Halifax Town 3-2 Notts County (National League) 05.10.21

Notts fall to another defeat, this time in the one hundredth minute from a two-goal lead.

The heavy downfall of rain did not stop proceedings this past Tuesday night in West Yorkshire. However, in the end, the Notts faithful maybe now wish it did.

The game was began by the visitors and they seemed to be the early pace setters. In the fourth minute, Ruben Rodrigues’ in-swinging delivery reached Aaron Nemane, who’s first time effort turned out to be a first-time pass to Jim O’Brien. The Scottish midfielder looked destine to strike towards goal before being dispossessed at the vital moment before the hosts cleared. An early positive start for the Magpies.

The Shaymen needed a response and that they did just two minutes later. Careful and precise build up play during a swift attack saw Kian Spence granted the freedom of the right. The midfielder utilised the space in front of him by driving into the open space on the edge of Notts’ penalty area before lashing a fierce shot just over the crossbar.

Both teams registering their first opportunities in the opening six minutes left present supporters expecting quite the thriller, it soon lived up to that expectation.

A twenty-minute period, that saw no clear-cut chances, was concluded with the opening goal of the game. The forever threatening Ruben Rodrigues raced in on goal in a chase to the ball with Shaymen shot-stopper Sam Johnson. It was the Portuguese attacker who run the race and lifted the ball over the head of the goalkeeper with a quite sublime chip before running off to the far side of the damp pitch to celebrate putting his side 0-1 up with his teammates.

The hosts taking the lead seemed to spark life within the home side, who came close to an equaliser just six minutes later. To begin with, Town’s Harvey Gilmour saw a well-struck effort towards goal blocked by full-back Richard Brindley. In the aftermath of the block, a ball is slipped through to top-goalscorer Billy Waters, seemingly in an offside position, who fired goal-bound but saw his effort stopped by Anthony Patterson. This was the last real action before half time.

Twelve minutes after the restart, Notts increased their lead to two. Cal Roberts’ sublime cross was met firmly by centre-half Alex Lacey, who’s header was deemed too powerful and went beyond Sam Patterson into the bottom left corner. The perfect response from the Woking dismantling it first seemed.

Anger was evident within the home side off the back of going two goals down. Arguably too much anger as three minutes after Alex Lacey increased Notts’ advantage, Halifax were reduced to ten men. An aggressive battle between Tom Bradbury and Ruben Rodrigues resulted in the Town defender being dismissed following an elbow spotted by the assistant referee.

The odds looked against the Shaymen, being a man down and being behind by two. However, they clearly were a team for trying. The seventy-nineth minute saw fan favourite

Jordan Slew charge towards full-back Dion Kelly-Evans, beating the Notts defender comfortably before dispatching low and hard into the Notts goal. Many Notts supporters were massively disappointed with the manner of the goal, which went straight through Anthony Patterson.

Unfortunately for the travelling Notts faithful, Slew’s strike proved to be the catalyst in a quite remarkable comeback. Just seven minutes after the first, Halifax had their equaliser. A high cross into the penalty area evaded the whole Notts backline before reaching Billy Waters, who netted not only the equaliser but his nineth goal already thus far this season.

Entering the ninetieth minute, you felt there was going to be a winner. The fourth official lifted his board, which read ten minutes added injury time. This sparked a reaction from both sets of fans as there was an evident expectation of greatness within both.

In the ninety-third minute, the visitors thought they had won it. An in-swinging corner was met by the head of Sheffield Wednesday loanee Ciaran Brennan. The goal-bound header entered the back of the hosts’ net beyond Sam Johnson, who was judged to be fouled to the surprise of the away end and the Notts side. As this was the case, the game resumed from a resulting Town free kick with the game still level at 2-2.

The clock ticked beyond the one-hundredth minute mark and the game looked destine for a point a piece. This was before a Town counter-attack reached substitute Matthew Warburton, who concluded the counter-attack by knocking the ball out of his feet before bending a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the roof of the Notts goal. The goal completed the perfect twenty-minute comeback, who took all three points out of the game winning by three goals to two.

After the full-time whistle, a huge melee erupted on the pitch. The supposed catalyst for the melee was a touchline dispute between Notts head coach Ian Burchnall and members of Town’s management team. When questioned about this, Ian Burchnall said the melee began following unfair comments made by the opposing dugout, which he felt were undeserved.

Despite this, defeat in West Yorkshire for the magpies sees them winless in their last three games, conceding seven times beyond the seventieth minute in their past two games. It’s worth adding to this that both times have been from winning positions.

What’s next for both sides?

For FC Halifax Town, they face Weymouth at The Shay Stadium, looking to extend their unbeaten run of form to seven games. The Terras travel to West Yorkshire off the back of a 3-0 defeat to current high-flyers Bromley this past Tuesday night.

As for Notts County, they are on the road again. This time, a trip to Huish Park to face Yeovil Town. With captain Kyle Cameron set to make his return, the magpies have already been dealt a huge boost for this weekend’s game. However, this boost needs to be utilised as the

magpies are desperate to get back to winning ways and return to the play-off places, which they have currently dropped out of and sit tenth in the Vanarama National Legaue.

Halifax Town: Johnson, Senior, Maher, Bradbury, Warren, Gilmour (Warburton 62), Spence, Green, Waters, Allen (Newby 62), Slew (McDonacgh 80).

Notts County: Patterson, Chicksen, Lacey, Brennan, Brindley (Kelly-Evans 77), O’Brien, Palmer, Nemane (Sam 87) , Rodrigues (Mitchell 80) , Roberts, Wootton.

Venue: The Shay

*Article provided by K-Ci Rennicks (Notts County Correspondent).

*Main image @Official_NCFC a disappointing night as Notts slip from three points in grasp to late defeat.