Whitby Town 1 – 5 Halifax Town; 13/04/11.

Whitby Town 1 – 5 Halifax Town; 13/04/11.

My first shout out in a programme. Bright pastures ahead.

After a washout which stranded several hundred Shaymen in Whitby this February, it would've been more ideal if we could try again last Saturday, rather than midweek. Were we to have won the title here on a Saturday the turnout and resultant atmosphere would have been fantastic, but instead 250 Shaymen made a Wednesday night trip in search of three points we didn't even need. On the other hand, Whitby really needed this. Three points wouldn't've given them mathematical safety, but realistically that's all they need to stay up this season.

In my sad, cold life, bereft of all pleasures of the flesh, this 200-mile round trip is the longest I've done midweek. I await your applause. Setting off at 3pm I got a lift and spent a comfy half-hour over a Theakston's Best Bitter in the clubhouse in good Shayman company. Still reeling from the losses of the Whitby–FCHT fixture that was called off, the bloke at the turnstiles charged me for an adult price, despite qualifying as a concession. Cameron's Britain, eh. I picked up an enamel badge and found an atrocious old Whitby Town on Tour t-shirt designed poorly on Microsoft Word that I don't believe I didn't buy on the spot.

The main stand at Whitby is average-sized for this level but impressive and boasts a great view. After dribbling some mushy peas down my shirt and trousers however, I left for the terrace on the opposite touchline, also of a decent size. Behind the nets on either side is hard standing that opens up to housing behind. The pitch had made a marked improvement from its state during the washout, where a dozen seagulls were occupying some small pools in it, looking for lunch.

 

In the first 15, Whitby showed their desire, forcing Hedgey to draw out his land in the box. We kept up a resistance and Whitby 'keeper David Campbell made a decision suitable of someone twice his age when the 40-year-old walked out of the box with the ball, only for Danny Holland to intercept him and almost get a second touch which would've found the net. It was then Ibby Hassan who had his clearance blocked for Holland to take control of, and to cross it in for Greggers to despatch from a few yards out and open up the scoring. Few chances came between that and our second, a bouncing Holland header from a free-kick that outwitted the handful of Seasiders in the box. The game descended into pure merkage when Phelan showed quick feet to boot one into the uncovered top-right of the net from Tommy Ten Men's delivery. From five vague chances we'd been more clinical than ever and put the match away.

The second half came without grief. Lowe's shot was too hot for Campbell to handle, resulting in Greggers missing another of those hilarious open nets. Some hint of momentum then came when Whitby's top goalscorer Jimmy Beadle pushed a daisy-cutter past Hedgey from 15 yards at slo-mo speed. Six minutes later, following a facile decision from the ref', Tommy Ten Men fell in his box and subsequently pelted it into the top left corner to restore the three-goal margin at 4–1. Were that penalty a woman, it'd be someone juicy if a little vintage. Fiona Bruce perhaps. A Whitby midfielder yelped "We're being made to look small!" as we playfully ruffled their hair through the second half. Probably a bit late telling them that, pal. We made our Whitby league aggregate 10–2 as the match came to a close, Phelan rolling it in.

The cheers from the Halifax 'alf of the crowd were more of what you'd hear if we were thrashing Lincoln Moorlands Railway pre-season. Whitby had to find their points elsewhere, and since have done against rivals Mickey Mouse Sports and Ashton United. Good for them, a top town that deserves good rep, y'all. Despite intimidation from pockets of Whitby yoof, we made it home intact. Project 100 Points is very much on.

Whitby Town 1 – 5 Halifax Town; att. 491

Match: 7/10
Atmosphere: 2/10
Food: 6/10
Drink: 7/10
Clubhouse/bar: 8/10
People: 4/10
Programme: didn't get, but thanks for the shout, Goosey.
Town: 10/10
Ground: 8/10
Talent: 2/10
Overall day: 8/10

Halifax Town 1 – 0 Bradford (Park Avenue); 19/10/10.

Halifax Town 1 – 0 Bradford (Park Avenue); 19/10/10.

Forty years ago Halifax Town AFC and their closest rivals, the original Bradford (Park Avenue), met in their final local derby at the Shay. It was a strange parting gesture for both teams though neither would have predicted it: the Shaymen were to be promoted to the third tier, their first promotion in their history, while Bradford would flounder at the bottom of the league, before losing an appeal to stay among the elite of English football. Cambridge United replaced them, and Park Avenue struggled for a while, before going pop. Halifax Town enjoyed a few glory years, including league games against Aston Villa, before being relegated. Both stories sad, though us Shaymen were of course similarly tragic when it seemed like it had all ended two-and-a-half years ago.

