Match Report By Compiled By Andy Crabtree 13/11/10 Halifax V 3 Boston Spa IV 8 After a 3 week break, Halifax found it difficult to find their feet against second in the league Boston Spa and went down by one goal early on in the first half. Fax soon found their feet using the opposition’s over confidence against them and the front line using the courage of Ross Perkins and Phil Green pushing through the defence with Green pulling off the finish, putting the ball past the keeper for his first of the season. Once again the fifths welcomed new blood into the team in the form of Cameron Hellowell who plays well in both midfield and out on the wing. Despite the strong defence of John Crabtree, Paul Newton, Jack Garside, Arron Charlton and Peter Laker, half time had Fax down by two goals. In the spirit that has become synonymous with the fifths, keeper Joe Pickering was kept out of business for most of the second half. Fax made the most of the position with penalty corners coming in quick succession. The first real chance saw Phil Hawker push the ball out to Green who took a shot. The rebound was received off the keeper by Andy Crabtree whose strike was stopped by a defenders body on the goal line. This gave the Fifths a penalty flick which was put away by Green. Boston Spa, however, led several breaks managing to score from five. Then once again, Halifax had the ball deep in the Boston Spa half where midfielders James Greenwood and Gordon Hines worked together in keeping the ball in the possession of the fifths. The pressure proved too much for the opposition conceding yet another short corner converted by Green for his hat trick. 23/10/10 Halifax V 1 Harrogate V 4 Starting the game with no option to substitute any players, Halifax worked hard to keep the Harrogate attack at bay. Once again fifths defence stood strong with Neil Penny-Ward, Tim Jones, John Crabtree and Paul Newton working well together to keep the forwards supplied with ample opportunities but the Harrogate defence was just as good. Unfortunately, the first half saw the opposition score twice but Halifax regained control and took pride spending the last 10 minutes of the half deep in the Harrogate half. Half-time gave Fax the chance for a position shuffle sending Andy Turner to the back. Gordon Hines filled the vacancy in midfield, Ross Perkins moved to the left wing and Andy Crabtree took the centre. Halifax still found it hard to finish with Luke Attwell and the rest of the forwards firing wide on several occasions. Harrogate’s third goal triggered a push up the left with Perkins running the ball up the wing and into the D to take a shot. The keeper kicked the ball straight out to Andy Crabtree but not finding space, the ball was handed over to Peter Laker who managed to find the target hitting the back board for his maiden goal. James Greenwood unfortunately suffered an injury to his leg but showing his passion for the game played on. Joe Pickering found himself overwhelmed as Harrogate again came through the defence in numbers and despite a valiant attempt a forth goal was conceded. 16/10/10 Halifax V 4 City of York IX 1 Tim Jones and his team took on the City of York 9th team and didn’t waste any time as Halifax took the lead with Gordon Hines punishing the visitors sloppy defence. By using the resulting short corners, he put 2 goals away within the first ten minutes. The fifths used a tight front line which was bolstered by the return of midfielder James Greenwood to keep the ball in the York half for most of the first half. However, when York did manage to break through the strong defence led by Paul Newton, John Crabtree took charge frustrating the York attack at every opportunity. York were further frustrated after being reduced to 10 men due to a defender being sin binned. Even though Halifax were unable to capitalise on this weakness, they still however managed to keep their Keeper Joe Pickering a spectator. York used the half time break to regroup but the start of the second half soon found the visitors a further goal behind after Hines put the ball past the keeper for his hat trick. York fought back but once again were pushed back by the castle-like defence of the Halifax back line. Persistence paid off as a York striker found a gap to score. Halifax once again took charge as Jake Gledhill, Phil Hawker and Ben Greenwood led several attacks. They once again found space as Andy Crabtree moved in from the mid-field and took possession of a rebound ball to push it past the overwhelmed Keeper. The Fifths kept the pressure on as Luke Attwell took strike but fired wide. Arron Charlton found time to make a run up the wing from his defence position helping the home side to end the game as the dominant victors. Match Report By Compiled By Andy Crabtree 09/10/10 Halifax 1 Ben Rhyddings 6 The Halifax 5ths knew they were in for a tough game going up against the Ben Rhyddings 7th on their own turf but roused by the motivational pre-match talk from Capitan Tim Jones, started the game with heart. The first half was a hard fought battle and Keeper Joe Pickering put in some amazing saves after the Rhyddings forwards led several