Halifax Town 1-0 York City (29/08/05)

[Match Reports]

__________________ Halifax Town 1-0 York City
_______________ii_______Midgley (pen) 62

___________________________


For the second time in two away games, a poor refereeing decision meant City dropped points on their travels. Lancashire referee Matadar pointed to the spot when City captain Hotte was adjudged to have fouled John Grant on the edge of the penalty area. The decision was ridiculous given the officials' appalling display throughout the rest of the game, and his reluctance to punish Halifax defenders for their rough treatment of City's Clayton Donaldson.

Welcomed by a fantastic display of colour and noise from the 1000 strong City following orchestrated by the Jorvik Reds York were by far the better team throughout the game and should have won comfortably. In the first half, City dominated and should have led the match at the interval but for poor finishing and officiating by a joke of a linesman. City's Andy Bishop netted a spectacular volley off a delightfully floated Dunning cross, but the linesman ruled it offside much to the frustration of the travelling support.

After half time, things became more even, but Halifax still created very little and City looked more likely to open the scoring. However, the intervention of the referee sealed Halifax's victory. Halifax striker Grant fell over under a Hotte challenge just inside the area, and despite the challenge looking very legal and the fact that Grant appeared to make the most of any contact, the referee gave the penalty. Halifax's Midgley scored the penalty into the bottom corner.

Then followed chance after chance for a City equaliser. Bishop's low ball in somehow eluded both Donaldson and O'Neill when any contact in the 6 yard box would have resulted in an equaliser.

Then, City striker Joe O'Neill wasted a golden opportunity, finding the ball at his feet and seemingly only needing to swing at the ball to send it past the keeper. However, for reasons unknown, he elected to pass to a tightly marked Bishop, who couldn't force the ball in.

Next, Andy Bishop once more got clean through on goal to the right of the area, and what followed was the most ridiculously inept refereeing decision of the match. He was tripped cynically by a Halifax defender just outside the area. A red card should have followed, but the useless Matadar didn't even book the Halifax defender.

However City really should have levelled things up when a cross from Panther found McGurk with a great chance to score from a header. His effort missed the bar by inches.

In between all this, City had several penalties refused after Halifax's excessive shirt pulling on Donaldson.

When the final whistle blew, it was frustrating for City fans as they knew that 3 points should have been heading back to York. But, with such a clueless set of officials, that was always going to be difficult.

Player Ratings

Chris PORTER 6:
A couple of dodgy punches, but otherwise not really tested.

Jamie PRICE 7:
Defensively sound and made some good advances down the City right.

Nathan PEAT 6.5:
Fine defensively but needs to work a little on his distribution when clearing. His corners were okay, certainly better than Dunning's have been.

Mark HOTTE 6.5:
Unlucky with the penalty decision, otherwise was solid.

David McGURK 7:
Really should have scored in the second half. Never really struggled defensively either.

Mark CONVERY 7: (Sub'ed 65mins)
Busy and got involved. Faded from the match at the begining of the second half as Halifax came more into the game and was taken off as a result.

Emmanuel PANTHER 8.5 MotM:
Man of the Match - Completely bossed the midfield. Strong and plays the simple ball very effectively. Also showed his versatility with some good attacking play in the second half.

Darren DUNNING 6.5: (Sub'ed 63mins)
Excellent cross for the Bishop offside goal. Otherwise, not as good as he has been this season in terms of stamping his authority on the game.

Andy BISHOP 7.5:
Nice finish when given his chance, some good skill down the right side throughout, though it's fairly obvious it's centre forward where he plays best.

Joe O’NEILL 5:
Anonymous. Should have got a goal when he had his chance, won very little in the air also.

Clayton DONALDSON 8:
Involved in all of City's best moves, his pace and skill was constantly troubling Halifax's defence all game.

Substitutes

Levent YALCIN 7: (On 62mins)
Seems to be working a lot harder than he has done. Some wasteful free kicks though.

Bryan STEWART 6.5: (On 65mins)
A couple of good crosses into the box but still too obviously left footed and one dimensional.

Un-Used: Afandiyev, Merris, Dudgeon.

Referee

M MATADAR 1: (Lancashire)
A completely inept, clueless and appalling performance from the man in the black. Every decision apart from a questionable penalty call in the first half went Halifax's way. Didn't even book a Halifax defender for a last man tackle, missed countless fouls against Donaldson throughout the match, gave a very questionable penalty and was poor with the vast majority of his decisions. His linesmen were also pathetic, with one in particular ruling out Bishop's goal, making poor offside decisions in the second half, and also ruling the ball out of play on countless occasions when it looked as if it wasn't. The standard of officiating in the Conference this season has just been rubbish.

Overall Verdict & Stats

For the second time in two games a refereeing decision has meant City have got fewer points than they should have. However, also, missed chances have been another of the big reasons why the Minstermen aren't higher in the league table. City really need to sort out their goalscoring issues - O'Neill just isn't good enough at this level, despite his hat trick at Southport he hasn't done enough in the last three matches to justify a starting role. Bishop would definitely benefit from a more central role. Defensively, Hotte has been unfortunate with the two penalties but needs to a bit more careful making challenges with the standard of refereeing in the Conference seemingly being low. City really should have won again, and the positives outweighed the negatives from this game with their opponents again being outplayed. With a bit better composure in front of goal a successful season is still possible for this team.

Booked : Donaldson (76)
Stats : Shots 16, On-Target 7, Off-Target 8, Hit Woodwork 1, Fouls 10, Corners 10

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