TOWN RAISE IT FOR CHRIS
FC HALIFAX Town boss Chris Millington heaped praise on his leg-weary players after they beat Eastleigh to clinch a National League play-off eliminator place at Altrincham on Wednesday night.
A strike midway through the first half by Adan George, followed by two goals in eight minutes by Jamie Cooke and Max Wright, earned the Shaymen a comfortable win which clinched their top-seven spot.
Halifax were playing their fourth match in eight days and simply had to win to stave off the threat of being pipped at the play-off post by Aldershot Town.
“But the players rose to the challenge superbly,” Millington said. “This was our fourth game in a week, with the pressure to win compounded by not having won any of our last three, though the level of performance against Ebbsfleet and Oldham Athletic wasn’t reflected in the end results.
“We faced two major challenges ahead of the Eastleigh game, firstly maintaining a level of fitness – which isn’t easy with high demands on the players – and coping with a long journey south not too long after finishing the 2-2 draw with Oldham on Thursday night.
“We were on the road early on Friday and the players were on their knees after that trip, so can take a lot of credit for the way they performed.”
In truth Eastleigh, having cleared any lingering relegation worries with four successive 1-0 wins since Easter, didn’t put up too much opposition.
They have won only once in front of their own Silverlake supporters this calendar year and once George poked Halifax ahead in the 26th minute they seldom looked like retrieving the situation.
George’s goal was an opportunist affair. While Eastleigh’s Solomon Nwabuokei lay prostrate on the halfway line, the lively Andrew Oluwabori broke away on the left and, with the Spitfires defence wrong-footed, nipped a close-range shot past Joe McDonnell off the inside of the near post.
Paul McCallum, the National League’s 31goal leading scorer, was starved of much service – the creative touch of Chris Maguire and Ben Reeves sadly absent – but he did manage to drill a shot just wide, having hit the Halifax bar early on.
It was plain sailing for Halifax once Jamie Cooke drilled a low shot past McDonnell to double the lead just after the hour mark.
But the best goal was left until last – Wright rifling a left-foot screamer into the top corner to complete a comfortable victory for the visitors.
Eastleigh boss Kelvin Davis, who has been offered the manager’s job for next season, admitted it had been difficult to get his players up of the game after the post-Easter four-match win run had secured the club’s safety.
STAR MAN: Luke Summerfield (Eastleigh)
ATT: 2,408
ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★
REFEREE: Stephen Parkinson