FC Halifax Town fell to another defeat as Havant & Waterlooville scored two in 16 minutes in the second half with the Shaymen unable to recover.
A result which sees Town drop to 16th in the Vanarama National League, only five points from the relegation and 11 points adrift of the play-off positions. The only change for Jamie Fullerton’s men was the introduction of Skarz onto the bench with an unchanged starting 11.
Some good chances fell the Shaymen’s way in the first as Matty Kosylo saw a free kick shot narrowly tipped round the post despite nearly wrong-footing goal keeper Ben Dudzinski. Another free kick from Kosylo again forced Dudzinksi into making a good save but he held onto it this time.
The best chance of the half fell to striker Dayle Southwell, as a Kosylo corner came in and found the head of Matty Brown. Brown’s header went back across goal and found Southwell, but his shot was cleared off the line by the Hawkes defence.
Coming out in the second half and Havant & Waterlooville were much stronger, having a handful of corners before their eventual breakthrough. The ball came in and was deflected high into the air by Tyler Cordner, Johnson was unable to judge the flight of the ball, barely getting a hand to it before it went over the line to make it 1-0.
The second goal came only 16 minutes later as Sellers was unable to stay with his man and a low cross was played in from the right and Alfie Rutherford was there to tap it home at the back post.
This second goal seemed to spark Halifax to life and for the rest of the game it was nearly all Town, and this paid off just 11 minutes from time as Niall Maher picked up the ball just outside of the box and instead of crossing, he went for a shot. Dudzinski looked to have an easy save but he spilled and the Shaymen were back in with a chance.
The remaining 10 minutes were all Halifax except for a few breakaways that came to nothing. It all came to head when Kosylo was pushed to the ground when going to get the ball for a corner and the referee stood and watched until it dissolved, resulting in a red card for Will Wood two minutes from time.
However, despite the man advantage, Halifax were unable to level and will go home with no points. Looking forward to next week, results in a break in league action as the Shaymen travel to Morecambe away in the FA Cup first round after they beat Warrington Town in the 4th Qualifying Round.
Havant & Waterlooville: 21. Ben Dudzinski, 2. Dan Strugnell, 3. Rory Williams (25 Alex Bradley 60), 4. Brian Stock (C), 9. Alfie Pavey (10 Nicke Kabamba 73), 11. Bradley Tarbuck, 16. Andreas Robinson, 19. Will Wood, 20. Alfie Rutherford (12 Aaron Cosgrave 77), 23. Paul Robinson, 25. Tyler Cordner
Subs:5. Ryan Woodford, 15. Josh Huggins
FC Halifax Town: 1. Sam Johnson, 3. Ryan Sellers, 4. Nathan Clarke, 5. Matty Brown (C), 6. Josh Staunton (11 Sanmi Odelusi 65), 7. Matty Kosylo, 8. Cameron King, 9. Dayle Southwell, 10. Jonathan Edwards, 31. Niall Maher, 40. Jacob Hanson
Subs: 16. Simon Lenighan, 21. Shaun Rowley, 22. Mekhi Mcleod, 39. Joe Skarz
Goals: Cordner 48, Rutherford 64, Maher 78
Yellow Cards: Strugnell, Kosylo, Hanson, Dudzinski
Red Cards: Wood
Attendance: 1258
Havant & Waterlooville 2 FC Halifax Town 1
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