FC Halifax Town were knocked out of the Emirates FA Cup with a 2-1 defeat at Vanarama National League South leaders Ebbsfleet United this afternoon.
Town boss Chris Millington made four changes from the win over Oldham last weekend with Jesse Debrah, Luke Summerfield, Festus Arthur and Jordan Slew out for Tom Clarke, Jamie Stott, Harvey Gilmour and Rob Harker in.
The Shaymen started brightly, Jamie Cooke found Rob Harker and he rounded the keeper Mark Cousins, but the Ebbsfleet keeper did well to recover and forced the ball out for a corner.
United went ahead after a couple of minutes when the home side countered from a Town corner, Toby Edser’s cross was deflected off Jack Senior at the far post to put the Kent side ahead.
However, their lead didn’t last long, Rob Harker found Cooke and his shot from 20 yards out beat Cousins for the equaliser for his second goal of the season both in the FA Cup having scored in the last round at St Ives Town.
Chances were hard to come by for either side, Craig Tanner found Dominic Poleon and his shot was deflected wide for a corner before Edser found Greg Cundle, his shot was blocked by Tylor Golden
Town had a chance to go ahead on 40 minutes, Golden’s ball from the right found Cooke but his effort was narrowly wide.
The home side went ahead seven minutes into the second half. Omari Sterling-James shot from outside the area was palmed out for a corner by Sam Johnson, Sterling-James’s corner was headed unmarked by Rakish Bingham.
Within a couple of minutes, the task became even harder for the Shaymen. Jack Senior had been booked just before the break and with just 10 minutes of the second half, he earnt his second yellow card of the game for a foul on Sterling-James and Town had to finish the game with 10 men.
The home side looked for a third goal straight away but Luke O’Neill’s freekick was just wide of the target
Ebbsfleet had chances with Greg Cundle had an effort trickle past the post and Omari Sterling-James rattled the crossbar from 30 yards out.
Sterling-James had another effort with 10 minutes remaining but over the bar as Ebbsfleet looked for a third goal, but they didn’t need it and they will be in the draw on Monday night for the second round, they will be ball number 13.
The Shaymen are back in league action on Tuesday night with a trip to Solihull Moors, 7.45pm kick-off.
Match Stats:
Ebbsfleet United
1 Mark Cousins, 2 Luke O’Neill, 6 Sido Jombati, 7 Omari Sterling-James (16 Franklin Domi 89), 9 Rakish Bingham (25 Shaquile Coulthirst 81), 10 Craig Tanner,14 Dominic Poleon, 15 Greg Cundle (21 Jack Paxman 87), 17 Toby Edser (19 Elliott Romain 81), 22 Ben Chapman, 26 Haydn Hollis
Subs: 12 Chris Haigh, 11 Darren McQueen, 20 Chris Solly, 23 Kieran Monlouis
FC Halifax Town:
1 Sam Johnson, 15 Tom Clarke ©, 6 Jamie Stott, 3 Jack Senior, 2 Tylor Golden, 20 Harvey Gilmour (4 Luke Summerfield 86), 8 Kian Spence, 14 Jack Hunter (10 Matt Warburton 73), 19 Jamie Cooke, 17 Rob Harker (18 Angelo Cappello 60) 9 Mani Dieseruvwe
Subs: 12 Tom Scott, 21 Milli Alli, 24 Sam Minihan, 38 Duarte Furtado
Referee: Ed Duckworth
Goals: Edser 13, Cooke 17, Bingham 52
Yellow Cards: Senior 44, Johnson 53, Edser 68, O’Neill 79, Tanner 90 + 5
Red Cards: Senior 55
Attendance: 2099
Ebbsfleet United 2 FC Halifax Town 1
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