FC Halifax Town managed a 1-1 draw against Yorkshire rivals Harrogate Town on New Year’s Day. Captain Matty Brown spoke to Shaymen TV to give his thoughts on the game.
He said: “It was a dreadful start. They’ve gone a goal ahead and defended well for large parts of the game. We looked very tired today, but we keep going, and have got to do better, but we come away with a point today so we’re happy with that.”
George Thomson broke the deadlock after six minutes today. An unusual goal in that it looked to be a cross but beat Johnson to go into the back of the net. Brown was disappointed to concede such an unlikely goal.
He said: “It was a bit of a fluke goal. The lad has obviously gone to cross it, he’s mishit it and it’s gone over Sam. But you can’t really legislate for them, it is just a fluke goal. You’ve just got to dust yourself down.”
With such an early goal, it was clear Harrogate were looking to hold onto their lead. They sat much deeper in the second half and allowed the Shaymen to push forward.
He said: “We struggled in the game and it was tough, the pitch wasn’t great, and they came here to do a job. They had something to hold onto with the goal early doors. So, we showed great character to stay in the game and get something out of it.”
Jonathan Edwards netted Halifax’s goal in the 90th minute. A Ben Tomlinson corner came in and eventually fell to Edwards who tapped it in to level the score. Brown
He said: “We’ve got good team spirit in there and we all work for each other. It’s tough with the three games and today you can see it took a lot out of us physically. We looked very tired today. But it’s a good thing, you can spin it and say, ‘on a tired performance we came away with a point’. Two or three weeks ago we would’ve been beaten in that game, so it’s good credit to us.”
With Town unbeaten in their last three, Brown is confident the team are starting to pick up some momentum going into the second half of the season.
He said: “We are still nowhere near where we can be. We’re going to keep going and we’ve turned a corner. We’ve gone a few games unbeaten and we’re looking to keep pushing on.”
With the draw, it means Halifax have taken four points from six of our Yorkshire rivals. Brown believes this run will help provide some momentum.
He said: “It’s massive. All the points we have picked up over Christmas show we are unbeaten. We’ve gone away twice and obviously this is the first home game in that run.”
Following the equaliser, the Town fans showed the full voice as the game neared its conclusions. Brown admitted that it is vital to get the fans behind the team.
He said: “They’re massive. Obviously, they get frustrated when we’re not doing so well. They are the things that get the fans going, last minute equalisers or winners. So hopefully we can get a good crowd here for Saturday.”
Saturday’s fixture sees Halifax face Braintree Town. The reverse fixture saw the Shaymen come out 2-0 winners after a good performance on the opening day. Brown is confident that once they have fully recovered, they will ready to go again.
He said: “Just about recovering from this one to be honest. I’m very tired and all the lads are so we’ll have a few days off to recuperate and then we’ll look forward to preparing for Braintree. We’ll be going into the game to take three points. But now, recovery is the main thing.”
Watch the full interview on Shaymen TV.
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