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Photos: Valeria Vallone
The chances of qualification for the Cup knockouts for Alcuin 1sts and Halifax 2nds are likely to go right down to the wire, after they battled to a 1-1 draw this afternoon which fairly reflected the balance of play.
Both goals came in the first half, while in the second the game settled into a rather uninspiring rhythm, until it burst into life at the end as both sides pushed for the winner.
Alcuin started out the better of the two sides, though it took until ten minutes in for them to have a realistic effort on goal.
But what an effort it was, as Tom Chadwick gave Alcuin the lead with one of the goals of the competition so far. Will Dodgson won the ball in the middle of the park and set up Chadwick, whose first time shot from 25 yards curled into the top corner of the goal, leaving Mitchell Barwick in goal for Halifax with no chance.
The goal kicked Halifax into life and they had their first chances in the ensuing spell. The best came three minutes after the goal as Connor McCoy flashed a volley from a narrow angle across the face of goal.
McCoy had another chance a few minutes later but lasted his shot well wide of the goal, while Luke Stevenson was given offside after some nice build-up play which could have led to an opportunity.
Alcuin’s Chadwick and strike partner Danny Matthews seem to have struck up a good partnership, and it was clever interplay between the two which almost saw Alcuin double their lead. Matthews half-volley on goal went over the bar.
Moments later the scores were level. It was McCoy who was involved again, but this time he could not miss as he tapped into the empty net from two yards. Halifax had a period of pressure as Alcuin failed to deal with Hamish Denham’s long throw, before Jacob Burge in goal could only divert a low shot into the path of the waiting McCoy.
Soon after the interval, both sides had a chance to take the lead. Greg Fearn’s free kick glided narrowly wide of the post after less than a minute’s play, and within a minute it was Denham who went close at the other end, his header drifting wide after a long throw in.
After these two moments, though, the game settled into a tactical midfield battle with chances few and far between. Neither team seemed keen to go all out for victory. The most notable moment was a comedy substitution by Alcuin, as Homer replaced Simpson.
That all changed in the last ten minutes, though, as both sides had chances to take all three points. Dave Lewis had a speculative shot from 25 yards out which bounced wickedly a few yards in front of Burge as footballs on the JLD are wont to do; Burge did well to tip it over for a corner.
A few minutes later, Chadwick did well to turn in possession on the right hand side of the box, before sending in a low cross which was almost turned into the goal by a Halifax body. Fortunately for the ‘Fax, it was eventually cleared away.
The resulting throw in was taken long by Fearn, finding Matthews at the near post whose clever flick caused momentary panic in the defence before being well cleared at the back post.
It was then Halifax’s turn to apply the pressure. Connor Meckin pounced after Chris Boyd’s errant backwards header, but couldn’t gain control of the ball as it rolled out of play for a goal kick.
Halifax then forced Alcuin to camp in their box for a two minute spell, but never really managed a gilt-edged chance.
As the game entered its final two minutes Halifax had some more nice play. Firstly captain Jonny McGuinness found space up the right, but his deflected cross was well collected by the alert Burge.
Moments later Halifax almost secured the three points as Elliot Ragan, on as a substitute, was played through on goal. Burge came out quickly, made himself big and saved Ragan’s shot well, only for the referee to pull it back for offside anyway.
A competitive first half, followed by a largely turgid second which exploded into life in the last ten minutes, neither team can really have any complaints with the final result.
With the swathes of chances for both sides, on another day there could have been goals galore. As it was, neither team was sufficiently clinical. A win for either side would have given them the upper hand in the fight for a top two finish in Group Three. The draw means both sides have work still to do to secure a place in the Cup knockouts.