MINT LINTON IS THE LATE GOAL HERO FOR GLOVERS

MATT Warburton returned to haunt his former club but it was Yeovil Town who had the last laugh thanks to Malachi Linton’s equaliser two minutes from time.

Warburton, who enjoyed a successful loan spell with the Glovers in 2020-21, put FC Halifax in front on the hour, only for Linton to earn the visitors a crucial point in their bid for survival.

Halifax, too, aren’t safe yet and with his side now nine points clear of the drop zone, boss Chris Millington said: “I am disappointed with the result, we have worked hard over the last five games to come out with a strong defensive record and we should have won the game with the chances we created.

“Tinged with disappointment, they have worked hard and we have been denied in the final minutes.”

Linton’s equaliser – after getting the final touch to Andrew Oluwabori’s shot – was met with massive appeals for offside by the Halifax players, waved away by referee Jamie O’Connor and his assistant, who raised his flag initially before instantly putting it down again.

It proved enough for the Glovers to clinch a ninth away draw this season with the point taking them four clear of the bottom four.

The Shaymen started quickly, a Gilmour free-kick into the penalty area was cleared away before Milli Alli had an opportunity to find Warburton in the box but under pressure, he was unable to get his effort on target.

Yeovil hit Town on the counter on 17 minutes, the ball finding it’s way to Jordan Maguire-Drew but his header was straight at Sam Johnson.

Yeovil then suffered a blow with Lawson D’Athlimping off and Halifax went for the jugular. Alli got himself to the byline and picked out Warburton but keeper Grant Smith was able to smother the ball inside the six yard box as the Town attacker looked to pull the trigger. Warburton had another effort which curled away from Smith but narrowly over the bar, before Alli raced through on goal but a good challenge from a Yeovil defender stopped him getting a shot in at goal.

Town stayed on top in the second half with Charlie Cooper firing straight at Johnson, while Alli and Manny Dieseruvwe both saw efforts fly over the crossbar. But the Shaymen eventually broke the deadlock on 61 minutes when Alli was able to find Warburton and he slotted the ball coolly past Smith.

Yeovil’s afternoon got even worse with the sight of Edwin Agbaje being stretchered off to a round of applause from both sets of fans, replaced by Chiori Johnson.

But Mark Cooper’s men kept plugging away and found a way through on 88 minutes when Linton fired home to the delight of the visiting fans.