But it hadn't, and our ascent has already begun. A mark of it being that our first league game against Bradford (Park Avenue) for decades came and went last night, this time in the form of two teams battling for promotion to the sixth tier.

An alright crowd had been predicted, but not the 2011 that turned up. We were packed in the South Stand which gave us the plus side of being huddled together in freezing cold weather, though the atmosphere never really came. Sing when we're boiling, we only sing when we're boiling.

The first goal in the clash between Rawson and Parkinson Lane.

The match itself grinded like a local derby would from the kick-off. It even seemed to take a while for Park Ave to kick off. They neared the box as we did, but after 10 minutes we got something together slightly reminiscent of domination. This culminated in one of Jamie Vardy's most dazzling runs yet where he sprinted down the left flank, took a Bradford defender on and surprisingly (even for Vardy) beat him, taking the ball another ten yards before leaving it for Holland to tear a hole in the net from close range after 15 minutes. The highest attendance in the league so far this season sustained its applause.

For once, and last night suited me nicely for it because we came out of it with a win, we failed to be clinical. Winning the headers and playing the more superior passing football only amounted to a half-time lead of 1–0. It could've gone either way I note, were it not for our defense being a far sight better than any Park Ave attack, Hogan clearing two balls off the line so the game could carry on being a laboured derby. The late Ronnie Bottomley would have been proud of how tightly we were marked. Our chances were the majority of chances though, including the token Deano sitter.

So, after an Aspin call-to-arms, will the crowds return? I felt we brought a few from the rotting woodwork of HTAFC and hopefully they'll take the result in perspective of our current form (10 straight wins! Six straight clean sheets!) and develop an interest. Another successful enough match, and great for our profile. You can't complain if the goal margin is slight. Saturday's match will have no bearing on the gathering crowds, saying we're home to Mansfield in the FA Cup 4QR and in expectation of a few thousand, but they'll come. A close match, but one that funnily enough wasn't in doubt.


Halifax Town 1 – 0 Bradford Park Avenue; att. 2011
Entertainment: 7/10

Form:
Halifax Town 1 – 0 Bradford Park Avenue
Durham City 0 – 2 Halifax Town
Halifax Town 4 – 0 Harrogate Town
Burscough 0 – 2 Halifax Town
Ashton United 0 – 3 Halifax Town

Independent review (Modus Hopper Random).

Halifax Town 4 – 0 Harrogate Town; 09/10/10.

Halifax Town 4 – 0 Harrogate Town; 09/10/10.

Watch the match highlights.

I take the very slight doubts I've had from time to time back. As in, when we don't win. Because when we don't, it's starting to feel very bad indeed. Neil Aspin really has designs upon this team. The way he helped his team carry out a demolishing of a troubled club, his old club that he got so close to promotion with on next to no money before leaving with no other choice, has been ruthless. Machiavelli on a 110 yard pitch. Before the match Aspin let us know that he was going to treat this game like any other tie against a step two team, and that he seemed to do. A reunion wouldn't be a good idea anyway, seeing as the Harrogate squad had completely changed over the past 18 months.

The spill of Shaymen & friends in the East Stand is looking healthy.

It was a great surprise to walk in and see a larger crowd then expected, and a party started at the same time kick-off did, us managing to sing for at least 85 minutes, exhausting literally every Town chant I could think of. Harrogate Town themselves could have brought one or two hundred, and pluckily sung along only to be drowned out whenever they did. A player of theirs ran onto the pitch in pink—I was guessing this was just the goalkeeper for a split second until it turned out they were all in pink. It's nothing short of noble to put yourself out like that for breast cancer awareness, but like that's going to stop the south stand from goading. They put in some good effort to start off with and some that made the two teams equal, though mysteriously they never got a shot in despite the pink presence in our third. After the routine finding-our-footing, we found ourselves deep into a pretty dirty game. Two-footers and  tackles on James Dean on goal etc etc, and a penalty was eventually given, along with a big fat red for their Pell. Naylor followed suit a few minutes into Harrogate's deficit for going two yellow cards too far: nine men before the break! With some composure, they began to realise the only way around a card-happy ref was to tone down the rough play, and by half-time it remained 1–0, though there was hardly a chance of that scoreline changing in their favour.

They're playing in pink? . . . PINK?!

