Shaymen's slump continues with home defeat to Maidenhead

It's now six games without a win for Town for the first time since January 2019, and just one goal in those six matches to boot.

Town got better as the game went on, after a dire first-half, but never quite looked good enough to deserve the win.

This is a young, patched up side clearly struggling to find any rythym or form.

The top seven still looks on the cards, mainly due to other teams slipping up too, but at this rate, Town's time in the play-offs will last as long as it did 12 months ago.

Chris Millington had bemoaned the fact Town had been drawn into playing Hartlepool's and Eastleigh's games in their previous two outings, and it was a similar story here.

It was scrappy, messy and muddled, which suited the visitors more than Town, with Maidenhead competing for loose balls tenaciously and their defence outmuscling Halifax's attack.

There was a nervousness about The Shaymen, with Toby Savin's throw out to Angelo Cappello too strong, Adam Senior losing the ball trying to bring it out from the back, and Cappello passing straight out of play down the left.

Maidenhead were pressing strongly off the ball, forcing Halifax back, which only spread the edginess into the terraces, with the home side lacking the fluency to play through them.

Town defended well, but that was the biggest positive they offered.

The closer they got to the opponent's goal, the less cohesive it got.

Daniel Nkrumah made his first start, but wasn't alone in struggling to make an impact on the game for the hosts.

There was the odd one-two, and the odd forward burst on the ball from Town, such as Ryan Galvin's down the left prior to Florent Hoti firing off target from range.

Adam Adetoro's awful pass under no pressure gifted Maidenhead the ball a few minutes before half-time, from which Joshua Johnson's shot was tipped behind by Savin.

That was the only shot on target of a dreadful first-half devoid of any real excitement or edge-of-your-seat action.

Which of the two sides was fighting promotion and which was battling relegation could easily have been confused.

The atmosphere was as flat as the game, which was as bad as the pitch.

Jamie Cooke and Tom Pugh characteristically led the way in work-rate out of possession, but any Town fans looking for evidence or even encouragement their side could go all the way this season had received neither by half-time.

Nkrumah should have done better shortly after the break when Manny Onarise's slip left him in space on the left of the box but his touch was heavy and his attempted pass to Cooke was intercepted.

But it wasn't getting any better or brighter from Town, with Shawn McCoulsky going close before Reece Smith's shot was deflected wide.

The longer it went on, the more patience was wearing thin among the home fans.

Maidenhead were stringing together some decent passages of play, whereas Halifax looked in desperate need of some inspiration.

Josh Emmanuel nearly provided midway through the second-half it with a jinking run before Hoti fired narrowly over when he might have played in Cappello to his left.

Poor passes by Sean Tarima and then Jack Jenkins nearly let Maidenhead in but Savin was off his line to clear it.

Nkrumah was more effective by now, dropping into pockets of space as the game opened up and helping Town to gain a fragile foothold.

The hosts had a penalty appeal turned down for a challenge on Nkrumah before Hoti's goalbound shot was blocked.

They were still missing a shot on target though, and from Maidenhead's fourth of the game, substitute Sam Barratt produced a superb low shot into the bottom corner from the left of the box.

Before the dust could settle on that, ex-Town loanee Shawn McCoulsky added a second with a delicate chip over Savin to prompt a smattering of boos, which were replicated at full-time.

Halifax: Savin, Emmanuel, Senior, Adetoro, Galvin, Pugh (Tarima 63), Jenkins (Bray 87), Nkrumah (Thomas 80), Hoti, Cappello (Sutcliffe 87), Cooke (Emmerson 63). Subs not used: Ford, Eze.

Shots on target: 0

Shots off target: 7

Corners: 3

Maidehead: Howes, De Havilland, Latty-Fairweather (Cochrane 87), Clerima, Onarise, Pettit (Abrahams 46), Kiernan (Barratt 75), Johnson, Ferdinand, Smith (Welch-Hayes 89), McCoulsky (Sho-Silva 89). Subs not used: Abrahams, Massey, Wreh.

Scorers: Barratt (86), McCoulsky (88)

Shots on target: 6

Shots off target: 3

Corners: 5

Attendance: 1,485 (57 away)

Referee: Andrew Miller

Town man of the match: Adam Senior. His distribution wasn't at its best but defensively he was excellent again.