League leaders FC Halifax stretched their unbeaten run to an impressive 10 games – but were made to work very hard for their win by a spirited Chorley.

The Magpies stunned the majority of a splendid crowd of 1,346 by taking a deserved lead into the break, but the Shaymen responded impressively afterwards to overturn Chorley’s lead.

But the dogged visitors refused to crack and were well in the hunt until stoppage-time when Halifax skipper Tony Barras finally settled home supporters’ nerves with a third goal.

In a bright Chorley opening, Jordan Goodeve fired an early warning shot just off-target and later Adam Crossley forced ex-Accrington goalkeeper Jon Kennedy into a smart save from a narrow-angled shot.

Then, after 24 minutes, Crossley struck in style.

Goodeve’s well-weighted high ball caught out the home defence and Crossley raced onto it to round Kennedy and calmly shoot into the empty net.

Debutant Ajay Leitch-Smith was close to levelling for Town before the interval with a shot which scraped a post but the home side took just five minutes of the second half to restore parity, Ashley Stott firing home a penalty after Ashley Parillon was guilty of a needless push close to the by-line.

Then, on the hour, Paul Gedman put Town in front, blasting home from a half-cleared corner.

As Halifax upped the tempo, Peter Collinge pulled off a great save from a Leitch-Smith lob but, in the closing stages, the Magpies increasingly penned Town in their own half and late on substitute Matt Walsh was very unlucky to see his cleverly-placed shot curl just the wrong side of the post.

Barras, however, had the last word, scoring with a firm back-post header to give the scoreline a rather flattering look.