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Photos: Zoe Bennell
Halifax 3rds came from behind but could not snatch a win as Langwith 3rds held on for a point at the JLD this afternoon.
The game was largely devoid of quality, a scrappy encounter between two sides who had suffered heavy defeats in their opening matches on Friday.
It will have been Langwith who were most pleased with a share of the spoils, after Halifax had the majority of the possession and chances.
But in reality neither team did enough to win the game and a draw was the fair result on balance.
Both goals came in the first half, with Langwith ahead inside two minutes after a defensive mix-up.
A throw in was awarded to Halifax on their right hand side, but when receiving the ball from the throw Jake Mason missed his kick, and James Newsome sneaked in ahead of the onrushing Harry Ziegler to slot into the net.
Halifax didn’t threaten to hit back straight away, but gradually grew in to the game and started to cause the men in yellow some problems.
Steve Le Cornu in goal had a good game, pulling out a number of smart saves throughout the match to keep his side in contention.
After seven minutes, Le Cornu kept out Halifax’s first real effort, a free kick from the edge of the box driven low by Ed Henry.
Craig Dixon and Christian Harrison also had efforts but neither tested the goalkeeper.
Towards the interval Halifax pressed, and a save with his feet by Le Cornu from Ryan Doherty’s shot helped maintain their lead, after Henry’s mazy run.
But there was nothing that the keeper could do for the goal, as the ball pinballed amongst his defenders before falling to Doherty, who walked the ball in to the net after 26 minutes of play.
On the stroke of half time Langwith almost re-established their lead, Jon Horn smartly clearing the ball off the line while at the back post for a corner, following Errol Waters’ shot.
The second half was far from vintage play, Halifax the dominant team but for long periods unable to truly test the Langwith back line.
It was the Halifax goal scorer Doherty who eventually began to cause problems as the game entered the last ten minutes; the half burst into life in a three minute spell after fifteen minutes of turgidity.
Doherty eased off Langwith captain Tom Rudden to run through on goal, but his shot was tame and easily collected.
Shortly afterwards it was the striker’s nice play which set up captain James McNeill, but the skipper couldn’t convert as Le Cornu saved low to his left.
And then Halifax hit the post during another scramble in the box, but the team in white couldn’t quite bundle the ball over the line.
After this spell, the game calmed down, Halifax continuing to press but not coming very close to scoring, while captain McNeill was booked for dissent by referee Dylan Chambers.
The final chance of the game was by Henry, but despite striking his shot cleanly and crisply, it flew well over the crossbar.
The two standout players were Halifax’s Ryan Doherty, who provided their most convincing goal threat, and Langwith’s keeper Steve Le Cornu, who forgot about the nine-goal mauling of three days ago and repeatedly thwarted Halifax’s dominance.
But in reality it was a poor game, low on quality and two teams seemingly low on confidence. Both will be pleased to be off the mark for College Cup 2013, though it’s difficult to see where either will pick up any more points against stronger opponents in ‘The Group of Death.’
Sit down Halifax. Still think your 4s have the right to be in college cup?