Grafham praises impressive performance as Goodricke stage late comeback over Halifax
Goodricke Men’s 3
Halifax Men’s 1
A superb second half comeback from Goodricke saw them defeat Halifax in a match ruined by the appalling conditions of the pitch caused by the incessant rain.
Goodricke, outplayed in the first-half and trailing by one goal for most of the match, showed a resilience and combative spirit, which saw them cancel the single-goal deficit and take all three points.
The ball was bogged down in midfield for the majority of the first half, as the midfielders from both teams failed to break their opponents’ defences and allow their strikers to create any real threat. Halifax’s Fahey and Hewitt’s frequent runs down the wing put pressure on the Goodricke defence in the early stages of the game, and although both centre backs cleared the ball effectively for a large part of the first-half, they often struggled to cope with the Halifax wingers’ pace.
Halifax were rewarded after twenty minutes when the ball, crossed by Fahey on the right, failed to meet any of the Halifax strikers, but took a slight deflection on the left. Goodricke goalkeeper Taylor, misjudging the ball’s trajectory and failing to hang on to it, allowed Halifax striker Richards to score.
Ten minutes later, Halifax’s Nightingale could have extended his team’s lead but saw his shot go out off the post after poor goalkeeping from Taylor. Goodricke showed no sign of cancelling their deficit as they caused no real attacking threat at all, preferring to concentrate their play between the defence and midfield.
Their main chance of the first-half came from Whitlam whose right-footed shot was well dealt with by the Halifax goalkeeper. Having played poorly when using a 3-5-2 formation, Goodricke felt that a tactical change was needed, and they adopted a more attack-minded approach in the second half, aided by Grafham’s shifting to wingback.
Their best chance of an equaliser came in the 58th minute as Goodricke’s Silson hit a powerful long range shot which was well parried by Halifax’s Lister.
A tremendous run from the right by Colin High saw the Halifax defence put the ball out for a corner; and having missed a close-range chance earlier on, Grafham equalised for Goodricke from the set piece. Ten minutes later, the Halifax defenders failed to deal with High’s run from the right; his shot saw the ball hit one of the Halifax defenders, who was then unfortunate to put the ball into his own net and hand Goodricke a fortunate victory.
Goodricke midfielder Owen Grafham paid tribute to his team-mates for their ability in dealing with the tactical changes and for their fighting spirit in the second half.
