Venue: The Shay
Saturday, 18th March, 3pm kick-off
Pitch: Fantastic if you are after a beach holiday
Conditions: On and off drizzle
Attendance: 1623 (103 away supporters)
Scorers: Matt Warburton 60 (0-1), Malachi Linton 88 (1-1)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Owen Bevan 25, Charlie Cooper 51, Malachi Linton 57, Matt Worthington
FC Halifax Town: Jamie Stott 40
Referee: Jamie O’Connor
Yeovil Town (4-3-3)
Substitutes: Malachi Linton (for Lawson D’Ath, 25), Chiori Johnson (for Edwin Agbaje, 71), Jamie Reckord (for Alex Fisher, 90+4), Will Buse (not used).
Match Report
A Malachi Linton goal two minutes from the end earned Yeovil Town a smash-and-grab point at FC Halifax Town on Saturday.
After a game which was typically lacking in attacking intent from the visitors, the substitute bundled home an effort from Andrew Oluwabori to cancel out an opener from ex-Glovers’ loanee Matt Warburton.
However, there were serious looking injuries to midfielder Lawson D’Ath and on loan Ipswich Town defender Edwin Agbaje, who was stretchered off in the second half, and Matt Worthington picked up a yellow card which will see him get another suspension.
Here was Dave’s view from the away end at The Shay….
First half
It took five minutes for ex-Yeovil Town man Matt Warburton to have his first opportunity. It was one gift wrapped for him by Grant Smith whose desire to play it out from the back gifted an opportunity to Milli Alli to play a ball in and Warburton inexplicably put it wide with the goal at his mercy.
The opening ten minutes was a contest of which side lacked quality the most, but one moment for the visitors came on 12 minutes. A good run forward by Andrew Oluwabori fed Jordan Maguire-Drew whose ball went towards Worthington who appeared to be being impeded.
Two minutes later, Maguire-Drew was involved again as his ball in almost found Fisher in the box. Moments later, the ball broke Ryan Law who was pulled down inside the box. Probably not a penalty.
On 21 minutes, a corner was played out to Law who attempted to harness his inner Johan Cruyff (without success) and gifted possession to Halifax. Lawson D’Ath sprinted to the halfway line and pulled up holding his hamstring. He was replaced by Malachi Linton with Worthington dropping deeper.
A mistake by Owen Bevan, now on a booking after a foul on Warburton, allowed Diuserwuve down the right, he fed Alli who in turn found Warburton. Luckily Grant Smith was able to fall on the ball.
The tactic of playing out from the back caused Yeovil all kind of self-inflicted wounds during the first half. For a goalkeeper so adept with his hands, Smith appeared determined to show his quality with his feet – more of a shot-stopper than a footballer.
With five minutes of the half remaining, a ball in from Maguire-Drew went towards Linton who looked to be fouled. More of a shout than the Law’s, but still not more than ‘you’ve seen them given’ territory.
As the game ticked in to injury time, Warburton fizzed one just over the bar just before a forward surge by Oluwabori was flicked towards goal by Fisher. Not enough to force a meaningful stop out of the keeper.
Half time: FC Halifax Town 0 Yeovil Town 0
Second half
Five minutes in to the second half Charlie Cooper’s run forward forced a simple save from the keeper.
On 53 minutes, Warburton’s ball found Alli at the back stick, but his header flew over Smith’s goal. Three minutes later, a ball in from Fisher was
But, on the hour mark, the home side found a breakthrough. A good break forward saw Alli find WARBURTON who put a composed finish past Smith.
To add injury to insult, a collision between Edwin Agbaje and had to be stretchered off after 68 minutes. He was replaced by Chiori Johnson, but it did not look good for the on loan Ipswich Town man.
With their goal advantage and their opponents down to the barest of bare bones, Halifax looked to press their advantage. At the other end, there was a distinct lack of quality/confidence/energy (any of the three would be a correct answer). The cries of “ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK!” from the away support were met with little at the other end.
Five minutes to go, the thing Ben warned about on last week’s podcast happened – a stupid foul from Worthington. Another yellow card and a suspension to help our personnel issues.
Then, from absolute nothing, we were level with two minutes remaining. Yet again it was Oluwabori whose run and hopeful shot was bundled home at the back post by….well, the club’s Twitter account gave it to LINTON but honestly I have no idea.
The assistant raised his flag as if to claim a foul/offside/handball (who honestly knows) and then quickly lowered it and ran to thr halfway line. Halifax keeper Sam Johnstone was shown a yellow card for his protests, but the goal stood.
How’s your heart doing? How about six minutes of stoppage time at the end of the game to really test it? Two minutes in to them, Josh Staunton personified putting his body on the line with an outstanding block to deny Alli and the visitors hung on for a point.
