A Max Wright brace helped FC Halifax Town back into the play-off positions
Town beat Kidderminster Harriers 2-0 which helped them into 7th place in the Vanarama National League.
After last Friday’s loss away at Hartlepool United and Wednesday’s dramatic late draw in the Yorkshire Derby, FC Halifax Town visited the Aggborough Stadium aiming to get back to winning ways. Before those two results, they’d won seven of their previous eight games, which has helped them to 8th place.
The fixture presented Kidderminster Harriers with an opportunity to escape the relegation zone and move up to 20th following their 3-1 victory over Vanarama National League champions Chesterfield.
Kidderminster looked like they had a golden opportunity to go a goal up in the 20th minute, as Jamie Cooke flicked an attempted clearance into the path of Amari Morgan-Smith. Tylor Golden came to the rescue, hooking the ball away out of his six-yard box.
Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain caused problems with his long throw-ins, launching a ball into the Town box and finding Morgan-Smith at the back post, whose sliding effort could only find the side-netting 36 minutes in.
Just before half-time Oxlade-Chamberlain curled a ball into the box finding Morgan-Smith, he knocked it down into the path of Zak Brown forcing Sam Johnson to smother the ball from the attacker’s feet.
Following some great hold-up play by Kidderminster’s captain Morgan-Smith, Charlie Weston wrong-footed Luke Summerfield gaining a yard and blasting a shot just wide after 52 minutes.
Halifax’s substitute Jack Evans drove at the Kidderminster defence before blasting a strike on goal that troubled Christian Dibble.
The Shaymen went 1-0 up in the 66th minute as Golden played a simple lobbed pass in behind allowing Max Wright to stretch his legs and calmly chip the goalkeeper.
After the goal, the away side worked hard to frustrate their opponents by taking their time on restarts and drawing in fouls to run the clock down.
In the 87th minute, the ball fell kindly to Alex Penny from another Oxlade-Chamberlain hurled throw-in, but Penny’s snapshot soared well over the Halifax goal.
Max Wright then got a second goal in the 89th minute and confirmed all three points would be going to Town. On his 25th birthday, Wright drove inward from the right flank cutting through the Harrier’s defence before his attempt deflected in off Matt Preston for 2-0.
That’s how it ended at the Aggborough, an important win for the Shaymen in the middle of their hectic fixture schedule. The next game comes on Wednesday as FC Halifax Town returns to the Shay Stadium and faces Oldham Athletic.
Kidderminster Harriers
21 Christian Dibble, 2 Alex Penny, 3 Caleb Richards, 6 Reiss McNally (22 Cole Kpekawa 70) 9 Amari Morgan-Smith, 10 Ashley Hemings, 12 Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, 14 Zak Brown, 16 Matt Preston, 20 Sam Robinson (19 Sam Bellis 64), 31 Charlie Weston
Subs: 1 Thomas Palmer 24 Regan Griffiths, 30 Jay Emmanuel-Thomas
FC Halifax Town
1 Sam Johnson ©, 2 Tylor Golden, 5 Adam Senior, 6 Jamie Stott, 3 Ryan Galvin, 4 Luke Summerfield (8 Jack Hunter 75), 14 Kane Thompson-Sommers (28 Jack Jenkins 90), 18 Florent Hoti (12 Jack Evans 55) 17 Max Wright, 9 Rob Harker, 10 Jamie Cooke
Subs: 19 Aaron Cosgrave, 27 Adan George
Referee: Andrew Miller
Goals: Wright 66, 89
Yellow CardsPreston 29, McNally 43: Kpekawa 76, Thompson-Sommers 30, Hunter 78, Golden 86
Red Cards
Attendance 3173 (159 away)
Kidderminster Harriers 0 FC Halifax Town 2
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