Forest Green Rovers made a strong start and took the lead through a Yahya Bamba strike. However, they were pegged back just before the break when substitute Jay Turner-Cooke curled in a sublime free-kick. Despite Halifax enjoying spells of possession and control, it was the visitors who claimed the spoils, with Kairo Mitchell netting a smart finish.
There was only one change was made to the Halifax line-up as they returned to The Shay, with Adam Adetoro replacing the injured Jevon Mills.
It was the visitors who started the brighter of the two sides, and their early pressure was rewarded 20 minutes in. Knowles tested Sam Johnson with a strike from the edge of the area, and although the Halifax goalkeeper managed to parry the effort, Yahya Bamba was on hand to calmly slot home his second goal of the season.
Things went from bad to worse for the Shaymen shortly after, as they suffered another injury setback. Shaun Hobson was forced off, with Jay Turner-Cooke coming on in his place.
Just before half-time, Halifax almost found an equaliser through David Kawa. A mix-up between the visiting goalkeeper and defender gifted Kawa the chance to shoot into an empty net from 30 yards. Time seemed to stand still as the ball rolled towards goal, only to strike the post and trickle wide.
The hosts didn’t have to wait long for another opportunity, though. After being awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box in first-half stoppage time, substitute Turner-Cooke stepped up and curled a superb effort into the top-right corner to level the score.
As the game progressed, the hosts began to assert themselves and took control of the contest. Shortly after the restart, David Kawa combined well with Thierry Latty-Fairweather inside the box, with the latter firing a strike from 15 yards. However, his effort was smartly parried away by Luke McNicholas in the Forest Green goal.
With just over ten minutes remaining the away side retook the lead, Tom Knowles muscled his way down the right-hand side before pulling the ball back to Kairo Mitchell who slide the ball into the far corner.
It was nearly 3-1 moments later as Kengni ambitiously struck towards goal from 25 yards, his effort was a valiant one as the ball thundered off of the underside of the bar.
Tom Pugh and Angelo Cappello were the two introduced with minutes to go but Forest Greens resolute defending made finding space hard for the two substitutes.
Four minutes were added to the ninety for Shaymen to find an equaliser, but it wasn’t to be in the end.
FC Halifax Town
1 Sam Johnson ©, 3 Adam Adetoro, 4 Will Hugill, 5 Shaun Hobson (27 Jay Turner-Cooke 33), 8 Josh Hmami, 10 Jamie Cooke, 17 Owen Bray (11 Angelo Cappello 82), 22 David Kawa, 29 Sean Tarima (25 Tom Pugh 82), 30 Cody Johnson, 36 Thierry Latty-Fairweather
Subs: 12 Nat Ford, 14 Harvey Sutcliffe, 20 Jack Jenkins, 23 Dylan Crowe
Forest Green Rovers
1 Luke McNicholas, 3 Neil Kengni, 6 Laurent Mendy, 7 Kyle Mcallister (5 Ryan Inniss 72), 8 Nick Haughton (14 Jayden Clarke 56), 9 Christian Doidge (29 Kairo Mitchell 40), 11 Tom Knowles, 15 Jordan Moore-Taylor ©, 20 Yahaya Bamba (23 Harry Cardwell 72), 25 Harry Whitwell (18 Isaac Moore 56), 32 Abraham Kanu
Subs: 12 Fiachra Pagel, 21 Tre Pemberton
Referee: Garreth Rhodes
Goals: Bamba 23, Turner-Cooke 45, Mitchell 77
Yellow Cards: Bamba 40, Kanu 45, Latty-Fairweather 76, Bray 81, Mitchell 89
Red Cards: None
Attendance: 1380 (106 away)
FC Halifax Town 1 Forest Green Rovers 2
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