Bromley have the Cheek to end Town’s winning run
FC Halifax Town drew 1-1 with Bromley in their penultimate home game of the season, on Tuesday evening.
Rob Harker handed Town a deserved half-time lead, but Michael Cheek cancelled it out after the restart.
A fifth league win in a row for the first time since March last year looked within Town's grasp after a superb opening 45 minutes, but Bromley clawed their way back into it.
It has been another productive week for Town, who also cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win against Maidstone at The Shay last Saturday.
Mani Dieseruvwe put Town into a half-time lead before Milli Alli and Rob Harker rounded things off.
It's just one defeat in 12 for The Shaymen. Something has clicked with this group of players, who are still not the finished article but are offering far more to be encouraged about on a regular basis.
All of which bodes well for Wembley.
Milli Alli spurned a good chance two minutes in when his header from Jordan Keane's cross wasn't executed with enough power and was beaten away by Reece Charles-Cook.
It set the tone for what followed though.
The Bromley keeper reacted well to keep out a low
shot at an angle by Matty Warburton, who along with Keane and Harker, were given their opportunity to stake a claim for a Wembley start.
And Harker did his chances no harm with his second goal in as many games when he nodded in Angelo Capello's cross from the left.
It was a goal that epitomised Town's start - incisive, fast and purposeful.
Halifax were let off the hook though after leaving Bromley's dangerman Cheek completely unmarked to meet a left wing cross, but
the striker failed to get the ball under control and fired off target from six yards.
That also set the tone for a more even second-half, with Town not reaching their firsthalf heights, not as slick or smooth on the ball, more wasteful in possession.
An injury to Jack Senior was also a cloud over the evening with the trip to Wembley looming.
Jude Arthurs blazed over the bar when a corner dropped to him ten yards out, with Bromley gradually improving.
But they weren't being suffocated like they had in the first-half, and Halifax weren't dictating the game as before.
A Cheek goal chalked off for offside was an indication that Halifax's lead felt a lot more slender than it had before half-time.
And so it proved when a cross from the right wasn't dealt with by a hesitant Halifax defence and goalkeeper, and Cheek tapped in the cutback from close range.
As good as the first-half had been, Town had been punished for coming off the pace.
Bromley now sensed a winner, and wasted a good chance when Harry Forster blazes over from the corner of the six-yard box after an awful error by substitute Festus Arthur.
Jamie Stott should have swung it back Halifax's way but missed his kick when a cross dropped to him five yards out.
Similarly, Cheek squandered a chance from close range, heading a cross back across goal but over the bar.