FC Halifax Town v Burscough Third Qualifying Round, Saturday 10th October 2009

I had opted to make a return to West Yorkshire for this round. Dave - my old friend from the Burnden Park glory days - had tried to persuade me to make the short trip to watch his home town team, Halifax, at Droylsden in the previous round but I had already committed myself to a trip to Fleetwood but resolved to watch The Shaymen in if they made it through. Unfortunately, with a holiday coming up, Dave wasn't able to make it but it was a good opportunity to catch up with another friend, Ben, who I hadn't seen for a while who lived in Halifax. So, plans were made to get into town for 1pm to get a good couple of hours drinking in before the game.

Calling into Manchester to catch the train, the city centre had a bit of an edge in the air with two rival demonstrations planned and a huge police presence. A little light relief was provided by this chap doing his own dance routine with the aid of a stereo playing Robert Miles' Children.

Leaving the tensions of Manchester behind the train took me through the Calder Valley and a quick swap of trains at Hebden Bridge, which has a lovely Victorian look to its station, before arriving in Halifax dead on time.

Having arrived, the days promised sunshine had arrived and I met with Ben and headed to the days first pub and a very agreeable pint of Deuchars.
Two hours passed very quickly and a few pints later it was time to head to The Shay just in time for kick-off. FC Halifax Town arose from the ashes of Halifax Town AFC in 2008 after the latter had folded with large debts to the Inland Revenue. Halifax had spent most of their history in the lower reaches of the Football League, and then the majority of the last 15 years in the Football Conference. Following their demise, the newly formed club had to take a drop of three divisions into the First Division of the Unibond League. They have managed to retain a fan-base which reflects the higher level their predecessors had played at, getting well over a 1,000 for every home game. To reach this stage, Halifax had already knocked out Brandon United, Norton & Stockton Ancients and Conference North side Droylsden in the last round.

The visitors, Burscough, were from a division higher in the Unibond Premier League having been relegated from the Conference North the previous season and were theoretically the favourites for the match today. They had arrived at this stage courtesy of victories over Hallam FC & Horden Colliery Welfare in the two preceeding rounds.

On entering the ground, I could see it had changed massively since my previous visit in the early Nineties with new terraces behind both goals and the ground being dominated by the partly-built East Stand which has been under construction since 2001 and delayed by the financial troubles. The only remaining part of the ground is the charming Skircoat Stand, sitting on a hill to the right which dates right back to when Halifax moved there in 1921. The stand roof is even older, purchased from Manchester City who were moving out of their Hyde Road stadium around the same time.



Roared on by nearly 1500 supporters, Halifax dominated the first half territorially with their target man James Dean causing plenty of problems for the visitors. Although Halifax were well on top, Brurscough defended well and there were few clear cut chances. Visiting goalkeeper Kyle Clancey made much of a knock received early in the game, rolling around in manner normally associated with continental football which ensured a chorus of boos from the crowd every time he touched the ball for the remainder of the game.


Halifax squandered the best chance on 40 minutes when a smart James Dean flick, released Richard Marshall who only had the keeper to beat but placed his shot wide. Marshall's blushes were spared a couple of minutes later following a Tom Baker (Yes - James Dean and Tom Baker in the same team) corner, the ball ricocheted to Nicky Gray who smashed the ball home from close range.

For the second half, we relocated to the Skircoat Stand to offer a better view of the goal we expected Halifax to be attacking in the second half. In fact it was Burscough who looked more likely to score in the second half, initially. The best chance fell to Gary McEvatt after a teammate had headed against the post from a corner and he hooked over the open goal from all of 5 yards out.

After these scares, Halifax managed to reassert themselves in the game. Gray missed missed a good chance to get a second heading wide a good far post chance. Richard Marshall was out of luck too, finding the back of the net with a smart finish after good work from Mark Peers to create the chance only to be denied by the linesman's flag. It was to great cheers that the final whistle came, Town were through to the 4th Qualifying Round where the Conference big boys come in and just one game away from the First Round Proper.