FC Halifax Town beat Eastleigh 3-1 in the Vanarama National League at the Shay.
First half goals from Jamie Allen and Kieran Green and one each from Tyrone Barnett and Nyal Bell in the second saw the game finish 3-1.
The Shaymen started the better of the two sides. Kieran made his way into the box before having his shot deflect narrowly wide for a corner. Luke Summerfield fired it in, but Green could not keep his header on target.
Town continued to push for the opening goal as Summerfield won a corner. A long ball from the midfielder was sliced behind by the Dover defence. Again, Summerfield took and despite putting in a dangerous ball, the referee blew for a foul.
It took just over half an hour for The Shaymen to take the lead. A swift counterattack saw Billy Chadwick and Allen bearing down on goal. A good sideways pass from Chadwick to Allen left the forward one-on-one. Despite getting a good hand to it, Joe McDonnell could not prevent Town from going 1-0 up.
On the stroke of half time, Town doubled their lead. Green did well to hold the ball by the corner flag before Eastleigh put it behind. Jack Senior swung the cross in to find Tom Bradbury who headed it back into the middle. Some good control from Green before the midfielder fired home from close range.
Eastleigh pulled one back in the 52nd minute. A poor back pass from a Town player put Barnett through on goal and clear of the defence. One-on-one with the keeper, Barnett made no mistake to make it 2-1.
Town continued to push for a third goal. Substitute Gevaro Nepomuceno did well to win a free kick midway into the Eastleigh half. The initial cross was cleared as far as Nepomuceno, but his shot was easily saved by McDonnell.
With 10 minutes left on the clock, Town have a penalty appeal denied. Substitute Jack Earing made a great run to the edge of the box before it appeared he was fouled. However, the referee blew for a foul to the visitors, believing Earing to have dived.
With six minutes to go, Bell struck the winning goal to kill the game. A long ball forward was brought down well by the striker. After holding off his man and cutting inside, Bell fired a shot perfectly into the top corner to make it 3-1.
This result sees the Shaymen climb to 11th in the league. Meanwhile, Eastleigh drop to 15th. Town travel to Hartlepool for the boxing day fixture, 3:00pm kick off.
FC Halifax Town: 1 Sam Johnson; 3 Jack Senior; 5 Neill Byrne; 6 Tom Bradbury; 7 Jamie Allen (39 Nyal Bell 46’); 8 Kieran Green; 11 Danny Williams; 19 Luke Summerfield; 31 Niall Maher ©; 32 Neil Danns (10 Jack Earing 58’); 36 Billy Chadwick (15 Gevaro Nepomuceno 70’)
Unused substitutes: 12 Harrison Davison-Hale; 20 Dom Tear
Eastleigh: 1 Joe McDonnell; 2 Joe Partington; 4 Cavaghn Miley; 6 Andrew Boyce; 8 Jack Payne; 10 Tyrone Barnett; 11 Sam Smart (3 Michael Green 68’); 15 Alex Wynter; 17 Joe Tomlinson (9 Dan Smith 81’); 18 Ben House; 19 Danny Hollands © (20 Ryan Hill 71’)
Unused substitutes: 7 Abdulai Baggie; 14 Tom Bearwish
Referee: Thomas Parsons
Assistants: Scott Taylor & Darren Williams
4th Official: Lewis Dawson
Yellow cards: Green 22, Tomlinson 27’, Danns 48’, Bradbury 53’, Hollands 63’, Earing 80’
Red cards N/A
Goals: Allen 33’, Green 45’, Barnett 52’, Bell 84’
FC Halifax Town 3 Eastleigh 1
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