Halifax 3-2 Weymouth: Jake McCarthy double in vain for Terras

Hyde 2, Bradbury 31, King 47

WEYMOUTH 2

McCarthy 23, 90+3

WEYMOUTH were second best to Halifax Town at The Shay, going down to a 3-2 Vanarama National League defeat in West Yorkshire.

This scoreline flattered the Terras who struggled for fluency throughout.

They were not helped by conceding a penalty inside 30 seconds as Dom Revan upended Jamie Allen, enabling Jake Hyde to score after his spot-kick was saved by Ethan Ross.

Jake McCarthy headed home Sean Shields’ free-kick to equalise but Halifax always had an extra gear available.

The Shaymen extended their lead to 3-1 as Tom Bradbury and Jeff King scored either side of the break.

Town debutant Micah Obiero hit the bar before McCarthy’s stunning 25-yard volley in stoppage time gave Weymouth late hope which eventually fizzled out.

Weymouth manager Brian Stock, whose side now has only two wins from 14 away league games, elected for three switches from the side that started the 2-1 win over Maidenhead on Good Friday.

Andy Robinson, Josh Wakefield and Cameron Murray all earned starts at the expense of benched trio Pierre Fonkeu, Ben Thomson and Jordan Ngalo.

Halifax, whose last game was a 2-2 draw with leaders Sutton on March 27, made two changes with Hyde and Jamie Allen coming in – the latter after international duty with Monserrat.

Billy Chadwick was omitted from the squad and Danny Williams dropped to the bench, where new loan signing Micah Obiero joined from Huddersfield.

Coming into the game, Halifax were perched in eighth within sight of a play-off place and the Shaymen duly made a ravenous start.

Allen showed no lethargy after clocking up the air miles, racing onto a lofted pass and luring Revan into a clumsy tackle inside the area for penalty in the first minute.

Ross was unlucky to see his low save from Hyde’s penalty rebound straight to the Halifax man who made no mistake second time around.

In scoring, Halifax stretched their run of netting in consecutive home games to 13 and looked every inch the better side in the opening 15 minutes.

Weymouth struggled to deal with Town's high press and were grateful to Ross who leapt to his left in keeping out a Jack Earing stinger from 25 yards.

Thereafter, Stock’s men finally got to grips with their opponents – and a bobbly pitch used by Halifax Panthers in rugby league.

Andy Dallas used his pace to break down the side of Halifax’s defence but a stray pass forced Weymouth wide and the hosts regrouped.

Weymouth kept the pressure on when Murray’s cross tempted home goalkeeper Sam Johnson to race 18 yards out and punch unconvincingly before Robinson hacked a volley over.

McCarthy slammed a free-kick into the wall after good work from Sean Shields before the duo combined to equalise.

Dallas’ tireless work up front created the chance, winning a free-kick that Shields put on a plate for McCarthy to bury a header from close range in the 23rd minute.

Jake McCarthy, centre, scored from a Sean Shields free-kick Picture: MARK PROBIN

Halifax’s response was strong as Jack Senior slammed into the side netting and Kieran Green forced a flying stop from Ross 30 yards out.

But Weymouth were level for just eight minutes as more sloppy defending proved costly.

Ollie Harfield had done superbly to snuff out a menacing attack but the resulting corner was headed back across goal by Neill Byrne to Bradbury, who stole in between Jacob Mensah and Ross to get the final touch.

Weymouth ended the half strongly as Shields’ chipped cross forced Johnson to backpeddle and claim before the winger saw a shot closed down.

Sean Shields claimed a 10th assist of the season Picture: MARK PROBIN

In a mirror image of the first half, Weymouth conceded within two minutes of the whistle as Senior waltzed into the area before King fired low and hard past Ross.

Weymouth were restricted to a deep Shields free-kick that strayed too close to Johnson, while Robinson had to make a superb sliding tackle to deny Town a fourth.

Harfield saw a good chance saved by Johnson from a tight angle before Stock made his first change, Thomson coming on for Wakefield.

Johnson caught a weak Robinson cross but Halifax always looked more threatening as debutant sub Obiero teed up Earing to curl inches wide of goal.

Allen then cut out a shocking ball across the pitch but was denied by the crucial intervention of Revan when Halifax had two men over.

Town somehow did not add to their tally as Obiero was denied by the bar 20 yards out and Terras' sub Josh Leslie-Smith cleared off the line from Williams.

Instead it was Weymouth who scored in the 93rd minute courtesy of a crisp long-range  volley from McCarthy – the goal of the game.

It set up a nervy finale for Halifax, who had to contend with a late Weymouth break as Thomson found Dallas, only for the Scot to snatch at his shot as the hosts survived to move into seventh.

Weymouth slipped back into 20th after Wealdstone thrashed 10-man Barnet 5-1.

Halifax: Johnson, King (Obiero 70), Senior (Williams 64), Bradbury, Byrne, Green, Clarke, Maher, Earing (Spence 77), Hyde, Allen. Subs not used: Renshaw, Woods.

Terras: Ross, Wakefield (Thomson 66), McCarthy, Robinson, Brooks, Dallas, Mensah, Murray (Leslie-Smith 87), Revan, Harfield, Shields. Subs not used: Benfield, Ngalo, Fonkeu.