A miraculous scenario to have at half time especially with the atmosphere, a number of buzzcuts in tracksuits appearing here and there who you don't normally see at the games. I'd imagine Aspin's words were few but to not make any silly mistakes and put a few more past them. Many shots got close, Gonzalez having to throw himself to the other side of the net for a few lethal shots (Baker being a chief suspect). Within only a handful of minutes Vardy signalled his return after being injured since Northwich with a rebounded close-range shot into the opposite corner, one that not a single goalie could get to. Gonzalez did his bit but the deficit had to be large. Both teams were behaving on the field save Harrogate Town getting very frustrated with some decisions . . . understandable for the more innocent ones when little could be played after two sendings off.

One to watch: Withinfields' no. 8.

Part-time fans were appeased when two goals in quick succession proved on paper that we really did lamp Aspin's old club. A bunch of Harrogate delegates had abandoned the stands after a smooth Taylor tap-in. It would've been heartbreaking were they still there to witness their old man Holland hammer the penultimate one from the edge of the box. A fifth went in but was declared offside, which the finish certainly wasn't but who's to complain. We were the lower league side and the better side, and with three knockouts we are officially on a cup run!

An interesting aside, since Following the Shaymen prides itself in its impartial coverage: many H'gate fans are happy with this result. Why? Their manager Weaver has been accused of being out-of-touch and being inept à la Jim Vince, with a good eye for players but not a single clue on how to put them on their mettle. Nothing is expected, but they hope such a diabolical result for them is exactly what's required to see the man out, a man who has no intention on resigning himself. An official joined the fan forum purely to rudely rebuke an open letter of complaint on there, and with its harsh words sizzling on my mind I see eye-to-eye with their plight. No matter how the performances are going, the fan is the one they should be treating above anyone else. If a fan has been supporting your team longer than you've been in charge of it, then take their words into consideration. They may just have a point to make. Cheers!

 

4QR. The one before the 1st Round. Will we appear on the small screen this year? Many would fancy us against any contenders for Monday's draw. There is the relative ease of Frickley or Sheffield FC, FC United of Manchester and then the true gift clash between Lincoln Moorlands Railway (cute name and second bottom of the NCEL) and Mossley AFC. Then there's even York City, Grimsby and a few others, who we could also hold our own against at our current standard. A slightly bigger party (probably) awaits in two Saturdays' time, but the focus for many Shaymen right now is clenching a win against whoever that will be, and the never-forgotten taste of league opposition.


Halifax Town 4 – 0 Harrogate Town; att. 1834
Entertainment: 8/10

Form:
Halifax Town 4 – 0 Harrogate Town
Burscough 0 – 2 Halifax Town
Ashton United 0 – 3 Halifax Town
Halifax Town 4 – 0 Hucknall Town
Ashton United 1 – 2 Halifax Town

Independent review (FA Cup Groundhopper).

Ashton United 0 – 3 Halifax Town; 02/10/10.

Ashton United 0 – 3 Halifax Town; 02/10/10.

To end our final FA Cup/league Saturday doublet, a handful more Shaymen than before surfaced in red brick Mancunia for another league game that will say a lot for our current playing standard.

It did—and with little skill required. Ashton practically gifted us this game, forcing Hedge to get fingers to one shot, but little more after that. That was them at their peak of the day, and after that they shut their eyes tight and gave in to a taste of the Shay medicine. This translated, and in return we didn't give a spectacular performance though Hardy returns to the team on fire, and Nicky Gray's desperate battle for a place in this season's team is seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Though without the confidence to go for goal himself, he set up a lot of good play. We haven't seen the end of him quite yet.

The squad was largely unchanged but Deano made a return, making a shot hit the netting in the first half before rolling flat on his belly over the line and just below where I was stood. He grinned throughout and seemed to be living the life of Riley (not James). He treated himself to a close range power into the top-middle which surpassed the 100 game award-winning Ashton keeper's reflexes for Town's second. The first came several minutes earlier in the play, this one in the first half, as Danny Holland was given an easy close-ranger as a result of bad defending, James Dean half-feeding Gray who left it to Holland who fed the goal.

So not too long after Deano's strike, an Ashton defender again gave a daft handball, and specially anointed penalty taker Baker gave a quick look at the left corner of the net and wrapped up the game. A fourth could have come, but the game was at a friendly pace with a friendly atmosphere. Nothing much else was needed, just ongoing harsh reminders of the Shaymen's presence in the Northern Premier and a special Hurst Cross leaving present from the hosts for three points.

