M1 fielded a weakened side, missing a number of experienced players who were away on a health spa break in Magaluf to celebrate the Dinosaur’s upcoming marriage after a 36 million year wait.
The game began at a quick pace as Halifax applied pressure from the offset. There was solid passing in midfield between Casey Marshall and Josh Sutcliffe, and Gabe Coleman worked tirelessly at centre half. However, for all Halifax’s efforts, they went behind to two quick goals after defensive mix-ups. Leigh Walker’s defensive errors were ruthlessly punished as Old Malton went 2-0 up with their first 2 shots.
Undeterred, Halifax pushed on and had a couple of opportunities to score, the OM keeper doing well to thwart Sam Spencer’s two close range efforts. At the other end, a mistake from Sutcliffe and a penalty corner put Old Malton 4-0 ahead at the interval.
Halifax improved in the second half with Dave Spencer coming into the centre and proving a nuisance to the opposition. Dave Wheatley, Josh Foreman and Peter Balmforth managed to shore up the defence and Halifax began to impose their presence on the game.
Halifax carried a counter attacking threat with Josh Barron, Michael Jones and Sam Spencer combining well, but apart from efforts from Walker and Marshall, Halifax failed to challenge the keeper enough.
Michael Jones went close with a couple of short corner drag flicks and at the other end, Owen Waite made a couple of fantastic saves. Unfortunately Halifax fell behind to two more goals after committing players further up the pitch in search of a response.
The score line was a harsh reflection of the true events on the pitch where Halifax looked the stronger side for large periods. M1 will welcome back some more experience in time to face York University 1s next week.