Second Round - Bishop's Stortford Vs Halifax Town

January 12th 2008

After such a long wait to see the first round, the second round was sprung upon us just four days later. I have to thank my Dad for driving down to this match with us. The savings on transport cost, and pre-match pint bought for us was well worth the considerable drop in 'coolness.'

We found Stortford to be a lovely place, with a very friendly bunch of locals, and an impressive little stadium. We were greeted upon arrival by a smiling man with a London accent, selling raffle tickets. After politely declining at first, we gave into his charm when he stopped us in the bar a bit later. We each lost a pound, but felt happier and more at home for it.


I was very pleased to receive a phone call from a man called Gareth, when we were in the clubhouse. We had sent brief emails to each other the week before the match and Stortford fan, Gareth told me that he had brought us some goodies, in the shape of programmes from previous rounds of the competition. He told me that he was currently in a pub chatting with some away fans, but would try and catch up with us later.

With the atmosphere around the club being so immediately friendly, I was surprised to see that the ground was being segregated to keep home and away fans apart. I'm not sure how many away fans were expected, but only 50 or so turned up and the barriers put in place seemed a little unnecessary. The home fans, however, turned up in good numbers, with horns and loud voices and spurred on their team to a very impressive performance. That is taking nothing away from Halifax town, who looked a far better side than they did just half a week ago against Leamington.

It was Halifax who started the game brightest, creating several scares for the Stortford fans. Coming forward in the first 20 minutes or so, Halifax seemed to find space far too easily, and only the final product was letting them down. Stortford were struggling to cope with Jon Shaw and Nathan Joynes in particular. Stortford grew in confidence as the half went on. After initially resorting to long balls and frantic clearances, they started to play some flowing football and should have taken the lead when top scorer Greg Pearson rounded 'keeper Legzdins before hitting the side netting with a strike which lacked composure.

Both sides played with an open, attacking style, which was a credit to non-league football, and it was a slight surprise to see the half end goalless. The second half started in similar fashion to the first, with Halifax making the running, before Stortford began to edge their way into the game. And it was Stortfod who grabbed the opening goal. An Ahmed Deen freekick from just outside the box evaded everyone, and ended up in the corner of the net. Five minutes later, the Shaymen had equalised. A scramble in the box eventually saw the ball fall to Jon Shaw, who slotted home from close range. Stortford scored the goal of the game another five minutes later, as a flowing move found Fazackerley in space on the right. His inch perfect cross found Roy Esandoh at the far post, who made no mistake in heading home. Greg Pearson then had an opportunity to seal the win, but his shot from a tight angle was pushed around the post. With a little under ten minutes left, Halifax equalised for the second time. Another scramble saw the ball cannon of the crossbar, and fall kindly to a grateful Kearney, who put the ball in the net despite calls for offside. Even then the visitors had chances to win the game, and only a fantastic save from young goalkeeper Welch denied Jon Shaw from close range.

The final whistle brought an end to a game which nobody wanted to finish. A draw was probably a fair result, but both sides looked a little disappointed not to have snatched a winner. I cannot make it to the replay, but I'm looking forward to watching the victors in the next round.

Halifax will start as favourites on home soil, but if Stortford can produce a similar performance to Saturday, then another cup upset could be on the cards. Good luck to both teams for the replay.

Final Score: Bishop's Stortford 2 Halifax Town 2
Attendance: 731