Braintree Town scored late on to claim all three points against FC Halifax Town thanks to Inih Effiong’s penalty.
The Shaymen went in/to today’s game against Braintree having made three changes. Ryan Galvin, Max Wright, and Jo Cummings came into the side for their first starts of the season. Adan George and Angelo Cappello dropped to the bench, while Adam Alimi-Adetoro missed out on the squad completely.
Florent Hoti was the first man to threaten any sort of opening; some dazzling footwork found him in a yard of space. He opened fire, but his curling effort rose high of the Braintree goal.
James Vennings had the hosts first chance; his fizzing effort from distance was comfortably tipped wide by Sam Johnson twenty minutes in.
Despite chasing the ball for the first ten minutes of the match, Braintree began to get a foothold in the game and were having more joy on the ball in the Halifax half.
For the second time in the game, Vennings took aim from distance, but his shot deflected wide for a corner. The resulting corner fell to Kyrell Lisbie on the edge of the box, but he couldn’t keep his effort down.
The last chance of the half once again came Braintree’s way. A Venning’s free kick from the edge of the box crept just wide of the post following a slight deflection. The young midfielder was instrumental in everything the home side had done in the opening 45 minutes.
Braintree started the second period with high intensity; a series of crosses had to be dealt with by the Halifax defence.
Ten minutes into the second half, the Shaymen had a couple of openings of their own. Adam Senior delivered wonderfully to the back post, but it was just out of reach of Billy Waters. Moments later, Waters tried turning in the box to unleash a strike, but he was hacked down. Both the travelling fans and players looked on with dismay as to how referee Alan Young didn’t award a penalty for the challenge.
Braintree looked certain to open the scoring sixty-five minutes into the tie. A whipped ball found Lisbie six yards out, who had to score, but his header rose narrowly over. Only moments later, Lisbie had another headed chance; this time he had more to do as his glancing effort narrowly missed the right-hand post.
With twenty minutes to go, the Iron looked the more likely to score. John Akinde played the ball neatly back to Matt Robinson, whose shot ended high and wide of the Town goal.
Jamie Cooke found space out wide and managed to set the ball back across the box to Jack Evans, who couldn’t keep his shot on target.
In the last minute of the ninety, Braintree were awarded a penalty following a shove on Jermaine Francis, to which Inih Effiong calmly dispatched for his first goal for the club.
Following the goal Halifax scrapped to find the leveller but to no prevail, the referee blew his whistle for full time.
Town will be back in action on Saturday at home to Wealdstone, 3pm kick-off
Braintree Town:
33 Lucas Covolan, 15 Frankie Terry, 4 George Langston ©, 12 Jamal Fyfield, 18 Matt Robinson, 22 Jermaine Francis 6 James Vennings, 23 Finley Wilkinson (14 John Akinde 65), 10 Callum Powell (9 Inih Effiong 64), 16 Kyrell Lisbie (11 Chay Cooper 88)
Subs: 17 Paris Lock, 24 Reggie Lambe
FC Halifax Town
1 Sam Johnson ©, 5 Adam Senior, 15 Will Smith, 2 Jo Cummings, 3 Ryan Galvin, 6 Jack Evans, 30 Scott High (26 Owen Bray 90), 18 Florent Hoti, 10 Jamie Cooke, 7 Max Wright (22 Andrew Oluwabori 64), 29 Billy Waters (19 Adan George 79)
Subs: 12 Nathaniel Ford, 11 Angelo Cappello, 14 Harvey Sutcliffe, 23 Tom Pugh
Referee: Alan Young
Goals: Effiong (90 pen)
Yellow Cards: Evans 37, Lisbie 40, Powell 44, Waters 50, Langston 85, Francis 85
Red Cards: None
Attendance: 849 (16 away)
Braintree Town 1 FC Halifax Town 0
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