Yesterday’s preseason fixture saw FC Halifax Town face Coalville Town down in the Leicestershire sunshine where we came up against a familiar face in the heart of the Coalville defensive line – Scott McManus.
Scott played spent over eight years at the Shaymen, making 269 appearances under five permanent managers and two caretaker bosses, having the glory of winning two promotions, and a being a FA Trophy winner after scoring the only goal at Wembley against Grimsby Town back in 2016.
So, something a little different this preseason which see’s us travel down the M1 into Leicestershire to Coalville Town where we came home with a 3-1 victory courtesy of goals from Trialist 19, Dayle Southwell and Matty Kosylo.
We caught up with Scott McManus after the game to see how he found playing behind another team’s badge.
“It was a good game, I thought we matched Halifax and did well in the first half, taking the lead but second half Town started a little bit brighter and I think fitness came into it in the end, and Halifax came out deserved winners but good game and great to see so many Halifax fans down for the occasion.”
With a lot of new faces in this summer for the Shaymen, McManus didn’t have to come up against many former team-mates, however one of the ones he did have to face – Ben Tomlinson, he will not miss coming up against.
“I’ll remember ‘Tomo’ (Ben Tomlinson), I think we went up for 18 headers and he won 16 of them, I’ll be glad not to see him again for a bit, but I’ll miss playing with him because he works his socks off.”
“I know from playing for Halifax there is new faces every season and it takes time as a new team to jell but these seem a good bunch of lads and are looking alright and hopefully they can push on.”
On his move to Coalville Town Scott explains a little on what helped sway his move away from The Shay.
“I love it here, it’s a great run family club and my son plays for the younger ones and I’m really enjoying being here, living local to here for the last 4-5 years and with Halifax going full time I had a big decision to make on whether to move on.”
The attendance for today’s game was 241 spectators and Scott wanted to say a personal thank you from himself:
“I appreciate every single one of the fans who came down today, it’s fantastic and it means a lot and I can’t be more thankful”
Boston United is next on the preseason agenda next Saturday (28th July) 3pm kick off, when we conclude our preseason fixture list ahead of the Vanarama National League season which starts on August 4th away to Braintree Town.
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