The two sides only met on Boxing Day with The Quakers coming out on top 3-2 in their first game at Blackwell Meadows after spending four years playing outside of the town. It seemed like Darlo were right at home with Mark Beck grabbing a brace and Josh Gillies scoring to give the home side the victory despite Adam Morgan’s debut double.
It’s a quick turn around The Shaymen as they Darlington for the second time in seven days looking to start the new year with three points. Conceding goals has become a problem for Billy Heath’s men and the three they conceded against The Quakes added to the six they have shipped in the three games prior to Boxing Day, this is a problem which Richard Peniket highlighted…
“That’s up to the manager to decide, that’s his job. For us we need to not leak as many sloppy goals, with the three on Monday we were sloppy and that’s something we need to look at working on.”
The Shaymen were desperately unlucky on Boxing Day to not earn themselves a point at Blackwell Meadows. They have the chance to make up for that defeat on New Year’s and home advantage could tilt the fixture Halifax’s way…
“It will be a different game at The Shay, the pitch will be better for starters. It’s at our home ground we’ve got the advantage in that respect, it was a tight game at Blackwell Meadows so we’ll be expecting another tight game but hopefully we can learn from the mistakes we made at their ground and hopefully come away with the three points this time.”
Heath’s sides winless run stretches back to mid-November against Dagenham & Redbridge in the FA Cup, having exited all cup competitions in the process. Peniket and his teammates are starting to get frustrated with the lack of victories and they’ll be hoping to bounce back against The Quakers…
“A win can kick start your season and there’s frustration going around at the minute that we’re not winning, and rightly so because we should be up there but a few victories and we can bounce back, get right back up the league again.”
This game will could be one they look back on at the end of the season if they can rediscover their form which saw a run of seven consecutive victories earlier on this season. This game could be very crucial when it comes to the promotion push, but Peniket thinks every game is just as important as the rest, no matter who the opposition may be.
“I think every game is important I think, there’s plenty of twists and turns till the end of the season so I don’t think one result over Boxing Day or New Year will be unbelievably important. I think it is crucial we get back to winning ways as soon as possible and go on a bit of a run like we did a couple of months ago,”
You can see FC Halifax Town’s next game on New Year’s Day, as they take on Darlington again in the hopes of gaining a measure of revenge at the MBi Shay Stadium.
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