Matty Warburton bags a brace as promotion-chasing Halifax beat Woking

Matty Warburton scored twice as 10-man Halifax held their nerve to beat Woking 2-1 and strengthen their National League play-off hopes.

Warburton opened the scoring for the penalty spot in the 10th minute then doubled the Shaymen’s lead in the 62nd minute after being played through on goal.

But the home side had to be wary of the visitors with goalkeeper Sam Johnson pulling off an acrobatic save to deny Inih Effiong.

Woking pulled a goal back when Max Kretzschmar converted a 75th-minute penalty after Jess Debrah bundled Effiong over in the box, then the hosts had Martin Woods sent off for a late challenge.

Woking came desperately close to an equaliser deep into added time with Johnson once again called upon to stage a series of saves including one to deny Nicke Kabamba.