By Jake Mundy
Goodricke showed they’re real title contenders on Sunday, continuing their unbeaten run this term, with an impressive win over Halifax.
The first twenty minutes saw few chances from either side, the best effort coming from Halifax’s Alex Simon. With the shot heading for the top corner of the goal, Goodricke goalkeeper Foster needed to be at his best, as he superbly pushed the shot wide. Halifax soon took control of the game and started to produce chance after chance, Anthony Ellis coming closest to opening the scoring with a shot, again well saved by Foster.
Then almost from nothing, a long ball over the top from Goodricke led to a mix up in the Halifax defence. The goalkeeper Mundy, slow to react, allowed the speedy Jon Sharpe to reach the ball first, and Sharpe needed no second invitation to calmly put the ball into the Halifax net. The half time whistle followed shortly after, leaving Halifax 1-0 down against the run of the play.
Clearly inspired by their captain Tom Ragan, Halifax were fast out of the blocks. Having made two substitutions at the break, the captain saw his decisions pay dividends with both players linking up down the right channel to produce the equalizer, which Luke Charles, converted to make it 1-1. From this point it seemed Halifax would push on and create more opportunities, however, whilst they did have most of the possession, they failed to find any final product.
Goodricke continued to absorb the pressure and defend well, whilst creating chances on the counter attack. With Jon Sharpe and Sam Lewis pulling the strings on the break, they soon put their side 2-1 up, Sharpe producing the goal of the game with an exquisite shot onto the underside of the bar and over the goal line.
Halifax, still in the game, attempted to use the pace of forward Elliot Ragan down the right wing but the Goodricke defence were equal to all that was thrown at them. With Halifax needing to push on, the game soon became more open, which meant there were gaps forming in the Halifax backline. This saw Sharpe and Goodricke captain Lewis again link up and create their team’s third goal, leaving the game dead and buried.
With the game over, Halifax felt hard done by but the Halifax captain, Ragan, recognized the team’s need to be more clinical, saying: “If you don’t put away your chances, it doesn’t matter how much possession you have, you don’t deserve to win.” The Goodricke captain, however, seemed delighted with his team’s performance, their win taking them to the top of the college league table.
