Shaymen produce impressive performance but lose 2-1 at Rochdale

Billy Waters looked to have grabbed a point - the least Town would have deserved - with a second-half equaliser, cancelling out Kyron Gordon's opener.

But Connor McBride popped up with a winner for Rochdale, who were outplayed in a dominant first-half from Halifax, although the hosts did improve after the break.

But Town will wonder how they left empty-handed having been the far superior side in the first 45 minutes, and having created far more chances in the game.

Halifax somehow found themselves behind at half-time when they should have been in-front.

Scott High fired just wide only five minutes in after pressing from Town had won them a throw-in deep in the Rochdale half.

After a crunching tackle by High, Andrew Oluwabori registered Town's first shot on target soon afterwards, before Billy Waters shot over the bar after a rapid counter-attack.

Adam Senior then had a shot deflected wide and then Florent Hoti headed wide from close range on the stretch.

All that inside a first 20 minutes where The Shaymen had been by far the superior side, playing with authority, assurance and control.

The only gripe was Town hadn't turned their dominance into a lead.

Hoti so nearly changed that after half-an-hour but his wonderful free-kick from 20 yards came back off the post.

The first shot of the game by Dale was superbly blocked by Will Smith, picking up where he left off at Boston, but the hosts were going nowhere slowly.

However, from their first corner, Ryan East picked out the unmarked Gordon at the far post, whose header back towards goal took a nick off a defender on its way in.

It was so harsh on Halifax, who had suffocated Rochdale, pressing them into ineffectiveness and then swarming forward, getting bodies high up the pitch and pushing the hosts into repeated retreats.

Oluwabori hit the post five minutes after half-time shortly before Sam Johnson pulled off a big save to deny Jili Buyabu.

It was a more even second-half, with Rochdale less passive and more aggressive, competing much better.

It made Halifax's inability to take the lead when in control of the game look even worse, with chances now harder to come by.

There'd certainly been a swing in the effectiveness-o-meter; Rochdale were showing flashes of what they could do, playing some neat, intricate football around the Halifax box and forcing the visitors into some good defending.

Town switched to a back three with 20 minutes remaining to try and swing things back again.

And it worked, as five minutes later, substitute Tom Pugh's cross was headed high into the net by Waters.

But the lead only lasted five minutes itself, as a dinked cross from the left by Tarryn Allarakhia was headed in at the near post by McBride.

This time there was no coming back for Town, who had a Sam Johnson header saved by David Robson at a corner deep in added time.

Rochdale: Robson, Gordon, Hogan, Beckwith, Allarakhia, East, Burger, Buyabu (Ferguson 74), McBride (Barlow 86), Henderson (Armstrong 83), Mitchell. Subs not used: Kelly, Henry, Senior, Alfa.

Scorers: Gordon (40), McBride (81)

Shots on target: 3

Shots off target: 4

Corners: 2

Halifax: Johnson, Senior, Smith, Cummings )Pugh 71), Galvin, High (Bray 83), Evans, Cooke, Hoti, Oluwabori, Waters. Subs not used: Ford, Sutcliffe, Adetoro, Sinfield, Jenkins.

Scorer: Waters (76)

Shots on target: 6

Shots off target: 9

Corners: 8

Referee: Michael Barlow

Attendance: 2,926

Town man of the match: Scott High. Used the ball really well and worked very hard in midfield, a crunching early tackle epitomising his commitment.