Oldham Athletic Match Report
FC Halifax Town’s season finished with a play-off eliminator 4-0 defeat away at Oldham Athletic.
Town backed by 1893 travelling fans at Boundary Park, welcomed back Club Captain Sam Johnson for his first appearance since injury in the league match at Oldham back in March.
However, the travelling fans who were in good voice prior to the game were met by three goals in a 12-minute period which saw the tie effectively finished.
It started with an early corner for the home side following a deflected shot and it was a Oldham’s Joe Garner heading home for the opening goal of the game.
Oldham had a chance to make it 2-0 shortly afterwards with a ball played into the path of Vimal Yoganathan and it needed a strong hand by Johnson to put the ball out for a corner. The resulting set piece was cleared at the near post.
They did make it 2-0 with another set piece. The ball into the box was met by the head of Mike Fondop at the far post and he headed across goal for Mark Kitching to have the simple chance to head home on the goal line.
Another chance and another goal soon followed, a cross from the right-hand side was headed home unmarked by former Town striker Mike Fondop.
Town boss Chris Millington made two substitutions to try to stem the tide with Jack Jenkins and Tom Pugh replaced by Adam Adetoro and Zak Emmerson.
Emmerson’s header found Angelo Cappello and his cross was deflected out for Town’s first corner of the game. It was hit too hard and behind everyone and not troubling the Oldham goal.
Yoganathan went down in the box under a challenge from Cappello, the referee gave Town a freekick and a yellow card for simulation for the Oldham frontman.
Oldham nearly made it 4-0 but the post seemed to come to Town’s rescue, the ball went out of play. The referee gave a corner, but the assistant signalled for a goal kick which was the final decision
Thomas found Cooke racing forward, he was dragged wide of the target, he looked for Tarima at the edge of the box, but Oldham were able to clear.
A freekick into the Oldham box was headed back across goal but Thomas unable to get a final touch and out for a goal kick.
Cooke did well down the right-hand side, played the ball inside for Thomas and his shot from distance was deflected out for a corner.
A long throw into the Town box was met by the head of Fondop but his header was off target.
Fondop bursting run to the edge of the box, his shot was deflected over by Adetoro for a corner just into first half injury time. Town were able to clear the set piece.
The home side started the second half on the front foot, a freekick into the box was cleared to Manny Monthe and his shot was well wide of the target
Yoganathan went down in the box again, no penalty given despite the continued appeals of all the Oldham frontmen to the officials.
Oldham were not to be denied a fourth goal with Town losing the ball in midfield, a simple pass from Yoganathan into Joe Pritchard’s path and he fired past Johnson from the edge of the box.
The chances kept on coming for the home side, a freekick taken short and Norwood’s shot was dragged wide of the target.
Town’s first chance to test Matt Hudson in the Oldham goal came in the 74th minute, he was able to save Zak Emmerson’s effort to deny the Town faithful a goal to celebrate.
Oldham played the ball around with Ole’s around the home stands, the ball was played into Norwood, but Adetoro did enough to deflect the ball out for a corner. With two men down in the box, the ball came to the far post, but Kitching’s effort was high into the Oldham fans behind the goal.
Into injury time the home side were still looking for a fifth goal and their final shot ended in the stand again just before the final whistle was blown by Aaron Bannister
A difficult night for everyone at FC Halifax Town but congratulations to Oldham who will now travel to York City in the National League semi-finals next Tuesday night.
Match Stats
Oldham Athletic
1 Matthew Hudson, 2 Reagan Ogle, 3 Mark Kitching, 4 Tom Pett, 6 Emmanuel Monthe (21 Will Sutton 77), 9 Mike Fondop, 14 Joe Garner (30 James Norwood) 16 Charlie Raglan ©, 24 Corry Evans (15 Jordan Rossiter 67), 28 Vimal Yoganathan (10 Tom Conlon), 29 Joe Pritchard *8 Josh Lundstram 88)
Subs: 31 Tom Donaghy, 17 Jeserun Uchegbulam
FC Halifax Town
1 Sam Johnson ©, 5 Adam Senior, 16 Josh Emmanuel, 3 Ryan Galvin, 20 Jack Jenkins (27 Adam Adetoro 16), 18 Florent Hoti, 23 Tom Pugh (21 Zak Emmerson 17), 10 Jamie Cooke, 9 Luca Thomas (30 Scott High), 11 Angelo Cappello, 29 Sean Tarima (8 Daniel Nkrumah 57)
Subs: 12 Nathaniel Ford, 14 Harvey Sutcliffe, 22 Dubem Eze
Referee: Aaron Bannister
Goals: Garner 4, Kitching 10, Fondop 12, Pritchard 54
Yellow Cards: Yoganathan 19, Garner 33, Cooke 66, Emmerson 67
Red Cards: None
Attendance: 10,865 (1,893 away)
Oldham Athletic 4 FC Halifax Town 0
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