There are so many haunting "what ifs" attending Halifax Town's Conference survival.
But the ones to give Shay fans nightmares for weeks all stem from one heart-stopping question: what if Weymouth's defence had not held firm when our whole footballing future depended on it?
For a nerve-shredding six minutes on Saturday, Town's Confe
rence survival, possibly their survival as a club, hung by a thread.
Defeat at home left the Shaymen depending on the right result nearly 300 miles away at the Wessex Stadium in Weymouth, Dorset, where rivals Altrincham were drawing 2-2. Just one goal would tip the relegation struggle Altrincham's way and pitch Halifax into the obscurity of Conference North.
Two ex-Halifax players, Colin Little and Chris Senior, were leading the Cheshire side's attack. Halifax lad Ryan Toulson, currently on loan at Altrincham from the Shay, was brought on as substitute to join them. Surely one would score – the fatalists were convinced.
But they could not. And so, to huge relief all round, Halifax avoided what might so easily have been a relegation too far. This needs to be a turning point for Town and for the Shay.
Let us hope that in a few years' time, perhaps from a seat in a completed East Stand and the lofty heights of the Football League, we can look back on Saturday April 26, 2008, as our darkest day. Certainly our darkest six minutes.
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