Men's 2nds get first points of the season

Halifax got off to a rocky start going 1 nil down early on in the game due to City of York’s quick paced passing and moving. This was a wakeup call for Halifax as they started to pass and move the ball a lot better with some great passing going down the right hand side of the pitch between Pete Balmforth and Rob Amos leading to several short corners that Halifax unfortunately could not capitalise from.

Halifax applied continued pressure until they lost the ball due to a poor pass in City of York’s half. This allowed City of York to mount a counter attack which caught Halifax on the back foot causing them to concede another goal.

Late on in the first half after conceding another goal leaving Halifax 3 nil down, a great interception by new player Will Chan led to Halifax making a counter attack with fantastic stick skills and passing from Chan and Dave Willis that earned Halifax a Penalty Corner. This time Halifax managed to score with a hard, accurate strike into the bottom corner of City of York’s goal by Casey Marshall which lifted the spirits of Halifax going into the second half.

After an inspirational half time speech from Halifax second teams most experienced player Steve Fawkes, Halifax entered the second half playing much better Hockey with Chan holding the middle of the pitch very well with great attacking down both the right and left wings which led to a goal from striker John Horsley. With Halifax pulling it back to a 1 goal difference City of York stepped up their attack passing the ball around Halifax’s midfield and getting through on goal where some fantastic saves from keeper Steve Sparkes prevented Halifax from conceding anymore goals.

Halifax began to dominate the second half as they continued to put pressure on City of York’s goal however, they were struggling to score until a save from City of York’s keeper sent the ball in the air for a determined Willis to leap up and strike the ball from a very tight angle into City of York’s goal bringing the score to 3-3. With less than 10 minutes to go Halifax’s spirits were raised high and everyone was determined to get just one more goal against City of York.

City of York attacked hard and fast from their push back but solid tackles from Bryn Hans, Andy Kaye and Leigh Walker stopped them in their tracks. Halifax started a counter attack where Walker played a perfectly timed through ball to Willis for a one on one with the keeper. Willis earned Halifax a penalty flick after a desperate City of York keeper took out Willis’ legs.

Halifax 2nd teams top goal scorer Horsely stepped up to take the penalty flick which he expertly placed into the left hand corner of the goal far out of the reach of the City of York keeper. This put Halifax in a 4-3 lead. With less than 2 minutes to go City of York made one final attempt to equalise the score but Halifax remained very focused all the way until the final whistle blew and denied City of York anymore goal scoring opportunities.

The final score was 4-3 to Halifax after coming back from 3 nil down with Will Chan being voted man of the match for a great performance in the midfield