Ashton United 0 – 3 Halifax Town; att. 543
Ground: 8/10
Pitch: 4/10
Programme: 4/10
Talent: 5/10
Non-partisan entertainment: 6/10

Chasevillage 2 – 1 Halifax Town; 28/08/2010.

Chasevillage 2 – 1 Halifax Town; 28/08/2010.

My longest away day since Newcastle Blue Star. It's all going to end in tears.

I would've been very surprised if I were told this scoreline prior to the match rather than watch it unfold in such a brooding fashion. Being told it at half-time, I would be very upset with my team. That's what I am now.



On paper, Chasetown would be practically the easiest away day. Promoted through the play-offs in the clearly inferior southern NPL league can surely only mean a rebound back into the depths. A fate they were getting ready for in their first two defeats before the third game of the season, when we rudely got in the way and lost to them. They were what they were on paper.

Chasetown are a tight ship. They are one of those teams that gets a moment of fame through an excellent FA Cup run, ending with Cardiff City in the third round, 2400 somehow passing through the turnstiles two years ago. If I remember right, a similar number from Chasetown previously made it up to Boundary Park, where they held Oldham Athletic to a draw. I won't lie; I'm not sure if there are that many citizens in Chasetown. It is little but a road in the south Staffordshire green belt, the green belt being a reason why they haven't been able to build a stand higher than 4', with a ground nestled into a wood clearing, threatening their future as a team attracting 350 or so to most games. I've done my research and they've come a little way to get to that. The professed zone for "Unofficial Scholars' News," ChasetownFC on blogspot, reports a game with an attendance of 83 for a mid-August Midland Football Alliance game. The second entry comes midweek, reporting a Chasetown away victory with the tantalising words, "More to follow."

We have sat in anticipation for six years.



A tight, effective ship I continue. A flawless pitch, an "oh, just quickly build a few steps here and there and get it done with" approach to ground-building, and a hint towards the intelligentsia; Staffordshire appoints itself to be "The Creative County" and Chasetown "The Scholars." Not the kind of team for those among us who left school with two GCSEs. You need a 2:1 degree at a Russell-group university at least to make the XI here, which accounts for any lack of youth team.

The first half was like returning home for me. Exactly four months after the last league match. Town cracked Chasetown and by the 20th minute were powering through them, and the goalie was being given endless abuse. Bliss. A Taylor cross perfectly went to Metcalfe's powerful head, which hit it just over, before a little while later Metcalfe squared it to Taylor, and this time with such close-range, the ball only had one place to go. The Shane MacGowan lookalike had his first league goal down.



Not too clinical again, but 1–0 to us at half time. Satisfactory, with great performances up front. Our defense I couldn't see as at these bus stop grounds you have no vantage points for that, and to most supporters of bus stop teams that doesn't matter because they're only attending for a larf and the odd massive match when they play a team like us. Expect the Chase to lose their bank holiday game emphatically.

Then, in the changing rooms, the Chasetown chairman conducted a terrible experiment, where he swapped over the brains from our players with the brains from theirs. Out came a Town team that was unremarkable both individually and as a team, and a tough Chasetown side that magically won every 50-50 and every referee decision. There were a few cries for penalties for us; warranted ones that will have to go down to the highlights for us to tell him so, but ultimately we were shocking.



Now you won't beat anyone with two shots on target, or at least shouldn't expect to beat anyone. Aspin in Friday's 'paper spoke of being clinical and it didn't happen today. Do we really have the skill to put those opportunities away? I would like evidence on Monday.

Chasetown were in many ways tough when they came together, but should be more straightforward when they come to the Shay. I suspect they will be lost without the wind and cold and will be given a good hiding. I'm fairly certain of that. I hope I can be certain of that. If that's the toughest fight they can put into a game, then all we have to rely on is not playing as shambolic as today. Aspin I'm sure will know this, and his grilling is one of the most effective we can expect of a manager. His words imply that he strongly believes in a team that can not only hold it at this level, but be depended on to tear apart certain Black Country squads.



Early days I suppose, but a team missing five players, no matter how key as they were, shouldn't fall down when we have several signings from close season who act in the very least as strong reinforcements. Perhaps we should experiment with a strong XI as close as possible to last season's strongest XI?

On the grill they all go.

Chasetown 2 – 1 Halifax Town; att. 611 (looked like more?)
Ground: 2/10
Pitch: 10/10
Programme: N/A
Talent: 4/10 (fetching physio)
Non-partisan entertainment: 7/10