Hall Road 0-2 Hallam FC

Hall Road Rangers put in a spirited performance on Monday despite ultimately losing 0-2 against Hallam FC at Haworth Park. In the first half, Rangers had the better chances as they threatened the Hallam goal on a number of occasions.

Reece Moody fired an effort wide in the 16th minute. Moody was heavily involved once again in the 24th minute as his superb cross found Callum Stone who saw his header go just wide. Meanwhile, Hallam had an opportunity in the 31st minute through Chris Salt’s header which went over the bar.

An early substitution had to be made by Hall Road in the 34th minute when Chris Simpkins went off and was replaced by Sam Robinson. Hallam took the lead in the 40th minute as Kieran Watson slotted the ball home when it fell to him after Tom Macauley attempted to deal with a cross. Hall Road were forced into making another change before the break as Lewis Andrew came on to replace Tom Bennett.

The second half saw Rangers attempt to get themselves back into the game. They had a great opportunity to do so in the 66th minute with Chris Spinks having his free kick saved by Hallam keeper Myles Wright and then Sam Robinson put his effort over the bar after pouncing on a rebound.

Recent signing Joe McFadyen was given his Rangers debut as a substitute in the 75th minute as he replaced skipper Conner Harman. McFadyen almost made an instant impact a couple of minutes later when he flashed an effort wide.

However, the visitors doubled their lead in the 82nd minute courtesy of Iren Wilson. Craig Muirhead nearly pulled a goal back for Rangers in the 84th minute as his shot went wide.

Rangers joint boss Leon Sewell felt that the game was decided by fine margins.

“It was end to end. Especially in the second half as it opened up a lot more.

We had a really good and honest conversation at the end and it was just fine margins. We’ve talked about being ruthless in both boxes and, for me, we let two cheap goals in.

I’m not too sure what the officials were doing for the first goal if I’m truthfully honest. The linesman put his flag up and the referee told him to put it back down and it was clear as day that the Hallam striker was in an offside position.

We missed a couple of chances ourselves in the first half. In the second half, we missed a golden opportunity to make it 1-1 and Hallam’s second goal punished us for an error in front of our own goal.

In hindsight, we’re probably talking a different story if you take those two silly mistakes out of it. Hallam are a big, physical side. They’ve got a lot of quality in their team and a lot of experience and we stood up to them. I thought we gave them a real good run for their money. On another day, we win 2-0″ he said.

Oliver Harsley