FC Halifax Town midfielder Nathan Hotte believes the team finally managed to piece two halves together and produce a fine home performance in the 2-0 win over relegation rivals Hartlepool United at the MBi Shay Stadium.
The midfielder opened the scoring when his deflected volley flew past stranded goalkeeper Scott Loach to send the Shaymen on the way to their first win in eight games.
A strong performance from Town and Hotte believes the side’s competitiveness in both halves was the difference in securing all three points.
‘I think we’ve basically put two halves together, I think Saturday first half we should’ve been out of sight, it was only 1-0 up and second half we didn’t really turn up’
‘Today we’ve sort of put two 45’s together and obviously got what we deserved.’
The Shaymen number eight has handed his first start of 2018 and left a real impact on the game and will be giving new manager Jamie Fullarton a few tough decisions to make when he takes over at Eastleigh.
‘I think that was my first start in about three months, so I was cramping up a little bit and stuff but yeah the main thing is that we got the three points.’
Neil Young’s side, in his last game as caretaker manager, put in a fine performance and left Hartlepool with little to no clear chances and dominated the game from start to finish.
However, Hotte knows that to steer clear of relegation, the Shaymen need to be at this level of intensity every game between now and the end of the season.
‘That’s what we’ve got to do, every week. It’s a hard league. Every team is full time and we need to do that every week.’
‘If we do that then we’ll get enough points to stay up.’
A huge three points in a crucial part of Halifax’s season, the timing could not be better as Halifax prepare for a scrappy run in between now and the final game of the season.
With some results around Halifax being rather favourable, the gap between the Shaymen and the relegation zone has now doubled to four points.
Fullarton will know that it is of immense importance to carry this confidence into the game at Eastleigh and try and hit a strong run of form to distance themselves from the bottom four.
Hotte is targeting twelve to fifteen points from the remaining twelve fixtures to secure safety and feels that, if the team can perform like this more consistently, then it’s achievable.
‘I think we have 12 games left now and we probably still need another four or five wins, so we’ve just got to get as many points as soon as we can and get ourselves there.’
A huge reason behind the victorious evening against Hartlepool were the Shaymen faithful. The home supporters were in superb voice all evening.
Having the fans behind you can really spur you on and Hotte believes they gave the lads the extra boost they needed to get over the line and wrap up the win.
‘When they get behind us they’re a massive difference and I think tonight we’ve rewarded them with the three points’
‘It’s good when they get behind you.’
To watch the full interview, or more post-match reaction from the win over Hartlepool from Neil Young and new signing Mike Fondop-Talom on his move to the club, head over to Shaymen TV.
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