FC Halifax Town slumped to a disappointing 3-2 loss to Matlock Town, ending any hopes of winning back to back FA Trophies.
The defeat added misery to an already miserably cold night at the MBi Shay Stadium and defender Cliff Moyo believes that the result and the performance was simply, disappointing.
“Very disappointing from the go really we just didn’t get going. We can’t blame it on the conditions because they were playing on the same pitch as us. Looking at our performance, it was just disappointing all together.”
What may have come as a surprise to Halifax fans was the calibre of play that Matlock brought with them. Despite facing a side that is higher in the divisions than them, the away side played with spirit and deservedly took a 2-0 lead.
Marcus Dinanga netted the opening two goals of the game, really pushing Halifax onto the back foot but Moyo insists The Shaymen only have themselves to blame.
“We weren’t good enough, so in a way they deserved to go 2-0 up, to be blatantly honest. So it was surprising but at the same time we didn’t really do ourselves justice.”
The second half saw Billy Heath’s men rally and managed to claw two goals back, exciting the fans into hoping for a historic comeback.
Jake Hibbs made it 2-1 in the 57th minute before super sub Matty Kosylo did what he does best by coming off of the bench to level the tie just over ten minutes later.
Unfortunately for Moyo and his teammates however, Matlock defended well and punished with a sweeping counter attack which saw Ted Cribley seal the win for his side.
“It was there for us. I think they got a bit surprised when the momentum twisted and it was in our favour. But that third goal just killed us. Without that we could have grabbed the winner.”
Needless to say, there are a lot of aspects of the game that Halifax will need to improve on with their historic clash against Eastleigh on the horizon. When asked about what needs to be changed after this game, the defender had this to say;
“I can’t really pinpoint what went wrong today we just didn’t get going. Starting off we didn’t play football and we let them play a bit. That was the difference, we let them play way too much especially with us being at home we had to close it down and bring the game to them, and we didn’t do that.”
Moyo continued.
“There are a lot of things that we need to improve on today so we’ll go back to training, look at stuff and forget about the game. It’s a game we need to forget about but at the same time we need to improve on a lot.”
As previously mentioned, Eastleigh awaits the 23-year old and the chance to gain passage to the third round of the FA Cup has everyone affiliated with the club excited, Moyo is no exception.
“I’m not looking forward to the journey! But this a chance to get to the third round of the FA Cup, this the furthest Halifax have ever been and for myself personally. I’m just looking forward to the whole experience.”
Halifax may not be in the best form going into the game, but the underdog status is something unfamiliar to Billy Heath’s men and may just give them the edge against Eastleigh, allowing them to bounce back into form.
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