National League Premier: Ferry secures Halifax win, Harrogate Town pegged back

A rather patched-up Town side produced a fantastic display against an Eastleigh team who had won six of their last seven matches.

James Hardy spurned a glorious chance when good tenacity from Manny Duku won the ball high up the pitch, but his cut-back was blazed over from six yards.

It took until the 20th minute for Eastleigh to threaten, when Mark Yeates’ clever corner found Josh Hare, whose volley was well saved by Sam Johnson.

Moments later, the Town keeper saved equally well from Yeates’ vicious shot from the angle of the six-yard box.

Eastleigh were building momentum though, as evidenced when Yeates’ dinked cross was headed wastefully onto the bar by Chris Zebroski, and Sellers diverted the rebound by Hare behind.

Half-time substitute Scott Quigley should have done better after good footwork in creating some space for a shot near the corner of the six-yard box, but Southwood rushed off his line to save.

Time and again The Shaymen broke forward after Eastleigh attacks broke down, and Halifax were a threat on the break, but failed to take advantage of some promising openings, either due to a poor final pass or choosing the wrong option.

Moments after Yeates’ free-kick was sent over the bar, Kosylo burst towards the edge of the hosts’ box before firing just wide of the upright with 15 minutes to go. Hardy’s shot from 20 yards was then palmed away.

Town had been sensing blood since the start of the second-half, and finally the pressure told when Quigley’s low cross was allowed to roll across the six-yard box, and Ferry was left with a tap-in.

Elsewhere, Conor Wilkinson scored a stoppage-time equaliser as Dagenham rescued a draw at Harrogate.

Mark Beck and Jack Emmett saw early efforts stopped by visiting goalkeeper Elliot Justham and, five minutes before half-time, Jack Muldoon hit a post with a low attempt from just outside the area.

Muldoon - Harrogate’s 12-goal top scorer - was involved in the opener as, in the 55th minute, his shot was parried by Justham and it fell for Callum Howe to steer into the bottom corner.

But Town could not find a second to kill the game off and were punished at the death by Wilkinson, who reached 10 goals for the season with a close-range finish from Ollie Harfield’s cross.