Win at windy Weymouth keeps Shaymen on track
TOM BRADBURY and Zak Dearnley’s second-half goals made it back-to-back victories for FC Halifax Town as they won 2-0 at Weymouth.
It wasn’t pretty, it certainly wasn’t spectacular, but Halifax did what they had to, for the second game in a row, to keep their promotion push and their two-points-a-game ratio bang on target.
Instead of battling the Shay surface, Town were fighting against blustery winds on the south coast.
In a dour first-half, Tyler Cordner went closest for the hosts with a curling shot just outside the box, before Martin Woods hit the bar for Town with a well-struck effort.
Town picked up where they left off in that sense after the interval, as a free-kick by Woods was parried by Ross Fitzsimons and then Billy Waters’ shot from close range was well-saved by the keeper before the ball was cleared off the line by Haji Mnoga.
Halifax started the secondhalf like Weymouth had the first, and with the wind now at their backs, went ahead when Summerfield’s free-kick was flicked into Bradbury’s path at the far post and he side-footed it low across goal.
Sam Johnson finally had a shot to save, albeit a tame one, with five minutes to go, but that was as close as Weymouth got to an equaliser.
A lovely finish by Dearnley then sealed the win from fellow substitute Jamie Thomas’ low cross as he flicked it past the keeper with his right foot behind his left, in the best moment of quality in the whole game.
Weymouth: Fitzsimons, Drewe (Bearwish 81), Mnoga, Cordner, Harfield, McQuoid, Bunker (Blair 64), Mampala (Greenidge 81), Smith, Mussa, Ash. Subs not used: Murray, Scott. Shots on target: 1; Shots off target: 4
Corners: 7
Halifax: Johnson, Warren, Debrah, Maher, Bradbury, Summerfield, Woods (Warburton 72), Spence, Allen (Dearnley 64), Slew (Thomas 90), Waters. Subs not used: McDonagh, Senior,
Scorers: Bradbury (53), Dearnley (90)
Shots on target: 6; Shots off target: 5
Corners: 2
Attendance: 1,026
Referee: Elliot Swallow
Town man of the match: Luke Summerfield
ONLINE: www.halifaxcourier. co.uk