FC Halifax Town beat Eastleigh 1-0 down on the south coast in the Vanarama National League. James Ferry got on the score sheet in the 77th minute to take the three points back home.
After the game Town boss Jamie Fullarton spoke to Shaymen TV after the game starting with his thoughts on the victory.
Obviously delighted to get a result, I think the players demonstrated today that not only their application towards hard work but an understanding. We had a change to shape; therefore, their tactical discipline and approach has resulted in not only a fantastic win against a team that is fourth in the league and won six out of seven but a performance that matched.
New signings Manny Duku and Devante Rodney both started today’s game after coming into the club in the week.
I thought both contributed to what we are trying to do. They both came in on Thursday and aligned with us changing the shape, and again people get caught up in shapes and systems and say we should play 4-5-1, 4-7-2 or 8-5-4 or whatever. But the principles of play stay the same today, it’s just your starting position and your position in and out of possession. I thought both players contributed well, I made the change at half time with Manny it was purely cautionary I didn’t want the referee to influence the game or have a decision to make. He got booked early on and then there was a second one after that which I thought was possibly more of a booking than the one he got booked for. So, then rather have the referee make the decision, I decided to make the decision at half time and again it was preservation and having options off the bench today meant it was an easy decision, then we could go and kick on and play in the second half.
James Ferry got himself his first goal of the season.
We might look at it and think it’s an unusual goalscorer of a winning goal, I think it reflects his contribution today I thought in a change of shape and a change in approach its resulted in James scoring. I’m not very good at looking at who’s scores them and don’t really care who scores them if I’m honest, it’s more important that we create enough chances and good chances. Like we did today and fortunately James got himself where we expected him to be today with the change of shape which is excellent, and it means we’re walking away with three points and performance that is reflected in the result.
Yet another clean sheet for Johnson and co.
I’ve challenged the phrase back line. We work very hard during the week from front, middle to back. It’s a real team effort and I think the tactical discipline today was a shining light. That meant we had another clean sheet and when we had to defend for our lives at times which we did. We’re away from home against the team that’s fourth in the league and is on a great run. The players put their bodies on the line on what I call emergency defending in the box, where all rules all structure all everything that you work on negate chances and you’re looking for individuals to step on and make decisions. In-particularly in the first half which meant we stayed in the game, and then we had that platform in the second half where I thought we were really accomplished and controlled the game considering the circumstances of where we are playing the game and who we are playing.
Next up is Barnet on Tuesday night, Jamie still feels the same as he would for any other fixture.
Same as we felt coming into this game and the same we felt going into the Havant game and again it’s that group that have that mentality that belief that trust in what we are doing, with the change in shape today how well they went about their business and actually demonstrated what we are trying to do on the day shows that there’s a belief a trust and a togetherness and that’s the key ingredient at the end of the day. So, we look forward to Tuesday, obviously it is a quick turnaround with a long trip home. Our rest and recovery are important, and their focus is to.
Watch the full interview on Shaymen TV
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