First Round - Halifax Town Vs Leamington

8th January 2008

Finally! After a month of waiting, I arrived at Halifax's Shay Stadium, only to be greeted by absolutely everything that Mother Nature could have possibly thrown at me. Yorkshire was on occasion throughout the course of the evening, hit by thunder and lightning, torrential rain, snow and gale force winds. Often more than one of the afformentioned nasties coming at the same time. Some higher authority clearly didn't want this game to be played. After being postponed twice previously due to weather conditions, and with a bit more rain, the referee could have easily abandoned this one. Within about twenty minutes of play, the pitch was cutting up badly, and the ball was beginning to stick in the expanses of mud and water which were appearing all over the place.

With the half completed, very sorry looking main stand looking as if it was about to collapse under strain from the elements, Leamington got off to a dream start. Kicking towards their, vocal as always, away support and assisted by the wind behind them they were always likely to start strongly, but few could have predicted a goal within 3 minutes. A cross from Marcus Jackson broke to Ben Mackey on the edge of the area, who lashed an unstoppable shot into the top left hand corner. I have become accustomed to seeing the Leamington crowd go a bit mental over the course of this adventure and they didn't disappoint this time either. Slightly cold burgers and hot drinks went everywhere and the Halifax stewards had to put on very stern looking faces to calm everyone down.

Leamington held their own in the first half, whilst Halfax struggled to even run in the wind that was blowing straight in their faces. Despite being one up, you got the feeling that if Leamington were going to get anything out of the tie, they were going to have to score again. They didn't really threaten Craig Mawson in the Halifax goal until a game changing incident on the half hour mark. Striker Martin Thompson was sent through on goal by a brilliant chipped ball from midfield. Mawson came charging out, and as Thompson clipped the ball round the keeper on the edge of the area, was sent tumbling by Mawson's reckless tackle. It looked for all the world like Mawson should have been sent off, but to the away supports bemusement, and Mawson's relief, only a yellow was shown and the resulting freekick came to nothing.

Leamington's misery was compounded with the last kick off the first half, as Halifax snatched an equaliser. Marcus Jackson dallied on the ball when he really should have cleared, and his mis-kick under pressure fell straight to Lewis Killeen. Killeen was clumsily brought down inside the box and Jon Shaw cooly dispached the penalty kick past Richard Morris. The Leamington fans I was stood with booed the referee at half time, but in my eyes it was a clear penalty, even though it was at the far end of the ground.

When the players emerged at the start of the second half, the wind had died down drastically. The rain/snow was still lashing down and the pitch was getting worse by the minute, but the lack of wind certainly favoured Leamington as the teams switched sides. Despite the lack of wind, Halifax began to show their superior quality and were camped in visitors half for long periods, without creating any real danger. No doubt assisted by the terrible conditions (I can't stress enough how difficult it must have been for the players) fouls started to be committed all over the pitch and it was only good fortune that meant we didn't see anyone injured.

As feet began to stick in the mud and the tie looked destined to be taken to a replay, Leamington hearts were broken by a goal in the final few minutes of normal time. For almost the first time in the match, the dogged and resiliant Leamington defence allowed a Halifax player some time in the penalty area to fashion a genuine chance. Simon Heslop had time to steady himself and sent a low, skidding shot into the corner of the net. The travelling supporters stopped singing for possibly the only time in the 90 minutes and the players on the pitch almost universally sunk to their knees and held their heads. Heslop had got the home team out of jail and the relief around the Shay Stadium was tangible.

After the brief pause the Leamington faithful continued to strain their voices, but for the final few minutes the tone was one of pride rather than genuine encouragement. At the final whistle, the majority of the crowd breathed in a big sigh of releif, whilst around 100 Midlanders trotted down the stairs to pitchside where they applauded off their exhausted, battle weary heroes.

Over the ninty minutes, the Yorkshire side probably deserved the victory. I feel that if the conditions were better then they would have ran out comfortable winners. However Leamington should be congratulated for getting this far in the competition, beating several teams from higher divisions on their way. They performed valiantly and should take great hear from the fact that they had parity with their Conference level opposition for such a long period of the game.

Again I would like to thank all the Leamington fans for being so nice special thanks to Vince for the lift to the ground. I wish Leamington FC every success for the season ahead and for the future. Hopefully I will be able to meet some of the Halifax faithful in the next round, as I didn't get chance this time.

Final Score: Halifax Town 2 Leamington 1
Attendance: 805