Swans fight but come up short against Hallam

Barton Town went down fighting against Hallam at the Easy Buy Stadium. A first half brace from Iren Wilson was enough to secure the win, despite Tom Waudby’s wondergoal in the second half setting up a tense finish.

There was only one change to the side which was heavily defeated by Emley at the weekend. Josh Smaller came in while Henry Cook was relegated to the bench. Swans boss Danny North opting for three centre halves with wing backs.

It was a cagey start to the game, both sides were having good spells of possession but it was the visitors who looked more likely to make things happen. Basile Zottos and Iren Wilson looked threatening for Hallam and it was the latter that would open the scoring.

17 minutes on the clock, Wilson was awarded too much time on the ball. He cut in from the left and unleashed a curling strike from the edge of the area. The ball sailed into the bottom corner past Jordan Douglas to give the visitors the lead.

Soon after Wilson had his and Hallam’s second of the night. A melee in the area saw the ball drop to the Hallam forward. He drilled his shot past Douglas and doubled the advantage.

The Swans were playing good football and stringing together some good attacking moves. It was the final ball which wasn’t coming for Barton.

Hallam had the ball in the net for the third time on 26 minutes, but thankfully for the Swans, it was ruled out for offside by the linesman.

Barton’s best chance of the half came when Craig King’s curling cross was met by Tom Waudby, whose header ended up on the roof of the net. There were fighting signs in the Swans, who went down two-nil at the break. Owen Davey hobbled off shortly before the break with Henry Cook replacing him.

The Swans came out for the second half and turned up the pressure, but were having the same problems as the first half, the final ball.

Soon after the hour mark Tom Waudby received the ball just past the half-way line, turned his man and struck from 30 yards out. His powerful effort sailed past Hugo Warhurst into the back of the net for Waudby’s 26th goal of the season.

The final ten minutes saw Hallam defending heavily against the Swans pressure. But try as they might Barton just couldn’t find the equalizer. Every attack ended with Hallam making a quick clearance and denying the Swans.