Ten-man Shaymen start season with back-to-back defeats after 2-1 loss at Wealdstone

Halifax put up a brave, resilient showing, not letting their heads drop and working exceptionally hard with a man less for the vast majority of the match.

It's just a shame they didn't get the chance to show what they could do with 11 men as, on this evidence, they'd have probably got a share of the points.

Town were gifted the chance to make the perfect start, a week after the opposite happened, when Josh Hmami was tripped and won a penalty five minutes in.

But like a week ago, the penalty was too central and too tame, this time from Jamie Cooke, and was saved by Dante Baptiste.

Ten minutes later, things were going from bad to worse again for The Shaymen, who had made a solid start, when Will Harris was sent-off for a high foot in what looked an innocuous enough incident.

And it was worse still when Sean Adarkwa drilled the ball high into the net from ten yards out after his touch from a long ball had wrong-footed Sam Johnson and debutant Jevon Mills.

A penny for the thoughts of Adam Lakeland, who had looked incredulous at the decision to dismiss Harris.

The Town keeper then had a lucky escape when he lost the ball on the edge of his box, with Wealdstone failing to take advantage.

The game was being played almost entirely in the Halifax half, with Wealdstone recovering from a slow start to now dominate the contest, which now resembled an attack v defence training exercise.

The Shaymen weren't getting a sniff of goal, and were having to defend constantly to at least keep the hosts at arm's length, but took their chance when it arrived as substitute David Kawa fired into the bottom corner when a free-kick fell to him in the box.

There was nearly an own goal, which really would have completed the what-could-go-wrong-did-go-wrong set, when Cody Johnson headed the ball behind for a corner, but The Shaymen showed enough fighting spirit to reach the interval level.

Halifax came out of the interval looking like a side not prepared to accept another half of chasing the ball, and might have taken the lead had Will Hugill's shot not been cleared just in-front of the goal-line.

For all the injustic Town could claim elsewehere, there was no such bad luck about the goal that restored Wealdstone's lead, as captain Jack Cook blasted in a magnificent, unstoppable effort from 25 yards out.

It felt harsh on the visitors, who now had it all to do again.

But if anything, a third Wealdstone goal was more likely, and only prevented by Halifax defending that verged from heroic to desperate.

Town had a penalty appeal turned down with 20 minutes remaining for a challenge on Kawa, prompting more chants of "you don't know what you're doing" from the away fans.

Substitiutes Dom Hutchinson and Max Kretzschmar could both have sealed it late on but fired straight at Johnson.

Wealdstone: Baptiste, Tiensia (Chinedu 66), Cook, Woodman, Georgiou, Mussa, Kadji (Massey 46), Obiero (Hutchinson 83), Boldewijn, Tshikuna (Kretzschmar 57), Adarkwa (Nkrumah 83). Subs not used: Covolan, Hassan.

Scorers: Adarkwa (18), Cook (54)

Shots on target: 5

Shots off target: 7

Corners: 2

Halifax: Johnson, Tarima (Cappello 79), Hobson, Mills, Latty-Fairweather, C Johnson, Hugill (Jenkins 79), Bray (Kawa 26), Hmami, Cooke (Pugh 79), Harris. Subs not used: Ford, Adetoro, Sutcliffe.

Scorer: Kawa (35)

Shots on target: 2

Shots off target: 2

Corners: 2

Referee: Peter Wright

Town man of the match: Will Hugill. Ran himself into the ground, like most of his team-mates, and almost did the work of two men in midfield - alongside the also impressive Cody Johnson - getting up and down the pitch.