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First Team

Matlock Town: We Never Got Going

Posted by Kelly Gilchrist
Posted on Wed 30 Nov 2016
Posted in First Team

FC Halifax Town midfielder Jake Hibbs expressed his bitter disappointment to Shaymen Player HD, after The Shaymen crashed out of the Buildbase FA Trophy at the 3rd qualifying round stage.

Dreams of a Wembley return for the defending champions looked to be dashed after a first half brace from Marcus Dinanga. Halifax picked themselves up in the 2nd half -with Hibbs and Matty Kosylo evening the scoring.

However, this was to be short-lived as a wonderful team goal finished off by Ted Cribley 17 minutes from time restored the away sides lead and progress to the next round as deserved victors.

โ€œWe wanted to get at them and score an early goal or two but that just never happened,โ€ said Hibbs โ€œYou have to give credit to Matlock who I thought were excellent, in particular their front three who were sharp throughout.โ€

There were questions prior to kick-off whether the game would indeed go ahead due to the extreme temperatures appearing to freeze one side of the pitch (South stand side).

Play was initially played at a slow tempo with many players appearing to play on their toes.

โ€œYh the conditions were tough out there; you donโ€™t want to go out on a pitch thatโ€™s essentially frozen,โ€ admitted the midfielder โ€œBut they were able to play their game so we canโ€™t really use that as an excuse. We had plenty of chances to win the game but just didnโ€™t go for us tonight.โ€

Hibbs returned to the side after being absent in the last few games โ€“ selected ahead of David Lynch and Danny Clarke.

โ€œHaving not played for a while it was good to get some game time. However I wasnโ€™t happy with my overall performance โ€“ yes I got myself a nice goal linking up with Richard (Peniket) but it was irrelevant in the end as weโ€™ve been knocked out.โ€

โ€œAt 2-2 I thought we looked on top at that stage โ€“ they looked down and didnโ€™t look like carrying on but a great bit of skill from their left winger has won it for themโ€ Hibbs added.

The Shaymen must now pick themselves up from this disappointing result and look ahead to Sundayโ€™s trip to National League side Eastleigh โ€“ for what is arguably the clubโ€™s biggest game since the reformation.

โ€œObviously everyone is looking forward to it โ€“ itโ€™s a massive game for the club,โ€ said Hibbs โ€œIdeally of course weโ€™d like to have gone into it in better form โ€“ a victory tonight would have given us a slight confidence boost but weโ€™re all up for Sundayโ€™s game and hopefully can get the result we all desperately want.โ€

Read more posts by Kelly Gilchrist

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