flank tirelessly. He had an epic battle with their number 19 in the first half, increasingly marking their big danger man out of the game. You could almost see the steam coming out of his ears from his growing frustration...
So it was 0-0 at the half with the best chance of the opening 45 going to the visitors, although we edged it with the quality of our midfield, with Brown the pivot for many of our best moves, but with Lafayette arguably too isolated upfront, with Drinan playing too far off him to make them an effective combo. Davis also looked sharp for us in midfield.
We pretty much retained a 4-5-1 formation in the second half, which quelled Halifax's attacking ability effectively but without offering us too many attacking chances ourselves.
Bolly worked really well on our right flank, putting a series of great crosses into the box, which just needed one of our forwards to meet a little quicker to open things up.
A heavy challenge on Easty in about the 14th minute of the second half resulted in a free kick from a dangerous area just outside their penalty area, although why the ref didn't see fit to give a yellow is beyond me. Kenny shaped up to take it, delivering a driving shot to the keeper's left making it 1-0.
Although we continued to contain Halifax well, minutes later Halifax conjured up an equaliser from a solo piece of brilliance turning into space and delivering a shot just outside our area past Butler against the run of play to bring things level.
Dos wisely decided to make a double sub, with the tireless Brown coming off to a rousing reception for Taylor, and the ever industrious Lafayette coming off for Wright.
Wright soon made his presence felt, sending a shot from range into the keeper's waiting arms. With Wright on, we seemed to have a better shape upfront and more attacking options opened up.
With about 10 minutes to go, our final sub was made, Cadogan on for Davis. Along with Brown, Davis was another contender for man of the match for me.
A rare wobble from Beckwith at the back almost saw Halifax break through, but we weathered that storm and continued to make good chances of our own, with Drinan very close to getting his head to the ball ahead of their keeper, which if he'd made contact would have surely won the game for us.
Wrighty shot just wide with a pacey shot in the box, with what should arguably have been the match winner, but Halifax hung on following a series of late corners for the draw.
With such a strong finish, 1-1 felt slightly disappointing, but to play this well against the league leaders is a very encouraging early sign indeed. I doubt we will face many tougher away sides this season, and we have some real defensive grit that was perhaps lacking at times last season. The main conundrum facing us now, is working out what our best attacking partnership is. The jury's still out on that one...
On this showing, Maidstone are in for a very tough time indeed on Tuesday.
If that wasn't enough of a jinx, Halifax were on us from the opening whistle, overloading our left flank and playing a very high line. We weathered a very tough opening 10 minutes, without Captain Fantastic in the back four. Fortunately, Wish was playing a blinder, although their number 19 looked dangerous when he edged past Clough to drill in a low driving shot. Seldom have I seen an away side so attacking from the outset, brimming with confidence, which was befitting for a club leading this division before kickoff.
Having missed the last couple of games, this was my first opportunity to get a proper look at Wayne Brown, who was very active at the heart of our midfield, and really needed to be, against such lively opposition. He was one of our stand out performers today, exhibiting neat footwork, getting into spaces quickly and moving back to defend when required. A shrewd signing.
Drinan was involved in a one on one with their keeper in the opening 30 minutes, with only a heavy touch preventing him from having a strong goalscoring opportunity.
As the first half progressed, we shifted more bodies over to counteract their overloading of our left side, and that diluted much of Halifax's early attacking potency.
In about the 33rd minute, a Halifax striker found himself in space outside our penalty area, unleashing a screamer which bounced off Butler's left post. A good chance that came out of nowhere, and equally good fortune that the woodwork saved us.
Shortly thereafter, their number 14 was booked for simulation just outside the area. Feigning injury didn't help him to avoid the yellow, it's not often we get to see such shrewd refereeing at this level. More of the same, please!
Our back four coped admirably without JC, and Wishart worked our left flank tirelessly. He had an epic battle with their number 19 in the first half, increasingly marking their big danger man out of the game. You could almost see the steam coming out of his ears from his growing frustration...
So it was 0-0 at the half with the best chance of the opening 45 going to the visitors, although we edged it with the quality of our midfield, with Brown the pivot for many of our best moves, but with Lafayette arguably too isolated upfront, with Drinan playing too far off him to make them an effective combo. Davis also looked sharp for us in midfield.
We pretty much retained a 4-5-1 formation in the second half, which quelled Halifax's attacking ability effectively but without offering us too many attacking chances ourselves.
Bolly worked really well on our right flank, putting a series of great crosses into the box, which just needed one of our forwards to meet a little quicker to open things up.
A heavy challenge on Easty in about the 14th minute of the second half resulted in a free kick from a dangerous area just outside their penalty area, although why the ref didn't see fit to give a yellow is beyond me. Kenny shaped up to take it, delivering a driving shot to the keeper's left making it 1-0.
Although we continued to contain Halifax well, minutes later Halifax conjured up an equaliser from a solo piece of brilliance turning into space and delivering a shot just outside our area past Butler against the run of play to bring things level.
Dos wisely decided to make a double sub, with the tireless Brown coming off to a rousing reception for Taylor, and the ever industrious Lafayette coming off for Wright.
Wright soon made his presence felt, sending a shot from range into the keeper's waiting arms. With Wright on, we seemed to have a better shape upfront and more attacking options opened up.
With about 10 minutes to go, our final sub was made, Cadogan on for Davis. Along with Brown, Davis was another contender for man of the match for me.
A rare wobble from Beckwith at the back almost saw Halifax break through, but we weathered that storm and continued to make good chances of our own, with Drinan very close to getting his head to the ball ahead of their keeper, which if he'd made contact would have surely won the game for us.
Wrighty shot just wide with a pacey shot in the box, with what should arguably have been the match winner, but Halifax hung on following a series of late corners for the draw.
With such a strong finish, 1-1 felt slightly disappointing, but to play this well against the league leaders is a very encouraging early sign indeed. I doubt we will face many tougher away sides this season, and we have some real defensive grit that was perhaps lacking at times last season. The main conundrum facing us now, is working out what our best attacking partnership is. The jury's still out on that one...
On this showing, Maidstone are in for a very tough time indeed on Tuesday.
