Moors Still Winless Despite Spirited Second Half

Solihull Moors’ miserable start to the campaign continued with a 1-0 defeat at home to FC Halifax Town.

A disappointing afternoon got started when Adam Morgan slotted home before Oladapo Afolayan missed a penalty. We started the second half strongly creating numerous chances before fading away as the clock ran down.

McDonald made three changes from Tuesday night, Kristian Green a welcome figure in the starting XI while Nathan Vaughan and Oladapo Afolayan also started, Connal Trueman, Daniel Cleary and Jack Edwards demoted.

The first half was poor overall, not helped by the driving wind and rain that saw several crosses go astray. It was a bitty opening period during which the referee failed to help himself by booking Murombedzi for a first challenge after letting several go from both sides.

It took 20 minutes for any chance to come about, George Carline’s low cross cleared only as far as Darren Carter whose effort was deflected narrowly wide of the far post. Tahvon Campbell was then let in by two missed Halifax headers but his touch let him down.

The goal came on 27 minutes when the visitors countered a Moors throw-in, Matty Kosylo breaking forward, taking on Shepherd Murombedzi before cutting back into Adam Morgan’s path to slot home.

It took The Moors about 10 minutes to settle back down during which time Adam Morgan fired over the bar. Tristan Dunkley, leading the line Moors line alone, was found by Fiarce Kelleher but his shot was weak while Campbell found Afolayan with a similar ball, the strike cleaner but straight at keeper Sam Johnson. The half ended with Tom Denton’s stooping header being stopped.

Our best chance for an equaliser came right at the beginning of the second half when Oladapo Afolayan ran half the length of the pitch beating several defenders before being clipped in the area. He stepped up to take the resulting penalty but it was saved.

Impressively, Moors were undeterred. Murombedzi came close from 20 yards, George Carline’s distant effort was stopped and Halifax’s last shot of the entire match came in the 62nd minute, Denton heading close to the corner flag than the net.

Carter’s influence was evident and he must have been cursing deep down when Green and Afolayan both failed to head home the captain’s inch-perfect passes within a minute of each other. Afolayan tried to make amends but his shot was blocked.

The most notable incidents in the final fifteen minutes were Luke Benbow’s injury as a result of pushing himself towards a Scott McManus sliding challenge and a booking for both Jordan Cullinane Liburd and Matty Kosylo at the same point.

Now, from afar it appeared that they had simply endured an argument too many, Liburd perhaps won’t wound up by Kosylo who appears a rather annoying individual to play against to say the least. After the game Liburd has advised he was irate because Kosylo spat in his face.

If true, he has to be banned. Spitting at another player is one of the most callous, disgusting, unsportsmanlike acts that can be committed on a football field and Halifax Town should certainly be reading him the riot act. It’s likely that it will be shoved under the carpet and they will celebrate the three points instead.

Back to the actual football and McDonald and Carter were understandably happy with the second half performance given we left Halifax camped on the edge of their own box. And if we had maybe scored the penalty or put one of those chances away we may well have been celebrating the three points.

It was better. We had 18 shots to Halifax’s 5 and had our fair share of possession too. The key is to ensure that half an hour periods extend to the best part of 90 minutes. As a part-time club with the lowest budget in the league we cannot afford to be slugging and off the pace. We can also ill-afford to have so few attacking options on our bench.

McDonald can potentially welcome back Jermaine Hylton and Simeon Maye for the Torquay United fixture while Calum Flanagan and Ashley Sammons are not too far away. With key players returning, and players potentially gaining confidence from a couple of strong second half displays, we may just start to turn our form around.


Starting XI: Vaughan; K. Green, Kelleher, Kettle, Liburd; Murombedzi (P. Green), Carter, Carline; Campbell, Dunkley (Benbow (Edwards)), Afolayan.