Halifax did just enough to earn a victory against a resurgent Derwent who were highly unlucky not to have grabbed an equaliser.
The early stages of the game were tightly contested, as neither side was able to create any chances on goal. The first chance fell to Halifax as Tom Day sweetly chipped the ball narrowly over the bar. Derwent defended well against the Halifax attack. Sam Colclough produced a fine save to deny Alex Reid whose well timed volley was hit with pace and accuracy.
Halifax scored soon after however, as an unstoppable 20-yard pile-driver from Denham nestled in the top corner of the net. Pick that one out.
Halifax continued their momentum and began to heap pressure upon the Derwent goal. Patrickson’s headed effort was seen just wide from an in-swinging corner. The half drew to a close at 1-0 with Derwent doing just enough to keep themselves in the game.
The start of the second half was similar to the start of the first, as both sides contained each other in the middle of the pitch. Mundy came off the bench and within minutes had doubled the Halifax lead as some sloppy defending allowed him to slot an effort into the Derwent net.
At 2-0 up, Halifax seemed to be in cruise control and looked certain to be able to edge the game out. With ten minutes to go, Derwent grabbed one back as Alex Nock met up with a searching ball and placed it past Johnny Sim.
It was all to play for now and Derwent kept on attacking sensing a goal was a near. Both sides had penalty claims turned down and it appeared that Halifax may have just done enough to see themselves through.
A ferocious drive from Joe Eyles crashed into the underside of the bar and bounced clear. To the annoyance of Derwent fans and players, the goal was not given. The speed of the ball made it difficult to see either way. Memories of the Lampard incident during the 2010 World Cup were bought painfully back to life.
The fax managed to see the game through and earn a valuable win against a Derwent team who can consider themselves unlucky.
Halifax: Sim, Seed, Darling, Turley, Patrickson, Reid (Jones), Ragan, Mawdesley, Daly, Denham (Mundy), Day
Derwent: Colclough, Weavis, Gow, Carbajo, Lambert (Morris), Highland, Schoenmaker, O’Connor (Eyles), Whittall, Jacopo (Sabas), Nock
Vision MOTM: Matt Mawdesley