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First Team

Gloucester City: Preview

Posted by Kelly Gilchrist
Posted on Thu 16 Mar 2017
Posted in First Team

This weekend will see FC Halifax Town welcome Gloucester City to the Mbi Shay Stadium with the home side full of confidence. The Shaymen will be coming into this game off the back of a 3-1 victory over local rivals Bradford Park Avenue and will be firm favourites.

Billy Heathโ€™s side are fighting for a play-off position and currently sit nicely in 5thย place just four points behind second placed Salford City with a game in hand. Three points will certainly be on the agenda for the manager.

Gloucester however will be no walk overs. Halifax have an unwanted record of struggling against sides lower than them in the league this season and The Tigers have already caused an upset, snatching a 3-2 victory over Salford in February. Unfortunately for them their recent form has been very stop start, only claiming the one victory in their last five fixtures.

A lot can be made of reverse fixtures and when Gloucester hosted the match back in October Halifax came out comfortable 2-0 victors thanks to goals from Alex Simmons and Liam King. Heaths men may look to this result as an inspiration to win again but the side has a different look about it now.

In October, The Shaymen had Josh Macdonald and Alex Simmons flanking Tom Denton in attack, a trio that provided an ample supply of offensive promise. However, after Simmonsโ€™ loan expired and Macdonald has been side lined with injury, Denton is likely to be playing alongside the electric Matty Kosylo and Danny Clarke who seems to have found a home on the left wing.

Halifax will want their new look attack to fire them onto victory as they did against Bradford Park Avenue. Gloucester have a dangerous attack themselves fronted by the inform Luke Hopper.

Hopper has already netted 15 goals in the league this season, joint fourth on the scoring charts with Salfordโ€™s Mike Phenix and one ahead of Halifaxโ€™s top scorer Denton.

Matty Brown has formed a formidable partnership with Scott Garner at the back and have only conceded three goals in the last five league games. The back four will need to stay strong to keep out Hopper and the two centre backs will be key.

Match Officials:

Referee: Hart, Glen

Assistant Referee: Andrews, Michael

Assistant Referee: Ellis, Christopher

Match Coverage:

There will be full match commentary on Shaymen Player HD.

Match updates will also be available on the Shaymen Wall as well as the clubโ€™s official Twitter feed. (https://twitter.com/FCHTOnline)

Shaymen Player will also have full match commentary from the game as well as extended match highlights from the game, as well as all the reaction from Billy Heath and the rest of the camp.

Read more posts by Kelly Gilchrist

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