Halifax edge Goodricke in exciting encounter

February 22, 2012
Jack Bradshaw

HALIFAX 2-0 GOODRICKE

Images: Benjamin Clynes

Halifax recorded a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Goodricke in the long-awaited first weekend of college football this term.

The weather had thwarted attempts to play for the past four Sundays, but that didn’t stop both sides playing some excellent football in an open, end-to-end encounter.

Goals from Conor Meckin and Hamish Denham secured the win for Halifax, who bossed possession throughout.

Meckin grabbed the opener, in a first-half of few chances, when he found space at the far post to turn home Tom Day’s corner.

Day showed some exquisite touches and posed a constant threat to Goodricke; looking to take up space just in front of the defence.

And the forward nearly scored a deserved a goal, only to see his free kick cannon off the crossbar.

Goodricke went close to taking the lead though, but were twice denied by Johnny Sim who saved well from Joe Mann and Sam Lewis from close range.

With Goodricke pressing for an equaliser after the break, the crossbar was struck twice more when firstly, Lewis saw his curling effort go close.

Before the outstanding Sim pulled off a stunning save from point-blank range to parry Mann’s strike onto the woodwork, after terrific work from Luke Parker.

Instead, it was Halifax who got the second late on, to effectively seal the win, when Denham’s goal-bound effort was inadvertently turned in by Joel Fagan.

After the game, Halifax captain Jack Beadle was delighted with his team’s performance, saying, “I was very pleased with everyone today and couldn’t fault them. We bossed it throughout against a good side.

“We really want to push on and prepare for the college cup which we are obviously looking to win again this year.”

Despite the result, Goodricke skipper Matt Thomas remained upbeat, commenting, “I thought we did really well in one of the hardest games. They had more possession but we definitely created the better chances.

“We were missing some players and it’s only our first game so I’m really pleased.”

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