Shaymen fail to make the extra man count yet again
FC Halifax Town were held to a goalless draw by ten-man Atrincham after ex-Town man Matty Kosylo was sentoff.
What is it about Halifax against ten men?
Altrincham are now on the list twice of teams The Shaymen have failed to beat when a man less. It gets no less frustrating the longer the list becomes.
Town's lack of cutting edge cost them a place in the FA Trophy and cost them two points here as they failed to make their advantage count in a dominant second-half display after Altrincham shaded the first.
Altrincham were dreadful in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day, but looked much more like a promotion rival here.
They should have led through Regan Linney, one of three changes for the visitors, but he twice fluffed his lines from inside the Town box, first seeing a shot cleared off the line after exHalifax man Matty Kosylo's cross, and then sidefooting wide from near the penalty spot one-on-one with Sam Johnson, who also kept out a shot by Chris Conn-Clarke.
The Shaymen had chances too, with Andrew Oluwabori, one of three changes for them along with Flo Hoti and Angelo Cappello, having an effort saved by Ethan Ross after he nicked the ball off an Altrincham player 30 yards out.
There was also a marvellous run by Adam Senior one of Town's better players going forward - dribbling past two or three Alty players before prodding a shot just wide of the far post.
But for every positive bit of play, there was another that went wrong from Town, who needed more composure and better decisionmaking in the final third.
Hoti's pass to Cappello on the left was miscontrolled and went out for a throw-in; Jordan Keane's pass went straight out of play inside his own half; Hoti found Jamie Cooke, who laid it off to Kane Thomson-Sommers but he opted to pass rather than shoot and the chance went.
Halifax were again fine off-the-ball, that's rarely an issue, but weren't clicking on it like they had last week.
Oluwabori was a case in point, offering no shortage of effort but unfortunately was lacking in quality, although he wasn't the only one.
Town needed more from him, Hoti and Cooke, who weren't linking effectively and had strikers Rob Harker and Aaron Cosgrave watching on from the bench.
There was an undulating undercurrent to the game, with both sides having spells of possession and probing play but never seizing control of the contest.
There were shots on target by Senior and off target by Hoti and Jack Hunter in the first five minutes of the second-half as Town started to gain superiority.
Kosylo lasted 56 minutes before being waved off by the home fans after a second booking for a foul on Cappello as Altrincham went down to ten men for the second consecutive visit to The Shay.
Alty sacrificed star man Conn-Clarke and prepared to hunker down and protect their point.
Halifax couldn't find a way past them last time, and they looked destined to suffer the same fate when Keane wasted a glorious chance to rival Linney's, blazing over unmarked six yards out, shortly before Hoti's flying header was tipped over by Ethan Ross.
Town were left incredulous that Cappello was booked for diving instead of being given a penalty, but The Shaymen looked less likely to score the closer full-time got, despite throwing Harker and Cosgrave on and having all the possession and territory they could wish for.
Thomson-Sommers tested Ross late on with a shot from range, but Altrincham held on too comfortably in the end.
After the game, Town boss Chris Millington said: "I'm pleased with the reaction at half-time because I thought we were a bit sloppy and a bit complacent potentially first-half.
"As a staff, having watched the game at Moss Lane back, we felt we were in control and I think maybe some of that transferred into a bit of complacency early in the first-half.
"But then once the lads got going, and certainly after half-time, I thought we were very bright and much more like ourselves.
"So, pleased with the reaction and pleased with lots of aspects of the second-half.
"We can criticise the firsthalf because I thought there were too many of us just not at the races, but once we got going I thought we were decent, I thought we were good value.
"It's always a problem when a team defends in such a low block, breaking them down, especially when the pitch is so sticky that you can't move the ball with any speed or tempo.
"So we're left with the only option of working it round them and delivering crosses into the box, which clearly isn't our strength, we want to be working the ball into the box under better control.
"When the pitch is as heavy as it is, there's just no way you can do that, but all in all, we look at the last four games, against really difficult opposition, and we feel like we've given a good account of ourselves and given ourselves a really solid foundation to start the New Year in."
He added: "We want to (to do better when opponents have ten-men) but it's not going to be the difference in how our season pans out, whether we spend a load of time and energy analysing and working on being better against ten men.
"If we were shooting the other way, when you've got that half of the pitch which is firmer, more flat, less sticky, then we might have had more opportunity to unpick them with some quicker-tempo play."