Following FC Halifax Townβs solid 0-0 draw to Morecambe in the first round of the FA Cup, Town manager Jamie Fullarton offered his thoughts after an admirable Shaymen performance.
βWeβre still in the hat for the draw on Monday, which was always the objective. Itβs a great credit to the players, and whilst it was 0-0, I think anyone who watch it from both sides would agree that it was a good cup tieβ, stated Fullarton.
In the dying moments of the game, Jonathan Edwards stabbed Sellarsβ cross in to the net from close range, however the goal was adjudged to be offside. The manager said: βIt wasnβt a goal as the referee has said that itβs not one. If Jonny [Edwards] was offside then weβre disappointed, as it was a great cross. Itβs something weβve worked on and Jonny found himself in a great position and it was a magnificent header, but it was chalked off.β
βIt was a challenge. When you come away from home against a league team who play their strongest side available, I think that it shows the respect that Jim [Bentley] has for us that heβs brought in his experienced first team centre half fold, who missed the last three or four games, so it was clear Jim wanted to win today. That made it the spectacle that it was and credit where we had to defend, because we had to defend at times.β
βWe put our bodies on the line and we defended in the way of what we demand from the players. When we had the ball, at times we were looking for just a bit more quality and composure. But I thought that there were certain passages of play where we created good opportunities and got in to good areas, and itβs just a little bit of quality if Iβm going to be overly critical of the boys.β
The Shaymen will host Morecambe at The MBi Shay Stadium in a replay on Tuesday 20th November and the Town manager believed that the game would be βdifficultβ and that: βtheyβll [Morecambe] be confident in themselves and to take a second bite of the cherry to go in to the second round. If you read the programme notes from today, itβs quite apparent that even in League Two that a good cup run from a financial point of view is important, so I have no doubt heβll play his strongest team.β
βMorecambe will try to apply themselves to win the game so itβll be a great spectacle because thatβs what weβll be trying to do.β
531 Shaymen supporters had made the trip to Lancashire and made a lot of noise throughout the game. Fullarton stressed that the vocal backing helped his side in the game and how important that βfantasticβ support was, also adding: βYouβd of thought we were the home team!β
βHopefully ball number 36 comes our first so weβve got a home drawβ, he stated. βThereβs many ways to look at it [the cup draw] and fans will have different views on it, and theyβll want an exciting draw that teases them from a higher league. We want any game at home.β
βWhilst some people may refer to the cup as a distraction or a break, I donβt. Preparation, before any game, weβll try and win so it means our focus now turns to Dover and weβll start planning for that because itβs a game at home which we really look forward to.β
The Town boss also cemented that: βthe last two performances havenβt wielded the results that we look for, but weβll look to rectify with against Dover on Saturday.β
Watch the full interview on Shaymen TV
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