FC Halifax Town 3 Lincoln City 2: Halifax’s triumph makes for difficult viewing for Aspin

The Shaymen passed with flying colours as Neil Aspin’s men ended the Imps’ own unbeaten record to remain on top of the Conference and the Halifax manager cut a proud figure after overseeing a victory that kept the 2,369 crowd enraptured.

“We were up against a team full of confidence on the back of some good results, but we got over the line,” said Aspin, whose side had beaten four of the division’s lesser lights before yesterday.

“It was certainly a game that had everything and, at times, it wasn’t easy to watch from the sidelines.”

With drizzle having fallen on Halifax for a couple of hours leading up to kick-off, the chances of a slip or mistake being decisive were always going to be high.

Noone, though, could have predicted the bizarre manner in which Lincoln took the lead on nine minutes as a clearance from Marc Roberts cannoned into Hamza Bencherif.

The ball looped up off the Imps striker and flew in over the head of the helpless Matt Glennon.

Falling behind in such a freakish manner could have demoralised some teams, but Halifax were level just before the half-hour through a close range finish from Roberts after his earlier header had struck a post.

Adam Smith’s cross had created the opening and it was another drilled right-wing delivery, this time from Matty Pearson, that Halifax took the lead in first-half stoppage time. Tony Diagne blocked the ball with his hand and Scott Boden made no mistake from the spot.

An interval lead was no more than Aspin’s side deserved but they were pegged back within four minutes of the restart as James Bolton recklessly clattered into Ben Tomlinson, who got to his feet to score from the spot.

Two minutes later, Jordan Burrow shot against the crossbar before the game once again turned Halifax’s way when Bencherif was dismissed for a foul on Lois Maynard to earn his second yellow card of the afternoon.

Halifax made their numerical advantage pay 15 minutes from time when Steve Williams headed in after goalkeeper Nick Townsend had spilled what should have been a simple catch from Danny Schofield’s corner.

FC Halifax Town: Glennon; Bolton, M Roberts, Williams, McManus; Smith (Schofield 53), Maynard; Marshall (Jackson 67), Pearson. Peniket; Boden. Unused substitutes: Senior, Ainge, K Roberts.

Lincoln City: Townsend; Newton, Bencherif, Diagne, Brown; Power (Marshall 78), Mendy, Nolan (Ledsham 78), Caprice; Tomlinson, Burrow (Kabba 86). Unused substitutes: Farman, Robinson.

Referee: R Joyce.