Shay

FC Halifax Town  4  Chesterfield  2

National League 

Admission / Programme - £21 / £3

Do you recall my blog from earlier in the season when I went to AFC Crossley, a club from the North side of Halifax?

No? Why not? Anyway…..

Well, I talked about the fact that Halifax was not a place I was overly familiar with, partly because it’s not an area I’ve been drawn to for football on that many occasions. I then went on to say that maybe as the season drew towards it’s close I may look for an opportunity to pay a long awaited re-visit to the Shay to watch FC Halifax Town, albeit on a Saturday via the train!

The train thing wasn’t going to happen after a bit of research, mainly because when I looked into it, it’s quite expensive to go to Halifax on the train from Derby, in fact I can get to Glasgow cheaper, but the foibles of the train ticketing and splitting system is for another day. What is for today is the fact that the planets aligned to set up what looked on paper a cracking occasion to get back to the Shay, after a 23 year absence, albeit by car, on a Wednesday night!

FC Halifax Town v Chesterfield, and the permutations were simple, if Chesterfield avoided defeat they would be promoted back to the Football League, finally, after stumbling a little over recent weeks. That was it, that was the plan, I was going!

All was indeed going to plan on the Wednesday morning, tickets for the away end were selling like hot cakes (it was all ticket for Chesterfield fans), 2,500 were expected to make the journey up, and no sooner had the ticket sales stopped, Halifax announced they were going to be having a pitch inspection at 3.30pm due to the heavy rain.

The Shay has seen a number of games called off this season due to the renowned state of the Calderdale Council maintained pitch, and had we now got ourselves a situation whereby the party had to potentially go on hold? Also of course, had a number of fans bought tickets for a game that they subsequently may not attend depending on when it’s re-arranged for?

I started to prepare for a Plan B, Carlton v Pontefract on the plastic at Basford was looking the favourite, because to be honest, given the recent track record at the Shay I fully expected the game to be called off, but, at 3.45pm myself, along with many others no doubt, got a very pleasant surprise when the club announced that the game was in fact on!

Memories of the Shay then? A bit vague to be honest, as I said earlier, it was over 23 years ago, the 1997-98 season and a home game against Yeovil Town. It was the season that Halifax won the Football Conference and were promoted back to the Football League following a five year absence.

The Shaymen beat Yeovil Town 3-1 on what was a Friday night in West Yorkshire, and I know that I travelled up after work with a mate, only just getting into the ground in time for kick off. We stood under a covered terrace on the Skircoat Road side of the ground, and at the time the Shay didn’t look anything like it does today.

Back then the pitch was surrounded by the speedway track, both ends were open terraces around the edges of the oval, while the main stand opposite the Skircoat Terrace was a small structure that housed the dressing rooms. It was a vast but an ageing and somewhat basic venue, however, things changed.

Nowadays it’s gone from an oval to a rectangle! Two steep covered terraces sit behind both goals, the old main stand has been replaced by a shiny new one, complete with executive boxes, while the old cover on the Skircoat Road side remains, but now it’s full of seats. The Shay is shared between FC Halifax Town and Halifax Panthers Rugby League Club, a marriage that from a pitch preservation point of view, is far from conducive.

From Halifax Town, to FC Halifax Town, what was that all about then? Well, Halifax Town were proud members of the Football League from 1921 when they were founder members of Division Three North, all the way to 1993 when they finished bottom of the fourth tier and were relegated to the Conference. Let’s be honest though, in the nicest possible sense, they were never really any good, life was always a struggle, and apart from a famous victory over Malcolm Allison’s Manchester City in the 1979-80 FA Cup, momentous back page headlines have not been overly forthcoming.

The Conference, as I said, lasted five years before promotion back to the Football League arrived, in fact I saw their first game back at Peterborough United in August 1998, but after four more seasons it was back to the Conference again. The club went into administration in the 2007-08 season, had ten points deducted, finished next to bottom and subsequently folded.

Was it the end? Well, as far as Halifax Town FC was concerned, yes, but let’s be right, while they might not have been World beaters, they had a small but loyal fan base in a good sized town, so football was never going to die completely, and along came FC Halifax Town.

They were allowed into the Northern Premier League Division One North in 2008-09, finishing eighth, but then the following year they won it. The Premier Division was also won at the first attempt, while it only took two years to be promoted from the Conference North when they beat Brackley Town in a play-off final.

The Conference Premier Division experience lasted three seasons before relegation came, but only for one season because this time Salford City were beaten in the play-off final and they were quickly back, where they remain. The 2021-22 season saw a fourth placed visit and a play-off quarter final defeat to Chesterfield, while this season a recent good run has seen them move to the edges of play-off contention once again.

Oh, I almost forgot, they’ve won the FA Trophy twice since reforming, in 2016 against Grimsby Town, and in 2023 against Gateshead, both times at Wembley Stadium. 

I got into Halifax reasonably early, parking on Skircoats Road, and having weaved my way through the large numbers of Police officers behind the North terrace (where the away following was going to be housed), it was round to the back of the main stand and into the bar for a pint. All seemed pretty relaxed, and I have to say, there was an air of quiet confidence amongst the Shaymen and women, recent form had been good, they fancied their chances.

The atmosphere inside the ground was electric, the Spireites were absolutely giving it the big one, and when they took the lead through Will Grigg on the half hour mark, the away end was absolutely bouncing, however, it changed very quickly.

Halifax got to grips with the heavy surface far better than Chesterfield did, and within seconds Rob Harker had equalised, only for the same player to turn the game on it’s head on the 39th minute with his and the Shaymen’s second. Andrew Oluwabori scored a third for Halifax in first half added time, and in hindsight, that was the killer goal as far as the Spireites were concerned, the task was now pretty monumental, but not impossible.

The second period saw Halifax look the more physically stronger on the surface, with Chesterfield looking tired and leggy, so it came as no surprise when Aaron Cosgrave netted Town’s fourth from close range just after the hour mark.

Chesterfield had nothing to lose now, and as they threw men forward they were guilty of missing some good chances before James Berry did eventually pull a goal back. Sustained late pressure came to nothing as the Spireites battled but lacked an edge, and in the final analysis no one could argue that Halifax didn’t deserve the three points, and a three points that did move them into sixth place and the play off zone.

The home fans moved into overdrive in the second period, and created an equally impressive atmosphere as the away fans did in the early stages, overall it had been a cracking game of football in a cracking atmosphere, I loved it!

I didn’t love the fact that the junction for the M62 and M1 was closed on the way back, meaning a journey over to the A1 to get home, via Doncaster, but other than that, I was so pleased I made the effort.

It wouldn’t have been quite the same on a Saturday via the train would it?