Halifax boys produce battling display in final games of term

Playing the top seven teams in Yorkshire, it was always going to be an uphill struggle with Halifax missing Jaxon Sparkes and having a bare squad of only seven with no substitutes.

The youngsters started the day with a 1-0 loss to Ben Rhydding and produced a battling defensive display that thwarted their talented opponents for much of the game.

Ben Rhydding had a squad of 11 and were able to roll on and roll off, bringing on fresh legs every couple of minutes or so to carry on the relentless attack and in the end, Halifax were unlucky to concede.

Young goalkeeper Oliver Turner, who has only just turned 10, produced a superb performance and he made several fine saves that kept his team in the game.

Halifax then suffered a 5-0 defeat to York and lost 2-0 to Harrogate, who went on to reach the final.

These results sent Halifax into the seventh-eighth place play-off match against Leeds.

The youngsters got off to a flying start and two goals from Isaac Birch put them 2-0 up. Leeds fought back however, and netted twice to force a penalty shoot out decider.

Oliver made a great save as Leeds missed their opener and Henry Bennett scored his penalty before the Halifax keeper made another save to deny Leeds.

Max Greenwood saw his shot go wide but Oliver denied Leeds once more to earn a seventh place finish for Halifax.

It was a tough day at the office but there were fine performances from all team members. It was the final under-12s game for Hugo Manning, Jove Long, Josh Denton and Henry.