While the bank holiday period may have given some of the Shaymen faithful an exciting time away to enjoy some well-deserved rest and relaxation, it has not been as enjoyable for the team that they support.
FC Halifax Town have suffered back-to-back defeats over a gruelling three day period that saw Billy Heath’s men suffer a 3-2 defeat away against AFC Fylde, and now a 1-0 loss to Harrogate town at home.
In a drab contest where neither side really impressed, Heath’s team were limited thanks to a lengthy injury list and Cliff Moyo’s suspension. Despite admitting his team were poor and were deserved losers in this game, the former North Ferriby United manager was keen to stress how damaging his limited options were to his side.
“The problems we’ve had during this bank holiday weekend has been there for all to see, there are just too many square pegs going into round holes. We’re just too thin on the ground and then we lose Josh Wilde at half time we had to stick Kevin Roberts into the left side and drop Jake Hibbs into the right back which didn’t really work. We’ve already got Scott Garner in midfield.”
When looking at the list of players that Halifax were without, a list which includes key players such Moyo and captain Liam King, only losing 1-0 in what was a close affair could be seen as a good result and at the interval the home side were only one goal away from potentially taking the three points for themselves.
Heath was asked whether or not he was pleased at half time with a clean sheet and told the players that one goal will nick this, in agreement the manager made a point to say that he believed there was only going to be one goal in it and one piece of quality would win the game. Unfortunately for the Shaymen they were on the other end.
It was indeed a stroke of quality which lost the game for Halifax after Jack Emmett lashed home a shot from around 20 yards on the right hand side and despite being the manager of the side who conceded the goal, Heath was more than happy to commend the goal by stating; “The finish for them was fantastic. You could put two goalkeepers in the net and they wouldn’t save it as I’ve said before I thought it would just be one stroke of quality in it.”
Keil O’Brien was brought back to the club on loan from Southport to provide defensive cover to the injury stricken Halifax squad.
The former Manchester United youth player spent a period of last season at the club as well so is familiar with the Shay. O’Brien played his first game against Harrogate and his new manager expressed his content with his performance by saying he and defensive partner Daniel Hone both had solid games and despite the game being poor and other players around them being poor, the two men stuck to their jobs throughout the match.
The Shaymen will next travel to Telford in with the strong desire to get back to winning ways after losing two games in a row. Three points will be required to make sure that Halifax are still competing with the sides above them in the early stages of the season and much to the delight of the Halifax fans, the manager has confirmed that the squad should be fit and ready to go for the weekend.
Watch the full interview on Shaymen Player HD right now.
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