“You won’t see many goals better than that.” Neil Aspin certainly does not have many doubts. The Shay Faithful have been treated to some special goals this season; Lee Gregory’s overhead kick against Welling United and Jon Worthington’s rasping drive over the Christmas Period versus Lincoln City are two strikes that instantly spring to mind. There are many others to choose from.
But the Shay Chief may have a point in describing Lois Maynard’s spectacular thunderbolt which secured three welcome points against strugglers Tamworth.
FC Halifax Town were already a goal to the good courtesy of Matty Pearson’s fine, sumptuous effort but a period of Tamworth pressure provided slight anxious moments, before the tension was released thanks to Maynard’s stunner, leaving Aspin delighted. He revealed to Shaymen Player after the 2-0 triumph, only Town’s second win in nine outings:
“People will have looked at the fixture today and expected us to win because we were at home and Tamworth have been struggling. We were very bad in the game at Tamworth and when you play any team that is fighting for their lives you always expect a tough game. They have got some good players in their team.
“We weren’t as fluent today as we have been – the pitch played a part in that – but we continued to score goals at home. And it has needed two great goals to win the game.
“At 1-0 it was always going to be tricky so I was delighted when the second one came. The main thing for me was for us to keep a clean sheet as we have conceded too many goals. I felt that if we did that then we would win the game.”
Pearson, part of the England C squad that faces Jordan this coming week, played in a more advanced position and it was a decision that reaped rewards in a performance that included a great goal and an intriguing individual battle with Lambs goalkeeper Cameron Belford who prevented further goals from the midfield maestro, as well as other Town players who had to be content with just the two goals. Aspin said:
“Their keeper made a number of saves; he’s a good reflex keeper, he’s got a good spring even though he’s not the biggest and he pulled off some great saves. When you look at the number of saves their goalkeeper has made, then we have definitely done enough to win the game.
“As for Matty, he is the type of player who has infectious qualities because even though he might not be having the best of games, he is always giving 100% and he is always committed. He sets the tone for the other players around him.
“I wanted him to get forward more today in his slightly different position just because of his energy and he closes down so well. Having said that, I didn’t expect him to produce a finish like that!”
The victory puts the Shaymen within three points of the play-offs and over the 50-points mark, which was set as an initial target at the start of the season. Aspin now wants more. He determinedly said:
“When we started we aimed for 50 points but you can never say that it will be enough because you don’t know how it is going to pan out. As a rule, 50 points is enough to keep you in the division which was our first aim.
“We have achieved that probably earlier than I would have thought with eleven games to go but I don’t want the season to peter out. I have said that to the players. We need to keep pushing, we need to try and win as many games as we can and then we will see where it takes us.”
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