FC Halifax Town’s five game unbeaten run came to an abrupt end courtesy of a 2-0 defeat at strugglers Tamworth, who in turn secured their first league win since November.
Manager Neil Aspin admitted to the Official Website after the loss that it was a below-par performance, saying:
“I don’t make excuses as a manager and we weren’t good enough in today’s game. We certainly didn’t play at the tempo and with the desire and with the aggression I would like.
“It’s disappointing to lose but you have to give credit to the opposition instead of just saying we didn’t play well ourselves. They’re in a fight and they need the points. They got in front and they made it difficult for us.
“If we want to win games at this level then we need to be better than we were today. It’s hard to pick any positives out of the performance. Obviously some people played better than others.
“We did, however, still push forward right up until the 90th minute, and, considering the amount of games we have had recently, that was a good aspect of the game.
“But it was a disappointing performance; there is no point in dressing it up in any other way. I know and the players know that we need to be better; it is as simple as that.”
A scrappy first half, in which neither team really tested the opposition’s goalkeeper, ended with a bizarre goal for the home side, as Lloyd Kerry’s cross from the right somehow curled into Matt Glennon’s far bottom corner. And it got better for the Lambs just before the hour-mark as hesitant defending allowed Andy Todd to thunder in a second, leaving Aspin to declare his frustration:
“I was disappointed with both goals we conceded and I was disappointed with a lot of the defending during the game.
“I felt the second goal summed it up because it was a ball that dropped loose in the box and we had enough players to get to it, yet their player got their in front of us and showed the desire to put the ball into the back of the net. That was disappointing because we had enough bodies back and we should have defended it. Both goals could have been prevented.”
With Tamworth’s New Years Day fixture at Nuneaton postponed, and following the Shaymen’s high-octane six-goal thriller with Gateshead to kick-start 2014, could Town be forgiven for their sheepishness against a spring-in-their-step Lambs outfit? Aspin disagrees insisting his team, not just in defence, were simply not good enough on the day. He reiterated:
“It’s not like I’m blaming just one part of the team; all over the pitch, we weren’t good enough today.
“On another day we could have scored a couple of goals, especially in the second half, but there was no reason why in the first half we couldn’t have appeared confident because the opportunity was there for us to play. The pitch was fine and perfectly playable, yet we just didn’t perform.
“You could say that we have had a lot of games and that is probably the only difference with Tamworth not playing in midweek. But if you start saying that then you start making excuses and I don’t want to do that.
“The players have done well for me this season but today wasn’t good enough.”
For the full post-match interview, including Aspin’s thoughts on the departure of Dan Gardner, catch it on Shaymen Player now.
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