FC Halifax Town finished the season off in style after a 2-0 victory away at Chorley, securing third place and setting up a tasty play-off semi-final against the Class of 92’ subjects Salford City.
It wasn’t a game for the neutrals but the Shaymen ground out the three points at a fittingly name Victory Park. Tom Denton opened the scoring midway through the first period when he tapped into an empty net after Christian Dibble had spilled a Jordan Sinnott strike into the path of the forward. It wasn’t until stoppage time when Billy Heath’s side secured the game after Josh Wilde was bought down in the box to earn his side a penalty, leading to Liam King coolly slotting away the spot-kick for a hard-fought victory.
Billy Heath rung the changes with one eye on the play-offs as he gave some of the lad’s valuable minutes, Brown was one of the players to be drafted back into the side. The numerous changes didn’t do the side any harm as it looked like they had been playing alongside each other week in week out. Chorley were piling the pressure on in the second half knowing that, at the time, they needed to get something out of the game but the Shaymen defended excellently and captain Matty was proud of his side today…
“The gaffer made a lot of changes and give the lads who haven’t been playing some valuable minutes and everyone’s put a shift in. Great team performance, first half I think it was even but then second half Chorley were probably the better side. The piled it on us but we dealt with it as a team, I never thought they were going to score to be honest. They huffed and puffed but couldn’t break us down, we put a great shift in for each other. I think the 2-0 is deserved in the end with the way we’ve played.”
Brown, who took the captaincy today deputising for the injured Kevin Roberts, put in a stellar performance playing in the heart of a back five alongside Cliff Moyo, Danny Hone, Nathan Hotte and Scott McManus. The defender put a strong case in for Wednesday’s play-off first leg at Salford but Matty is not fazed by the team selection and will be behind Billy no matter what his decision may be…
“That’s up to Billy, I have been missing quite a bit this season and when I get chance to play I want to show what I can do but that’s out of my hands. Whatever the gaffer goes with I’ll be 100% behind the lads, it’s about the team and we’ll be going into the play-offs full of confidence because I just don’t see who’s going to beat us.”
The home side threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at the Shaymen but they just couldn’t find that elusive goal they were looking for. Matty felt confident in their ability that they wouldn’t concede over the 90 minutes, and it proved exactly that with the 2-0 victory…
“They threw everything at us. We put a shift in, at the end they had about six strikers. Moyo, Wilde and McManus tucked in and we defended and matched them, they didn’t really have a shot on goal, not that I can recall anyway. They had a lot of possession but I didn’t feel threatened all game. Me, Hone and Hotte talked all game and we didn’t feel they would get past us so that’s all you can ask for.”
The defender let out a huge raw at the end of the match fist pumping in the air knowing that it was a big victory for himself and the lads. Brown has missed a few games this season due to injury but he is grateful for the support that he has received from the Shaymen faithful and loves being part of the side…
“The fans have been great, even with myself I’ve been missing quite a lot of the season and it’s been hard. I have always received good support from the fans, they’ve always been great with me and I love playing here so it’s always nice to show a bit of passion back, that’s what the fans want to see.”
With the Shaymen facing Salford on Wednesday in the first of their two games against the Greater Manchester side in four days, Matty is full of confidence that the Shaymen can overcome tough opposition over the two legs and book themselves a place in the play-off final against either Kidderminster Harriers or Chorley…
“Just the same way we approach every other game, we all trust each other and we’ll go into the game full of confidence. We don’t need to go there and win, we get a draw and we’ll take them back to the Shay and hopefully do the job there but whatever’s thrown at us I’m sure we can deal with it.”
Watch the full interview on Shaymen Player HD right now.
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