Railway v The Shaymen WRCC Match Report

Town Derail The Railway

The Shaymen got back to winning ways on a cold night in North Yorkshire with a narrow 1-0 win over Harrogate Railway. The Town side was much changed since the game at Alfreton on Saturday with half the team made up of players from the under 19's. Senior got his first outing of the season in goal whilst McReady, Wilson, Holsgrove, Johnson, Wothington and Marshall were the recognisable first team players in the starting XI.

The early stages of the game were one paced which is no surprise given the large slope on the pitch and any pass which was slightly over hit gathered pace down the slope and was pointless chasing as it was a lost cause and the ball would run out of play every time. Town had the first clear cut opportunity half way through the first half as Johnson held the ball up well to set up one of the under 19's but his shot hit the post to the delight of the Railway faithful and to the annoyance of the Shaymen fans. Shorty after, the Railway thought they were in front after a through ball cut the Town difference open and the Railway player calmly placed the ball to the right of Senior but the goal was disallowed due to being offside which was a let off for the Shaymen. Lightening struck twice for the Railway as from a corner the ball was bouncing around in the Town's area and a Railway player was the first to react to smash the ball past a helpless Senior but once again the linesmen came to the rescue by raising his flag to signal offside. The game was end to end for the rest of the half but with no clear cut chances.

The more notable action was on the sidelines as someone in the crowd had taken a sudden turn for the worse and needed medical attention but for what I am unsure. This resulted in the ambulance being called and making its way to the ground. This provided a distraction from watching game which at times was nothing worthy watching. After around 35 minutes there was more action but again not on the pitch. A spectator had lit a sparkler in keeping with the time of the year, which resulted in fans watching the sparkler than the game. At half time the score was 0-0 and the talking point at half time was of the condition of the spectator who needed medication attention than that of the standard of football.

At half time the majority of the fans made there way to the new refreshment kiosk to sample the delightful and reasonably priced catering, whilst others made the trip to the warmth of the clubhouse on a bitterly cold evening in Harrogate. As the start of the second half was looming the fans were hoping there wasn't going to be extra time.

The second half got underway but in the first quarter there was nothing of note with neither team having a clear cut effort on goal, even though the game was end to end and starting to open up. On 75 minutes a classic counter attack down the right hand touchline resulted in a by line cross into the area which was met by a Railway player but thankfully his shot hit the crossbar and it was still 0-0 going into the final 15 minutes. Both sets of supporters started to dwell on the possibility of extra time which was edging ever closer. As the game neared its closing stages both teams went for the knock out punch and tried to settle the tie in normal time. However was the time ticked by this was becoming increasing unlikely until the 87 minute when the Shaymen were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area which provided the Shaymen with a golden opportunity to settle the game. Josh Wilson stepped up and brilliantly slotted the ball into the top right hand side of the goal, giving the Railway keeper no chance. Town needed to be switched on from the restart and close the game out which they just about it. So the final score at Star beck was Harrogate Railway 0 FC Halifax Town 1, and the biggest cheer at full time was that the crowd didn't have to stay another 30 minutes for extra time and even longer if it had gone to penalties.

The Man of the Match were the hardcore Shaymen fans who made the trip over to Harrogate.

The Attendence was a mere 110 but above Railways average crowd

In the quarter finals of the West Riding County Cup Town will travel to Railways near neighbours Harrogate Town in December of which no date has yet been set.