FC Halifax Town midfielder Michael Collins says the mood in the Shaymen camp could not be better after their recent form, following a 1-1 draw away at Guiseley.
The West Yorkshire derby at Nethermoor Park saw Town fall a goal behind early on, as Kayode Odejayiโs header put the bottom of the league side in front until the second half.
After John Rooneyโs dismissal in bizarre circumstances, Ben Tomlinson came to Townโs rescue to leave Jamie Fullartonโs side unbeaten in their last five matches.
Despite having chances to clinch all three points, the draw is another step towards the all-important safety mark, and Collins told Shaymen TV that the squad wants to push on further than that.
โWithout getting carried away, and after speaking with the lads, we donโt view that 50 points as our benchmark. We are looking up that table and thinking โhow high can we finishโ. There is a confidence in the group that we havenโt had for a while.
โIt is disappointing that we havenโt taken three points today, but that is a nice thing in the camp if you are disappointed after a draw because we finished as the stronger team.
โThere is lots to build on, lots of positives, some good performances out there and thatโs what we needโฆ step by step, we are going in the right direction.โ
The game itself was arguably one of two halves, with the Shaymen growing into the game come the second period. However, Collins told how the dressing room was disappointed with the result, but also credited the home side for their resilience.
โConsidering the way, they started the game a draw is a fair result. In the dressing room afterwards, the lads were disappointed. In the last few weeks we have started to believe in ourselves, so we wanted to come here and get the three points.
โThatโs not us expecting to turn up and roll them over, we knew it would be a tough battle because they are down there and havenโt given up. They made it difficult for us and it took us to be patient.
โWe showed that bit of quality in the second halfโฆ on reflection of how the game started they will be happy to take a point and we canโt complain.โ
The Shaymen travelled to a bitterly cold Nethermoor Park, with conditions close to freezing as the snow came down prior to kick off. It certainly influenced the game, but Collins says he will not dwell on that too much moving forward.
โThe major factor at the start for them was the conditions, the wind helped in their style of play and we couldnโt get the rhythm to our play, so they capitalised on that. They were prepared to go long and direct so that was always going to be difficult.
โWe knew we would get a chance in the second half. Tomlinson has gone in and produced a great finish and from there we had more chances. We probably should have put a couple more of those chances away.
โOn another day we might have done but we dust ourselves down and have another week to prepare for Solihull. We are five unbeaten so that is positive for the club that we are moving in the right direction.โ
Head over to Shaymen TV to watch the full interview with Collins, along with more post-match reaction from manager, Jamie Fullarton.
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