FC Halifax Town claimed all three points in Somerset thanks to a delightful Florent Hoti effort.
The Shaymen named an unchanged starting eleven to face Yeovil, following their 1-0 win against Woking last time out in the league.
Both teams made a conservative start to the game, Halifax enjoyed some nice spells of possession, however, there were no chances of note until the quarter hour mark. Will Smith’s perfectly weighted pass saw Billy Waters race through on goal; however, the feet of goalkeeper Ollie Wright denied him. The ball then found itself back with the Shaymen and in the feet of Florent Hoti, who dragged his long-range effort narrowly wide of the post.
Following this, Yeovil had a couple of corners, however these were easily dealt with by the Shaymen defence. The Glovers then picked up the first booking of the game as Sonny Blu Lo-Everton stopped a Halifax counter.
The game did liven up towards the back end of the first half. Hoti saw his second effort of the game saved, Jamie Cooke and Waters tried to turn the ball in on the rebound, but it was just out of reach. Kofi Shaw then displayed some excellent footwork to wriggle into the away side’s penalty area, but his effort was well saved by Sam Johnson.
The second half started in a similar nature to the first, both teams probed in parts, however there were no clear-cut chances in the opening stages, however there was breakthrough just before the hour mark. A set piece resulted in a scramble in the box, eventually the ball fell to the edge of the box to Hoti, who had already had many efforts from range in the game. This time however, his strike was too good for Wright, and the ball nestled into the top corner following his right footed effort. This was Hoti’s third goal of the season following his last against Wealdstone in September.
The first subs of the game came for the home side, Josh Sims and Michael Smith replaced Frank Nouble and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton who was on a booking. Straight after coming on Sims had a decent chance to level the game. Brett McGavin played a lofted ball over the top which Sims controlled superbly before lifting the ball over the top of the crossbar.
As the tie went on, the home side grew into the game more and more, this time it was Jake Wannell who went close for the Glovers, but Johnson stood strong to deny the defender from 8 yards out.
The Shaymen’s first two changes of the game saw Adam Adetoro and Angelo Cappello make way for Jack Evans and Adan George.
Halifax were really digging deep with ten minutes to go following a barrage of Yeovil attacks. Pedro Borges was the next to force Johnson into a save following his volley from 20 yards. Following this, Jack Jenkins received a yellow for a cynical challenge.
Chris Millington then introduced both Owen Bray and Andrew Oluwabori into the fray with five minutes of the ninety left to play.
Yeovil had to play the seven additional minutes with 10 men as Wannell was shown a straight red following a coming together with Will Smith. This was Wannell’s second dismissal of the season after picking up a red earlier in the season against Boston United.
Yeovil pushed for the equaliser however, they did not do enough to break the Halifax defence down and the men from Yorkshire deservedly travel back up from Somerset with all three points. Credit to the 69 away fans who travelled down to support the Town and see their side move up to 7th place.
Halifax’s next game will see them take on recently relegated Sutton United at the Shay next weekend.
Match Stats:
Yeovil Town
1 Ollie Wright, 3 Alex Whittle, 5 Finn Cousin-Dawson, 6 Jake Wannell, 9 Aaron Jarvis, 10 Frank Nouble © (19 Josh Sims 66), 14 Brett McGavin, 16 Sonny Blu-Everton (23 Michael Smith 66), 18 James Plant, 20 Pedro Borges, 37 Kofi Shaw
Subs: 22 Matt Gould, 17 Dylan Morgan, 27 Harvey Greenslade, 33 Dominic Bernard
FC Halifax Town
1 Sam Johnson © 5 Adam Senior, 11 Angelo Cappello (6 Jack Evans 75), 15 Will Smith, 2 Jo Cummings, 27 Adam Adetoro (19 Adan George 72)), 23 Tom Pugh, 20 Jack Jenkins (26 Owen Bray 83), 10 Jamie Cooke, 18 Florent Hoti (22 Andrew Oluwabori 83), 29 Billy Waters
Subs: 12 Nathaniel Ford, 21 Zak Emmerson, 24 Frankie Sinfield
Referee: Jason Richardson
Goals: Hoti 57
Yellow Cards: Blu-Everton 33, Jenkins 79, Hoti 83, Cooke 90
Red Cards: Wannell 90
Attendance: 3829 (69 away)
Yeovil Town 0 FC Halifax Town 1
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