FC Halifax Town returned to the top of the National League U19 Alliance after beating Farsley Celtic 4-1, despite spending most of the match a man down.
Halifax took the lead on the 15th minute mark when Marko Basic found Ousman Cham on the right hand side with a lovely, defence-splitting pass. The winger cut back and beat his man before placing the ball into the right hand corner to put the Shaymen into the lead.
Despite taking the lead and looking the dominant side, the Shaymen went down to ten men around ten minutes later. Reece Kendall clattered into Farsley right-back Hamad Ali and was shown a straight red from the referee.
Farsley needed to capitalise on their numerical advantage and did exactly that just before the stroke of halftime. Daniel Bambrook lifted the ball over the defence for Danny Edwards to chase, and the No10 did well to get to the ball ahead of Ross Barrows before delicately lobbing the ball over the onrushing Kyle Trenerry from just outside the box.
Despite the scoreline being level at the break, it was a first half dominated by Halifax, and this continued into the second 45 minutes. The Shaymen doubled their goal tally and took the lead for the second time through a wonder goal from Shiraz Khan. The winger received the ball from Basic before turning and expertly lobbing Daniel Crooke in the Celtic net from some 40 yards, the crossbar helping the ball find its way over the line.
On the 71st minute Khan was involved in yet another goal, however he didn’t put this one away himself. Barrows released Khan down the left-hand side before the winger squared the ball back to his skipper five yards from goal. Barrows had time to take a touch, turn his man before drilling the ball through the hands of Crooke to put Halifax truly in the driving seat.
Five minutes later and the fourth and final goal was found. Basic did well to shrug off his opponents before finding substitute Liam Harker on the edge of the box. The midfielder opened himself up before slotting the ball into the bottom right corner to ensure three points for the Shaymen.
FC Halifax Town sit at the top of the table for the meantime ahead of their Wednesday match against Stockport County, with Guiseley looking to knock the Shaymen off top spot when they host Hyde United.
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