An excellent crowd of nearly 700 saw the battle of the” Towns”, end all square.
A much changed Harrogate saw Alex Metcalfe given his debut and Jose Da Veiga recalled in goal.
Harrogate reverted to their short passing game and with Michael Woods,ably supported by Adam Bolder and Paul Bolland, giving a masterclass,they dominated the first half.
However,it was the visitors who had the first chances to draw blood when Danny Glover shot at Da Veiga and Dan Gardener blasted wide after a long run.
Town began to hit their stride and Adam Bolder gave a portent of things to come when he tested Matty Glennon in the Halifax goal with a powerful shot.
On 21 minutes Town’s pressure paid off when Metcalfe, who was having a spirited debut,robbed Danny Lowe and played in Woods who made ground before returning the ball to Metcalfe and his goalbound shot struck James Bolton’s hand as he made a desperate block.
Bolder then sent Glennon the wrong way with his spot kick to give Harrogate the lead.
Town were rampant and Scott MacManus made a vital tackle to deny Colin Larkin after he had been sent through by Woods.
Bolton was booked for a tackle from behind on Dan Clayton and from the resulting free kick Dave Merris picked out Alan White whose header across the goal was met by Woods with a fierce volley which Glennon did well to keep out.
Halifax,with the deep lying, Sean Williams,supplying a stream of penetrating passes, hit back strongly.
Glover headed Bolton’s free kick wide and Da Veiga made a brilliant flying save to thwart MacManus.
Town provided the first action of the second half, when Lee Elam, who had replaced the injured Bolder on forty minutes,squared to Clayton who was inches wide with a 30 yard drive.
On 64 minutes Halifax equalised.
A long cross into the heart of the home defence was chested down by Gregory into the path of Bolton and his scuffed shot wrong footed Da Veiga and crept in at the far post.
Both teams had chances to clinch victory as the game drew to a close with the best falling to Halifax’s Gregory whose last minute header flashed wide of the far post.
Harrogate Town
1 Da Veiga, 2 Bloomer, 3 Merris, 4 Bolder ( Elam 40), 5 White, 6 Killock, 7 Metcalfe ( Chilaka 56), 8 Bolland (c), 9 Larkin,10 Woods(Allan 78), 11 Clayton.
Unused subs, 14 Radcliffe,16 Hull.
Scorer Bolder 21mins pen. Bookings Bloomer,Elam
