FC Halifax Town centre-back Scott Garner is ‘gutted’ that he won’t be involved in Monday’s Boxing Day clash with Darlington FC.
The former Boston United captain was sent off in the Emirates FA Cup replay against Eastleigh just under two weeks ago, and says it’s a hard time for him: “I’m really frustrated with myself, people say you get Boxing Day off but it’s not like that at all. I’m actually gutted I’m not involved and I feel like I’m missing out if anything.”
Garner was relishing playing against rivals Darlington in Town’s festive double header with the County Durham based outfit, with close friend Liam Marss set to start against Town on Boxing Day.
Excited at the prospect of a derby, Garner said: “I think they’ve got a big lad up front too who I was looking forward to having a battle against,” Town will pose a new threat on Monday as well, with new signing Liam Morgan coming straight into the fold.
A signing that Garner describes as ‘exciting’, he told us that he “heard a rumour [FC Halifax] were signing him at training the other night, obviously [Garner] did well in the FA Cup against Wimbledon, and he’s very highly rated.”
Morgan signed from National League side Curzon Ashton, having scored eleven goals in nine appearances for the Nash. Bringing a wealth of experience, the scouse striker spent twelve years at Liverpool before moving on to Yeovil Town.
Garner said: “For us to bring a player like that in at this stage of the season, it’s a great move for us and it can only be a positive thing really.
“Let’s hope he comes in and bangs a few goals in for us!”
Town have struggled in form recently, but Garner thinks their disappointing FA Cup exit could be a ‘blessing in disguise’: “We’ve had a chat and I think we really need to concentrate on the league, getting as many points as possible and moving up the table. We need to string a good few wins together again.
“I think if you actually look, we’ve got games in hand so we’re not really in a bad position, we just need to up our performances and standards, and start performing for each other now.”
Manager Billy Heath has come under a level of scrutiny in recent weeks, but Garner says that the team is ‘confident’ they’ll bounce back and get on track in the league. He said the gaffer has been working hard with the team on the training pitch: “We’ve been doing some good sessions in training, going through set pieces and all the little extra things.
“When it’s not quite going your way at times, you’ve got to get the little percentages that you can add up and win you games really.”
Despite being confident, Garner conceded that Town haven’t been hitting the levels expected of them. On the AFC Telford United result last weekend, Garner said: “The Telford goal the other day, to stick it in the top corner from 25-30 yards… Nine out of ten times its going straight over the bar, but for it to go into the top corner, you just think ‘oh, God’.”
“But then it was down to us to have the game out of sight, and we didn’t really perform up to the levels we should have on the day, but I’m sure we will in the future.”
“We rescued a point in the end, but it’s not good enough at home. Now we’ve got to go into two big Boxing Day and New Year’s Day games really going for it and get a good return.”
FC Halifax Town face Darlington FC at The Darlington Arena on Boxing Day, kick-off is 3:00pm and if you can’t make it, you can catch full audio coverage on Shaymen Player HD from 2:45pm, as well as full match updates on the Shaymen Wall and our official Twitter account, @FCHTOnline.
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