FC Halifax Town manager Billy Heath spoke about how vital his team’s win was as they approach the ‘business end’ of the season.
Town defeated bottom of the league Altrincham 1-0 at Moss Lane, with Liam King grabbing the winner on the 71st minute.
Heath said: “It was a very frustrating afternoon for everybody I think, a wins a win.
“It was massively important that we followed up the results that we’d been getting. Everybody expected us to come here and win, in the end we got there. That’s the main thing.”
The gaffer explained that it’s not always about the performance, but the result that matters: “We’ve played a lot better and lost this season, but we got the three points.”
Town fielded what was an injury-struck side after players such as Josh MacDonald, Nathan Hotte and Tom Denton picked up knocks during the week. The away side were also missing Danny Hone who was suspended.
Heath was frustrated with how unexpected these blows were: “It’s a shame at the minute. We just think we’re getting a squad for the push and we got the numbers that we should have.
“You want twenty conference north, or above players. For the first time it looked like we were gonna have that. Then all of a sudden we’re down to sixteen again.”
Heath confirmed that MacDonald will return within a couple of weeks and Denton will be in contention for next weekend’s visit of Nuneaton.
The manager said: “We can say once again its disappointing. The team and the squad picked itself because we had sixteen players.”
It’s all about being ready for a battle as the team enters the final months of the season, and Heath confirmed that defender Matty Brown, who made his first appearance since last season’s FA Trophy victory at Wembley, and attacking midfielder Jordan Sinnott were by no means ready.
“Sinnott’s just feeling his way in after a long way out. We’ve had to chuck him in.”
“We need players who are prepared to put a shift in when they’re not fully fit, we need big characters and players to work hard now because we are at the business end.”
On Brown, Heath was delighted with the defender despite giving away a penalty on seven minutes: “I thought he did what he needed to do, his positional sense was fantastic and he attacked a lot of things. He’s going to get better and better.
“We were forced to throw Matty Brown in at the deep end. Yes, he has been training for a month but he’s only played forty-five minutes of football. It’s not enough.”
“We had to make a choice and he looked a little bit rusty but I thought from that penalty decision, I thought Brown was outstanding.
One other key talking point was the manager’s decision to give Kevin Roberts the armband after club captain Liam King returned to the fold.
King scored the winning goal when he broke the deadlock on eighty-one minutes, and Heath was happy with his reply after coming under criticism: “We brought Liam King in for exactly what he’s doing now. He looks mobile again, full of energy, fit and the thing with Liam is he will score you goals.
“From a midfield point of view its paramount.”
Heath says not having the armband won’t affect his performances: “Liam’s come to the football club and he’s had his problems with injury. He leads by example when he’s at it and I just said to the both of them, Liam agreed.
“He’s not one that sees it as a problem, he’s been a captain under me for quite a few years but it’s not a problem when he’s not his performances will be exactly the same.”
Check out www.fcht.co.uk throughout the week to catch all the build-up for the visit of Nuneaton at the MBi Shay on Saturday 11th of February.
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