FC Halifax Town won’t have much time to celebrate getting back to winning ways as an away trip to Salford City beckons.
The Shaymen make the trip down the M62 to face the Ammies who are currently perched at the top of the league table. A tough game approaches, but goalkeeper Steven Drench is positive when looking ahead to the tasty fixture…
“To be honest, any team that usually gets promoted, no matter what league they’re in, comes up with momentum. They’ve had a good start to the season, but it’s only seven or eight games old, so it’s still early days. We’ve had a couple of defeats, but we got them out of the way and we bounced back on Saturday with a good win at Telford. We’re under no illusions, we’ll be in for a tough game, but there’s no reason why we can’t go there and get something. We’ll definitely test them and see what they are all about.”
As for how Halifax play, will it be the same style we saw at Telford on Saturday or will there be a tactical trick that the Shaymen have up their sleeves?
“I think it’s got to be the same again, the work ethic and the way we played, especially in the second half. I think if we can carry that on into the Salford game that will stand us in good stead, but obviously with us been away from home we’ll have to see how they set up as well. That kind of dictates how we’re going to approach the game.”
The long ball option has worked wonders for Halifax and Tom Denton especially in a number of games this season, but longer spells of possession seemed to be the recipe for success on Saturday. Steven is happy that Halifax have both playing styles available at their disposal…
“Like I said after the Harrogate game, Dents has had a really good start, but everyone knows that he’s our main threat. Penny scored a brilliant goal on Saturday and King has come back into the team and given us something different. Hotte’s popped up with a goal as well. We do have Dents there as a threat, but I think we’ve got a lot of good footballers in the team, and especially in the second half on Saturday we used them and utilised them to our advantage. I think they controlled the game second half, kept the ball on the deck and played to our strengths really. We’ve got the best of both, where we can go long if we need to, but we’ve also got ball-players. It’s a nice luxury to have.”
Victory could potentially move Halifax back up into the play-off places and shot-stopper Drench thinks that the dressing room will be even more upbeat should the three points come Halifax’s way…
“They’re undefeated, but if we can go there and get a win, that will definitely give us another boost and put them under a bit of pressure, so we could see how they recover from their first defeat of the season. It will give us a bit more confidence, but we’re a confident bunch anyway. We’ve had a decent start despite the last couple of games; the Telford win has got us back on form so we’ll kick on from there.”
The old footballing phrase ‘take each game as they come’ gets thrown around a lot by managers and players alike, but Drench reveals it’s exactly how the team is prepared as they plan for Tuesday’s visit to Greater Manchester…
“You look at the league, and Salford have had a good start, Fylde have had a good start, but there is no-one really who is going to run away with it. It is an old cliché, one at a time, but you can only play what’s in front of you, so we’ll get the Salford game out of the way hopefully with a positive result, then we can move onto Stalybridge. But we’re fully focused on the game on Tuesday.”
FC Halifax Town’s game against Salford City kicks off at 7:45pm on Tuesday night, with live commentary and updates available.
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