HALSTEAD Town progressed to the FA Cup preliminary round after beating Ilford 3-1 on Wednesday night, writes GEORGE CURLEY.

After going down 1-0 to a drilled shot by Juan Cardona, Halstead Town came out and scored three to ensure that they didn’t bow out of the FA Cup prematurely.

Joe Jones was able to pounce on a goalkeeper mistake in order to level the game, Chris Harris headed in at the far post to make it 2-1 to the visitors, and he bagged his third in the second half via another header. After being tipped to lose this cup game, Halstead definitely showed their next set of opponents what they’re made of by winning 3-1.

On a cold, windy night in the east end, where the the home support was reciprocated entirely by the visiting support, Halstead fans weren’t the happiest when only ten seconds into the game, the home side hit the post after a penetration of the left side of the Halstead defence meant that the number ten was given the chance to score, but instead clattered the post with a curled shot.

Halstead experienced a number of close calls after this shock, which meant the defence was subsequently broken down time and time again making a goal for the dominant home side almost inevitable.

Halstead eventually paid for this performance by conceding a goal. After Jack Cherry was called into action to make an emphatic double save, he later had to scramble to palm the ball off to the oncoming Cardona who, when he finished, kept his shot low and hard making it impossible for Halstead to defend. A forthcoming goal which meant Halstead had to make a quick recovery.

After this goal, Halstead began to come forward more, with most of the attacks coming at the hands of the Humbug’s striker Chris Harris, who was able to hold up the ball for oncoming wingers who created many a chance for an equaliser.

Thankfully, after a long goal-kick from Cherry, the ball fell to the opposition goalkeeper who was outside his box and fortunately lost the ball to Joe Jones after trying to control the ball with his feet. Joe Jones was able to control the ball and calmly slot home, much to the delight of the visiting supporters.

The relentless Halstead advance only continued after this goal which meant more chances.

At the same time the visiting side were also weary of the Ilford front 3 whose swift counter-attacks had to be carefully defended as to not give away a foul.

Halstead were given numerous free-kicks and corners which gave them more dead ball situations which they thrived on, they eventually completed their comeback after Joe Jones drifted a high cross on the byline which just found an unmarked Chris Harris who capitalised on the goalkeepers positioning to head in easily to give Halstead a one goal lead.

A break was needed for Ilford to regroup, which soon came after they started losing, Halstead were firmly in the driving seat.

Mark McLean's advice at half-time was obviously to keep up the attacking play and not sit back which came off gracefully as, after Jones was fed the ball, he was able to make a pinpoint cross for Harris to curve a header beyond the keeper to double Halstead’s lead.

Halstead then had a chance to further their lead again when Harris battled through two players in order to be set through on the wing, unfortunately his cut-back was shot wide by Amos.

Although Halstead were the more dominant side, they certainly had their lucky moments in the build-up to the conclusion of the match, where Ilford missed many open goals. They also hit the post after being set through on goal, a quite unlucky finish for Yemi Adelani.

After many squandered chances followed by some desperate defending, the final whistle sounded, which was swiftly followed by cheers from the travelling Halstead Ultras, they had come here not expecting to win or even score, and they ended up winning, by a two-goal deficit at that.

The key to Halstead’s success was their adaptability and their drive to get stuck in, in order to be victorious.

After the strenuous first ten minutes, they adapted their plan in-game to thwart the repeated counter-attacks so that Ilford weren’t left with any time on the ball - this meant that Halstead could commence their previous game plan of utilising players like Whitehead and Dunlop down the flanks to stretch the play.

The man of the match vote was certainly a tight one but it had to be Chris Harris, his immense hold-up play and his willingness to continue and win the ball back in the final third was unmatched by any player. He also got himself two goals, which sets his season up perfectly.