An injury to Matty Kosylo doubled the misery for FC Halifax Town as their unbeaten streak came to an end at the hands of AFC Fylde, who came away 2-0 winners at Mill Farm.
Both sides had opportunities to break the deadlock in the first ten minutes, with end to end football from the get-go.
Thomson nearly got the Shaymen off to the perfect start, as he cut across the box and struck at goal looking for the near post, but his effort flashed just past the post.
Just 30 seconds later and Fylde had struck the post. Muldoon mustโve been shocked himself as the ball fell perfectly to him, unmarked, inside the box but his effort could only find the outside of the near post.
Bad news for the Shaymen struck on the 10th minute. A fifty-fifty challenge in the midfield in which Kosylo felt the full force.
The winger looked in significant discomfort as he limped off in agony, to be replaced by Jake Hibbs. Hopefully the injury was not as serious as it looked, and we hope to see him back on the field as soon as possible.
The match continued in the same vein, with both sides looking dangerous however it was the Coasters who held most of the possession in the first period.
Graham and Brown put in strong performances at the back to limit star man Danny Rowe to a handful of pot shots from distance, in what must have been a frustrating 45 minutes for the forward.
Fondop-Talom showed glimpses of superb hold up play but couldnโt quite find anything in the way of clear opportunities at goal.
The forward showed a nice touch to bring the ball down by the corner flag and squeeze a ball into the box for Hibbs who looked to replicate the pass to Thomson, but it was well cut out.
Matty Brown and Scott McManus both put their bodies on the line with two superb last man challenges for the Shaymen, with the captainโs challenge preventing a certain goal as Rowe had just Johnson in front of him.
Fylde ended the half strongly and nearly took the lead on the stroke of half time, however Burkeโs curling effort was just wide of the mark.
The second half, however, could not have got off to a worse start for Shaymen.
Jonny Smith picked the ball up on the left-hand side and drilled a ball into the mix but somehow the ball evaded everyone and nestled in the bottom corner.
Just two minutes into the second half and Halifax were a goal down and less than ten minutes later the home side had doubled their lead.
Matty Brownโs poor defensive header found James Hardy who made no mistake in drilling his shot past Johnson and into the bottom corner.
Smith tormented the Town back line all afternoon and deservedly was named man of the match for his performance.
Halifax struggled to create anything significant going forward, with the best chance falling to Fondop-Talom who just appeared to lose his footing as he opened to shoot โ which somewhat summed up the Shaymenโs fortunes in front of goal.
The home side nearly made it three with just fifteen minutes to go, as Smithโs deflected cross found the head of Muldoon just yards from the line however his header could only find the crossbar.
This result sees Halifaxโs six game unbeaten run under Jamie Fullarton come to an end who must now turn his attention to Gateshead on Monday.
AFC Fylde:
13 Jay Lynch, 2 Lewis Montrose, 3 Zaine Francis-Zangol, 5 Jordan Tunnicliffe, 6 Andy Bond, 7 James Hardy (79), 9 Danny Rowe, 11 Jack Muldoon, 15 Simon Grand, 18 Jonny Smith, 22 Luke Burke
Subsย 17 Matt Blinkhorn, 30 Jake Lawlor, 20 Serhat Tasdemir, 27 Henry Jones, 12 Jason Taylor
FC Halifax Town:
1 Sam Johnson, 5 Matty Brown, 7 Matty Kosylo, 8 Nathan Hotte, 11 Scott McManus, 14 Ben Tomlinson, 23 Connor Thomson, 21 Sam Graham, 22 Michael Collins, 39 Michael Duckworth, 33 Mike Fondop-Talom
Subs: 13 Tom Nicholson, 2 Cliff Moyo, 31 Niall Maher, 34 Shaun Tuton, 20 Jake Hibbs
Man, of the Match: James Hardy
Goals: Smith 47 Hardy 54
Yellow Cards: Brown 3, Hibbs 73, Bond 59
Red Cards: None
Attendance: 2313
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