Cliff Moyo was simply stunned by the team’s dramatic dip in performance after Curzon Ashton shocked FC Halifax Town with a 4-2 victory at the Tameside Stadium.
In a rollercoaster of a second half – the right-back scored his first goal for the club before the hosts wrapped up the points whilst seeing 3 red cards come their way, resulting in both players and coaching staff clashing on numerous occasions, as well as several incidents of crowd disturbances in the stands and outside the stadium.
“To be brutally honest today was a shambles” Moyo declared in a tough interview with Shaymen Player HD, “Right from the word go we just weren’t at the races. The manager warned us about Curzon and told us to get at them, restrict them for playing and we just simply didn’t do that” the right back added.
“You look at the final score and it sums it up – to come away with a 4-2 defeat against 8 men is very poor.”
Halifax conceded the opening goal in a game for the first time since the 2-1 at Telford on September 3 through Niall Cummins – however they sadly went on to record their highest tally of goals conceded in a single match this season.
“I don’t think we can really pinpoint what’s gone wrong today. There was so much that just didn’t click for us. They’re (Curzon Ashton) not a bad team to their credit – we didn’t expect them to knock the ball around as they did – particularly their midfield. But we just weren’t at it across the entire pitch today.”
“It’s incredibly frustrating because you want to win games like this given the contrast in league positions.”
The heavy tackle from Tomsett on Josh Wilde directly in front of Billy Heath’s technical area sparked a gigantic confrontation between the two opponents. Many in the stands were convinced Tomsett would be sent walking but not until Jamie Scott joined the tussle and confronted Josh Macdonald – resulting in the centre half being shown the red instead (potentially doing the Curzon right back a favour).
You wouldn’t be foolish to predict the game wasn’t going to reach its conclusion in the normal fashion – and Cliff felt the same after Curzon were reduced to eight.
“Abandonment crossed my mind for sure at one stage with the number of cards that the ref was dishing out. It was crazy scenario but the ref’s decision is final at the end of the day. Those decisions were supposed to benefit us yet somehow we weren’t able to capitalize on the advantage that we had – so it just sums up our afternoon.”
Moyo probably won’t want to look back at this game in a hurry, however it will be a historic game for him on a personal level, after he fired home a stunning header from a Josh Macdonald corner to pull the score line back to 2-1 – securing his first goal for the Shaymen.
“On a personal note I guess I’m pleased to get my first goal but in the end its irrelevant as we haven’t got the three points. We weren’t on it today and got punished and that can happen in this league. It’s all about picking ourselves up and going again now.”
Town begin their FA Trophy defence away at Matlock next week and Moyo admits it’s vital they get back on the training pitch as soon as.
“We need to get back on the training pitch, discuss and find what happened out there, brush up on a lot of things and we can hopefully pick ourselves back up again for the trip to Matlock.”
Watch the full interview on Shaymen Player HD right now.
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