FC Halifax Town 0 – 1 Boreham Wood
Tuesday 25th January 2020
The Shay, Vanarama National League
WOOD DON’T SHY AWAY AT THE SHAY
An outstanding workmanlike performance on the road at the Shay against Vanarama National League highflyers FC Halifax Town saw the Wood take all three points with a 1-0 victory extending our unbeaten run to 15 matches in all competitions.
The BT Sport cameras were in attendance to watch 5th placed Wood visit 2nd placed FC Halifax Town in an important evening in the National League promotion picture with all but one of the top ten sides in action.
The Wood started the brighter of the two sides and could have taken the lead inside the opening ten minutes when Marsh found himself with the ball at his feet on the Shaymen’s byline, pulling the ball back to the oncoming Josh Rees who was poised to slot home but his shot was blocked brilliantly a Halifax’s Tom Bradbury.
Another excellent chance came Wood’s way after quarter of an half played when a deep cross from the left by Jacob Mendy was headed down by Boden into the path of Josh Rees, however Rees’ volley was cleared off the line by Jesse Debrah and the Shaymen escape another great opportunity for Wood to open the scoring.
Halifax had their first chance of the game after 25 minutes when in form Matty Warburton found himself well positioned outside Wood’s penalty area; his first shot was blocked but the ball fell back at his feet and fortunately for the Wood, Warburton’s composure wavered and his 2nd attempt went high and wide of Taye Ashby-Hammond’s goal.
Just three minutes later, Garrard was forced into his first change of the match when Skipper Jamal Fyfield went down clutching his hamstring amidst at foot race with Halifax’s Jay Benn down our left-hand channel. New signing Jamie Reckord replaced Fyfield at left side centre half, whilst the captain’s armband was handed over to David Stephens at the heart of Wood’s back three.
Against the run of play Halifax nearly took the lead with 32 minutes on the clock when the ball fell kindly to Martin Woods on the edge of the Wood box but his well struck half volley creeped narrowly wide of Ashby-Hammond’s left-hand post.
However, just five minutes later it was the visitors who broke the deadlock. Jacob Mendy Mendy drove at Halifax’s youthful right wing back Jay Benn who continued to drop off as Wood’s wide man jinked into the Halifax box before punching his cross across the six-yard finding Josh Rees who was perfectly positioned to tap in past Sam Johnson to give Wood a 1-0 lead.
Before the referee blew for the half time interval, he showed David Stephens a yellow card for a late tackle on Halifax’s left wing back Jack Senior. The resulting free kick was saved well by Ashby-Hammond who parried Matty Warburton thunderous strike before Wood cleared their lines and the man in the middle blew up, bringing the first half to a close.
During the break, an enforced change for the hosts meant that their captain Niall Maher wouldn’t be involved in the 2nd half proceedings with Tyler Warren taking his place in the Shaymen’s back three.
The 2nd half started quietly as neither side took authority of the encounter, with the home crowd’s weak calls for a penalty when Warburton tumbled over in the box with 15 minutes remaining being the first moment of note to report upon.
The Shaymen made a couple of 2nd half changes in an attempt to inject some life into their offensive efforts to restore parity with Luke Summerfield and Jamie Allen replacing Harvey Gilmour and Jay Benn. However, despite these changes, it was Wood who had the best opportunity of the half and we could have doubled our lead when Tyrone Marsh’s ambitious effort from a tight angle had Sam Johnson beaten but the Shaymen were saved by the crossbar as Marsh’s volley hit the underside of Halifax’s bar…
At the other end of the pitch, Ashby-Hammond’s blushes were spared in injury time when kicking the ball from his hands, the ball ricocheted off Halifax loanee Aaron Martin after his illegal encroachment wasn’t penalised by the referee and the ball nearly diverted back into the Wood goal but went a couple of yards wide.
A double substitution by Garrard saw Adrian Clifton and Danilo Orsi enter the match in place of Tryone Marsh and Scott Boden and it was the latter who could have doubled Wood’s lead but Sam Johnson saved Orsi’s effort well before the referee blew the final whistle, meaning Wood travel back to South Hertfordshire with all three points after a monumental effort in front of the BT Sport cameras.
FC Halifax Town: Sam Johnson, Jay Benn (Jamie Allen 74’), Jack Senior, Jesse Debrah, Tom Bradbury, Aaron Martin, Matty Warburton, Billy Waters, Harvey Gilmour (Luke Summerfield 63’), Martin Woods, Niall Maher (Tyrell Warren 46’).
Subs Not Used: Gerry McDonagh, Jamie Thomas.
Boreham Wood: Taye Ashby Hammond, Will Evans, David Stephens, Josh Rees, Scott Boden (Danilo Orsi 79’), Tyrone Marsh (Adrian Clifton 90’), Frankie Raymond, Jamal Fyfield (Jamie Reckord 31’), James Comley, Jacob Mendy Mendy, Kane Smith.
Subs Not Used: Joshua Roach, Dennon Lewis.
Star Man: David Stephens.
OUR CLUB. OUR TOWN. OUR COMMUNITY.
