Two early goals from Zak Emmerson and Adam Senior sent FC Halifax Town on their way to victory against Sutton United, with Florent Hoti’s second half strike condemning the U’s to defeat at the VBS Community Stadium.
Emmerson gave Halifax the lead with just 53 seconds on the clock, getting ahead of of Hayden Muller to meet Jack Evans’ cross from the left and send a glancing header past Jack Sims early on, with Senior doubling their lead midway through the half when he met Hoti’s free kick to turn Sutton’s afternoon from bad to worse.
Despite a handful of half chances for the U’s both before and after the break, with Besart Topallaj, Will Davies and Lewis Simper coming close, Hoti soon made the win safe at the start of the second half when he sent a well-struck shot from distance that nestled in the bottom corner, and condemned Steve Morison’s side to a disappointing loss at home.
Defeat at the hands of the Shaymen means Sutton drop to 13th in the Vanarama National League Table, and they will be looking to bounce back quickly with a rearranged trip to AFC Fylde on Tuesday, 18th March.
Two changes to the starting XI saw Morison stick with the midfield diamond that caused Forest Green Rovers so many problems on Tuesday night, with the returning Topallaj and Tyler French both coming straight back into the team following their respective suspensions, replacing Eduino Vaz and Ryan Jackson.
The U’s were put on the back foot almost immediately though, with Emmerson heading Halifax in front from close range inside the opening minute to give the visitors an extremely early advantage, and he almost added a second minutes later when he got on the end of a deep Angelo Cappello cross from the left, heading inches wide of the near post.
Despite this early setback, Sutton looked to recover well, responding by taking control of possession over the next few minutes as they looked to find a route straight back into the game. This saw them produce their first chance of proceedings through the returning Topallaj, with the Kosovan picking out Siju Odelusi at the back post with a dangerous cross from the left. The midfielder then knocked the ball back across goal towards the lurking duo of Davies and Henry Sandat, but Halifax were able to clear their lines in the nick of time.
While Sutton will have hoped for a longer spell of dominance, Halifax extended their advantage on 22 minutes played as Senior headed a dangerous Hoti free kick past Sims to add a second, and make it a tough uphill battle for the hosts.
The Kosovo youth international then thought he had turned from provider to scorer moments later when some excellent work from Luca Thomas saw him pick out Emmerson, who’s scuffed effort found its way through to Hoti who poked the ball through the legs of Sims, but the U’s goalkeeper had his blushes spared by the offside flag.
It was certainly a poor opening half-an-hour for Morison’s side, but the U’s didn’t lose hope just yet and went close to halving the deficit when a Jack Wadham corner flew into the danger area and met Topallaj’s late run into the box, who saw a powerful header cleared away by Emmerson.
Sutton almost gifted Halifax a third minutes later though, with French’s loose pass being intercepted by Thomas, who placed a curling shot from a tight angle just wide of the far post, although he was deemed to be offside anyway.
The U’s refused to give up hope in spite of their disadvantage, and continued to push forward in search of a route back into the match. Halifax had to be at their best defensively when Sandat showed good work rate to turn and keep the ball under control while under pressure, before slicing open their backline with a pinpoint through ball that allowed Odelusi to chase it. The U’s midfielder drilled a low ball back into the danger area where Evans got in the way of Davies’ low shot.
This then followed a half chance for the hosts as Simper drove forward with the ball before sending a tame shot on goal that Sam Johnson was able to easily stop, and meant they entered the break behind.
Unsurprisingly, Sutton’s search for the two goals that would bring them back level saw a change in system heading into the second half, with Morison making a triple change from the off that saw Ashley Nadesan, Josh Coley and Vaz introduced in place of Wadham, Muller and Odelusi, while opposite number Chris Millington looked to cement their advantage with Josh Emmanuel replacing Harvey Sutcliffe at the break.
An early chance did fall to the hosts as Simper drilled a low shot just wide of the far post just five minutes after the restart, but Halifax soon put Sutton to the sword once more and prevent the hosts from gaining any sort of momentum.
The Shaymen should have got the third goal when Emmerson found himself through, with Sims making himself big to put the forward off and was able to divert his effort onto the post, before Jack Taylor showed good strength to deny Hoti on the rebound. This effort proved in vain though, as Hoti found space moments later to drill a low shot past Sims and into the bottom corner to effectively put the game to bed.
A fourth change from Morison – prepared prior to the third goal – showed plenty of intent despite the scoreline as Nana Boateng replaced Sandat before the hour-mark, while Halifax made some changes themselves as Lewis Leigh replaced goalscorer Hoti while Cappello was withdrawn in place of Tom Pugh a few minutes later.
Leigh had previously came close to scoring a fourth just seconds after entering the fray as a nice flick from Thomas put the ball into the midfielder’s path, but Sims was equal to his effort from distance, and Boateng then almost had a near-instant impact of his own at the other end when Simper’s fizzing free kick flew towards him at the back post, but was just too far from his outstretched leg and went wide.
Further changes from the visitors saw Jamie Cooke come on in place of Thomas and Owen Bray replace Ryan Galvin, with the switches coming either side of a rare Sutton chance as Davies sent a powerful effort from distance over the crossbar.
This preceded a half chance for Vaz who sent a low effort into a crowd of bodies after Coley’s dangerous cross was cleared into his path, and the U’s number seven almost picked out Davies from deep moments later as he looked to ramp up the pressure late on and salvage a consolation goal.
Boateng then went close once more when he got on the end of Nadesan’s delivery, before doing well to get beyond Halifax’s backline and make space for a shot, with his low effort being turned behind by Johnson who then denied Simper from range in stoppage time, and proved enough for the visitors to run away 3-0 winners.
Sutton United: Sims; French, Taylor, Muller (Coley 46’), Topallaj; Barbrook, Wadham (Nadesan 46’), Simper, Odelusi (Vaz 46’); Davies, Sandat (Boateng 57’)
FC Halifax Town: Johnson; Galvin (Bray 84’), Arthur, Senior, Evans, Thomas (Cooke 75’), Cappello (Pugh 70’), Sutcliffe (Emmanuel 46’), Hoti (Leigh 65’), Jennings, Emmerson
Photo Credit: Paul Loughlin
