In-form Halifax cruise past Bradford City to progress in cup

Halifax opened the scoring after 20 minutes when Farah Crompton latched onto a Marli Rhodes-Andrews through ball and smashed it home into the bottom corner.

Right on the verge of half time, Rhodes-Andrews moved from creator to scorer to pounce on an Izzy Mawby cross to double the visitors’ lead.

Mawby was then involved again for the third and final goal, beating her marker and gifting the ball to Neve Renwick, who slotted home into the empty net with 20 minutes remaining.

Conditions were tough on an extremely muddy and bobbly pitch, which all but eliminated any chance of possession football, but Halifax were on top throughout.

Millie Fountain in the Bradford goal made some extraordinary saves to keep the score at 3-0, with the pick of the bunch being a Renwick volley that Fountain tipped onto the frame of the goal.

Mya Hammond also had a chance to continue her fine goal-scoring start to the season late on, but she too saw her close range effort saved by the legs of Fountain.

And after scoring her second in as many games, Crompton will be disappointed not to have made it a brace, smashing her shot high and wide after a surging run into the box.

Unfortunately for the home fans, Bradford offered precious little going forward, with Heidi Morgan in the Halifax goal only once being tested by a speculative free kick that she pushed onto the crossbar early in the first half.

Halifax will be looking to make it three wins on the bounce when they welcome Blackburn Rovers to The Shay on Sunday, while Bradford will look to bounce back against Thornaby.