Adam Lakeland named an unchanged side to the one that earned a 2-2 draw at Rochdale on Tuesday night, as Town welcomed Sutton United to The Shay. The visitors arrived in impressive form, having won two of their last three, but sitting 20th and still firmly embroiled in the relegation battle.
It was Sutton who applied the early pressure. After neat link-up play on the edge of the box, Kai Jennings found himself in space and looked to whip a first-time effort towards goal, but it was too close to Sam Johnson, who claimed confidently and held on.
Town responded with a lively spell of their own. Tommy Lavery, fresh from his dramatic late winner at Rochdale, burst down the right-hand side and picked out Josh Hmami in space on the edge of the area. Eyeing his 11th goal of the campaign, Hmami couldn’t quite connect as cleanly as he would have liked and his effort was well saved.
Sutton’s opener came from a slickly worked move down the left. Besart Topalloj combined with Jermaine Francis before receiving the return pass inside the box. He then picked out Brandon Njoku, who intelligently laid it into the path of Lewis Simper. From a similar area to Jennings’ earlier chance, Simper made no mistake, burying a precise finish into the top-left corner beyond the helpless Johnson to give the visitors the lead.
Lavery continued to offer Town a valuable outlet and again found space on the right, delivering a beautifully weighted cross towards Owen Bray. The midfielder met it on the volley, but his effort lacked the power needed to beat the Sutton keeper.
Halifax’s equaliser was every bit as well crafted as Sutton’s opener. Working the ball smartly down the left, Hmami was at the heart of it, cutting inside and shaping to cross before feinting and driving into the box. He laid the ball back into the path of Cody Johnson, who from just outside the area struck a superb effort that cannoned off the post and in to make it 1-1, marking his third goal for the club.
Town nearly turned the game on its head in stoppage time at the end of the first half. Johnson unleashed an outrageous effort from fully 30 yards that curled and looped towards the far corner, striking both bar and post. The rebound fell invitingly for Will Harris with half the net to aim at, but Jack Sims produced a remarkable recovery, scrambling across his line to keep it out superbly.
Harris was presented with another golden opportunity moments after the restart. Capitalising on a heavy touch from Edon Pruti following an interchange with Sims, he found himself one-on-one from around 12 yards. It looked certain he would score, but he dragged his effort narrowly wide.
The contest remained finely poised throughout the second half, with half chances at either end. On 65 minutes, Town took the lead and it was Harris who made amends. Owen Bray, operating on his weaker right foot, whipped in an inviting cross and Harris glanced a superb header goalwards from distance. The ball struck the post on its way in to seal his 18th goal of the season.
Sutton responded swiftly. On 71 minutes, Osman Foyo fed the ball into Njoku and his strike took a wicked deflection off Lavery, wrong-footing Johnson and sending the ball beyond the stranded keeper to restore parity once more.
Neither side could find the decisive breakthrough in the closing stages, with both continuing to probe without reward, and the contest ultimately finished 2-2.
FC Halifax Town
1 Johnson (c), 19 Warburton, 5 Hobson, 16 Mills, 33 Lavery, 30 Johnson (26 Waters 79), 27 Turner-Cooke (23 Crowe 90 + 6), 4 Hugill, 8 Hmami (20 Jenkins 88), 17 Bray (28 Morris 88) 9 Harris (22 Kawa 79)
Subs: 12 Ford, 3 Adetoro,
Sutton United
1 Sims, 8 Simper (23 Harris 73), 14 Pruti (c) , 26 Eccleston, 28 Jennings, 29 Foyo (10 Nadesan 77), 34 Njoku, 39 Topalloj, 42 Muller (37 Bell), 48 Francis, 50 Donkor (18 Ogbonna 73)
Subs: 13 Haigh, 9 Rodari, 47 Eze
Referee: Kirsty Dowle
Goals: Simper 12, C Johnson 32, Harris 65, Njoku 71
Yellow Cards: Francis 25, Hugill 77, J Harris 85
Red Cards: None
Attendance: 1278 (107 away)
FC Halifax Town 2 Sutton United 2
Read more posts by Luke Hofford
