FC Halifax Town suffered from a midweek FA Cup hangover after their surprise 4-2 defeat away at an improving Curzon Ashton in a game what can only be described as bonkers. Curzon had Alex Brown, Jamie Stott and Niall Cummins given their marching orders in the second half. Cummins also scored with Joe Guest and Adam Morgan grabbing a double. Cliff Moyo and a Connor Hampson own goal made up the goals in which was an uninspiring afternoon for The Shaymen.
We spoke to manager Billy Heath and got his views on this outrageous match. Heath was certainly not happy with the outcome after Tuesday’s heroics over Dagenham & Redbridge in the Emirates FA Cup…
“Poor from start to finish. A far cry from Tuesday, everything we had Tuesday we didn’t have today. Start of the game we were way off second best, it’s very difficult to recover when you find yourselves 2-0 down at half-time.”
Billy was not happy with the result and insisted there being no positives to take from the defeat in Greater Manchester…
“Even when they went down to 10 and 9 we just didn’t play well, everything about us, our passing was poor, our choices were poor, the energy levels were poor. Made very bad choices.”
Conceding a goal before half-time is always a killer with the concept of the team talk changing drastically. Nathan Hotte was suspended for this fixture and was a real miss in the heart of defence, forming a solid partnership with Scott Garner…
“The one on half-time, once again Drench makes two unbelievable saves and then who’s first to react. That was the running theme of the game, when balls were there we were second best all over the pitch. We were forced into an enforced change which doesn’t help, we started the game poorly and right the way throughout the game were poor.”
New signing Danny Clarke made his debut after coming on at half-time and made an instant impact within minutes. Despite this it didn’t polish over the cracks of a woeful team performance…
“We score straight after half-time to make it 2-1 so its game on, we have some impetus. Once again defensively we were just woeful, the first and second goals were poor but the third and fourth were just so poor. We lost all shape, we panicked a little bit trying to get back into the game, but there’s no excuses today, we were just very poor.”
When the team go down to 10 men it can prove harder for the opposing team but when they eventually go down to 8 it should prove to be an easier task – having the numerical advantage, but that wasn’t the outcome against Curzon…
“Absolutely, to take advantage you should be able to drag them about, use the pitch but we didn’t, we panicked and everybody just went on the front line. We didn’t have anybody coming off and didn’t have anyone who was cute enough to come off to stretch them and get on the football. When the players went off and they had 10, 9 and 8 men our choices got worse, that was the most frustrating thing.
Consistency that everybody strives for, if we want to be at the top of the league then its consistency. The team that’s most consistent whether it be home or away will go and win the division.”
The defeat against Curzon once again showed the frailties and lack of depth in The Shaymen’s defence which Billy has been looking to strengthen…
“It’s an area that we’re trying to improve at the minute, Nathan Hotte will come back on Saturday he’ll be free from suspension. Hopeful Daniel Hone will be about two weeks away; the county cup game he might be involved in that one.
It’s a position I’ve been trying to strengthen, but we haven’t got anybody in.”
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