attacks on goal, most of which went to penalty corners. Helped by excellent distribution by Neil Penny-Ward, the forwards Luke Attwell, Stephen Lapworth and Ross Perkins made a break but sadly couldn’t break the Rhyddings defence. Halifax found themselves on the back foot with yet another short corner awarded against them and the attack beat all the defence to give the home team the lead. The second half started with a change to the Halifax front line moving Andy Crabtree to his preferred left wing position. He was able to run the ball into the D and beating the defence he slipped the ball to Attwell but the keeper was there to make the save. Ben Rhyddings managed to put 2 more away from penalty corners but Halifax managed to break again with John Crabtree pushing the ball onto a defender’s foot securing a short corner which Gordon Hines hammered past the keeper. Phil Hawker attempted several runs on the right wing with help from mid fielder Paul Newton but the duo found themselves swamped by the Rhyddings ring. With Halifax conceding a further 3 goals, Jack Garside switched from the back to the front and had a few good runs. Arron Charlton, making his debut for the team, put in a stellar performance in defence and was voted the Halifax man of the match. Match Report By Compiled By Gordon Hines 02/10/10 Halifax V 1-1 Airedale II Halifax outplayed the Keighley based side for most of the game and despite creating several opportunities to win the game were unable to find the killer touch. Starting well Halifax dominated the early exchanges and despite playing the game almost exclusively in their opponents half they failed to make many opportunities with Luke Attwell and Gordon Hines both firing wide. A long punt up field by Airedale saw them 2 on 2 and their experienced centre forward managed to gain just enough room to fire past Joe Pickering in the Halifax Goal. Halifax continued to press with good width provided by Andy Crabtree Ross Perkins and Stephen Lapworth overlapping from the back. Ben Greenwoods great work in Midfield gained Halifax a couple of short corners which both shaved the post. Parity was finally managed when James Greenwood crashed in for a 50-50 tackle and the ball spilled to Gordon Hines who managed to wrong foot a defender before scoring in the far corner. Halifax continued to dominate possession until halftime when Airedale brought on the experienced Phil Ramshaw who solidified their back line. The second half was a pretty even affair with both teams sharing possession but good defending by Paul Newton and Neil Penny-Ward kept keeper Pickering a virtual spectator. Halifax had more purpose to their game and looked far more dangerous but never quite managed to test the keeper. Ross Perkins made a great league debut for the club and Halifax looked strong in attack. It is the defence that will need to be strong next week as they take on the mighty Ben Rhydding at Ilkley in an early start. ____________________________________________________________________________ 2009-10 Season Match Reports Compiled By:- Carl Barnfather York Uni III 2 – 2 Halifax V Halifax fifth team started the new year with an exceptional result against division 10 leaders who had an unbeaten home record scoring 37 goals and only conceding 3. this was a game which statistically was a non starter but after an initial slow start on the back foot for the first ten minutes which saw James Smith pull out a spectacular save from a drag flicked ball and then chased the ball to the edge of the D to clear the ball to the sideline off the end of a York payers stick. Halifax then lifted their heads and pushed forward and were rewarded with a short corner which Paul Newton put away with an excellent shot. York came back immediately with a fast and accurate movement blasting a shot on target which Smithy managed to deflect wide of goal with his outstretched leg. Smithy continued to defend the goal pulling off a string of great saves two from drag flicks but he never got phased and kept his defence tight as York persisted with several attacks as Halifax held fast till half time. York came out fast in the second half but Gordon Hines Dominated the mid field with Stephen Lapwood and created a great chance for Andy Crabtree only to see the keeper push the ball wide. The youngsters in the team battled well Ben Greenwood Josh Sutcliffe and Tim Jones never allowed the opposition to intimidate them and created several great moves down the wing. Twelve minutes into the second half York managed to pull back an equaliser. The game was very evenly matched at this point and both keepers were called upon several times. With five minutes to go York made their first real mistake with a hit across their D not noticing Andy Crabtree lurking just out of sight who sprinted to the ball and stole it from Yorks defender and pushed it under the Keeper with lightning speed. With one minute to time signalled York pushed forward and secured an aftertime short corner which was played out and York managed to scrape in the equaliser. James Smith managed to save 17 shots that were on target which was a personal best for the young keeper.