Shaymen boss Billy Heath has been quick to praise his side after FC Halifax Town produced one of their performances of the season to emphatically beat Salford City 4-2 at the MBi Shay Stadium.
By half time, Town were already 2-0 down following a penalty from Sam Walker and a Mike Phenix goal, although the Shaymen were not finished off just yet.
Debutant Daniel Nti, substitute Liam King, Matty Kosylo and Adam Morgan all found the back of the net after an inspired second half resurgence from Town, as they recorded their third successive win.
Once the excitement had died down, Heath made no mistake in praising the way his squad as a whole performed against what were an initially strong Salford side. The wingers especially receiving the bulk of the praise.
“‘Kozzy’ has been in a rich vein of form at the moment, in the first half he was doing some good things and some not so good things and it was just down to his choices.
“It was always going to be difficult for Daniel Nti coming in. He only trained once with us, he doesn’t particularly know how we play because it’s difficult in one training session to go through a full plan.
“In the second half he showed his qualities because he is a very good player. He has got bags of pace and he does score the odd goal. Like I say, both the wide players were fantastic. The second half performance from all the players were really good.”
If you had only just seen the score line, you would be lead to believe that Halifax were the dominant side throughout the 90 minutes, although this was not entirely the case.
The first half saw Salford prove why they have been worthy of two promotions in two seasons. Halifax struggled to contain the onslaught of attacks from the Ammies in the opening 45 minutes, therefore Heath believed that changes were needed to help turn the game around.
“It was a disappointing first half. We weren’t really at it at all in virtually every position, although we did create some decent chances but, really, we were second best all over the pitch.
“So we came in (to the second half), we made some changes and then from the 46th minute we totally controlled the game. We looked a different team, had them on the back foot from the first minute of the second half and then when the first goal went in you could sense it a little bit.
“They could sense that if they got the third goal it really would be game over. We knew if we could get a goal after half time and get some sort of foothold in the game then we could turn it around.”
Despite the early Salford pressure, the Shaymen played out an outstanding 45 minutes to assert their new found dominance on the league, leading them into the play-off spots for the first time since November.
It was clear that the home side were brimming with confidence despite their resilient opponents, and Heath understands that this was the key to his side’s incredible team performance.
“We have got to be respectful to Salford because, at the end of the day, they caused us a lot of problems but we did play some good football. When the fourth one went in we were oozing with confidence and they were disappointed with their play.
“At times we were going through on goal at will. It was a tough game, they are a good team and, to say where we were at half time, the lads deserve all the credit because they put a big shift in.”
You can now watch the full interview with Heath along with more post reaction from Nti and King on Shaymen Player HD.
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