FC Halifax Town’s dream run in the FA Cup has unfortunately come to an end after Vanarama National League side Eastleigh came out 2-0 winners to progress to the third round.
Flying winger Matty Kosylo made a rare start for Halifax in the game, and went close very early in the goal, placing an effort just wide after bursting away from the Eastleigh defence.
“Just pure disappointment. I don’t think any of the lads are angry. We could have done better in patches and we just didn’t take our chances when they came. I’m disappointed in myself with the early chance, I think I should have finished it. I’ve been finishing them in training for the past two sessions, I’m just disappointed on a whole really. “
Despite Eastleigh being in the league above Halifax, there was certainly a sense of optimism in the build up to this game. The result against Dagenham and Redbridge in the first round of the FA Cup was a big factor in this, and the fact that The Shaymen managed to battle out a 3-3 draw against Eastleigh in the first game gave cause to the optimistic approach.
However The Spitfires found it fairly comfortable and came away with the 2-0 victory, and Kosylo suggests they may be a team who relish an away tie.
“You’ve seen them play away and they’ve done a job on us basically. They did a job on Swindon Town away in the previous round and they were just solid. They were clever when they needed to be clever and we didn’t have cutting edge tonight. I don’t think anything stuck upfront for any of the forward lads, at times we played some nice stuff but again, we just didn’t have that cutting edge.”
Unfortunately something you never want to hear about after a game has to be looked back upon as the referee was certainly not a popular figure with the home crowd.
Josh Macdonald came off the bench to replace the injured Jordan Sinnott and his challenge in the box was deemed as a penalty, condemned Halifax to a 2-0 deficit. However not many seemed to agree with the referee, including Kosylo.
“I was stood directly behind it on the halfway line and it was never a penalty. He’s got the ball, he’s stopped the ball and he does get the man but it is a contact sport. Surely you can’t take all contact out of it so for me it’s never a penalty.”
A further incident occurred following this in the second half as the former Nantwich Town man explains.
“Also second half Macdonald has hit one and it’s a blatant hand ball. I was stood behind that one as well and it was going right into the top corner before he has stuck his hand out. David Lynch said in the changing room that it was a game of fine margins, and unfortunately for us it was on the opposite side tonight.”
Scott Garner was brandished a red card due to an incident away from the ball which left Halifax with no one back, already being down 2-0 and then down to 10 men. The tie was settled earlier than the players would have liked.
However everyone affiliated with the club can take pride in how far the team has gone in this season’s FA Cup competition, making history along the way and winning some memorable games such as the Dagenham result.
Kosylo believes that there has to be some positives taken from the run, despite the disappointment of the day.
“At the end of the day we’ve made history for the club if you’re taking the positives out of it but we’re going to be disappointed because we thought we could get a result. From the club’s side we’ve made history. Got to the second round since they were reformed. We go from here and the aim is to get to the play-offs or to promotion, that’s what we’re going to look to do now.”
You can see FC Halifax Town’s next fixture in the league at home to AFC Telford on Saturday the 17th of December, 3:00pm kick off.
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