Following FC Halifax Town’s 1-0 defeat against Wealdstone, Jake Hyde spoke to ShaymenTV about the match, his move to the club and making his first competitive start.
Hyde began the interview by giving his thoughts on the game; “To be honest, I know we lost, and it would have been lovely to get the points, but it’s all positives. We finished the game with nine men, and you could see everyone to a man was different gear and the work rate showed everyone was in It together. The grit, determination and disappointment to lose with two men less on a big pitch like this is fantastic – the odds have been stacked against us, we’ve come back from two weeks and we haven’t had much training, haven’t had much bonding and some lads have come back from injury and the performance was brilliant.
“More for me was the togetherness of the boys – everyone was in it working together and that will take us a long way this season. I’m not too disappointed because from my point of view when you go to war with the boys and they have your back in the trenches is massive for me and it will take us a long way.”
The 30-year-old added on how he’s settled in at the club; “It’s fantastic, the boys have made me so welcome. Obviously, it has not been a fantastic start for me being injured and not being able to get fit, and then we have had this Covid issue – so it has been a long time coming. It has been eight months since I last started a competitive game, but the boys have made me feel super welcomed from date dot. They’re a fantastic bunch of lads.”
As Hyde mentioned, the game marked his first competitive start for the club, this is a moment he reflected on; “First game for me tonight really and I’m looking to kick on from here. Legs wise though, very tired – but it has been stacked against us lately. This is my first game in eight months, and I have not had much chance to train with the two weeks off and the injury, but this tonight is massive for me – getting 88 minutes in the tank.
“That’s in the tank now and I’ll be stronger and stronger each week. Hopefully, I can help the team more and more to get to where we want to be – we know where we want to be and where we should be, and this is the start of it.”
The centre forward later went on to talk about how sustaining an injury in pre-season at a new club can halt your season preparations and the effects of it; “It’s very frustrating, of course we had a very long spell off this year and it’s really different compared to what we’re used to. I would normally only have two or three weeks off, but we five or six months off this year.
It’s frustrating because you want to hit the ground running when you come to a new place, especially after working so hard for the first three or four weeks, and then to then not be able to start the season by an injury – you’re very disappointed. But I have got to put that behind me new and kick on, and as I said this is my first proper appearance and I will kick on and get stronger. I’ll keep doing things off the pitch that will help me on the pitch, and hopefully, help the team along the way.”
The summer recruit scored 16 goals in the Vanarama National League last season when at Woking FC. Therefore, the question beckoned; is Jake looking to replicate that this season and try go one better?
“I’d like to do more, we still had nine games left last year, with a couple in the cup. So, that would have been a 24-25 goal season for me, and that is what I want to do this year – 100%. Every game I play I will get stronger and sharper; I will get that little bit more strength in me and get time to understand the way the team plays. It is just about embedding in and the quicker I do that the better. My target is always to be one of the top goal scorers in the league and it is always going to be. Hopefully after the first one the rest come like busses.”
One of Jake’s goals last season came at the Shay, he spoke about his experiences of playing at the ground; “Obviously, it was as a different club but to win and get a goal last season are all good memories. To be honest, I only managed to play two 45s in pre-season, but one was the Shay and I scored again. I like playing here it is a good-sized pitch, there is a lot of space to run into. When we have a full squad and we are at it then we will be flying, and teams will hate coming here.
“We’ll make this a fortress – the gaffer says it all the time, it has to be a hard place to come. I think we’ve kind of proved it tonight – it is not the result we wanted but imagine playing with nine players and still giving them a go. They through everything at it and just about nicked a win, but this will be a horrible place for people to come and I’m looking forward to playing here.”
Lastly, Hyde ended the interview by previewing Saturday’s away clash against Solihull Moors; “It’s going to be a tough game, they have a good side, and I’ve looked at some of the boys they’ve signed and they’re experienced boys. They have not started the best, but they will be hungry to do well, but we will have a recovery day tomorrow and then analyse them and see where we can hurt them. Hopefully, we will have a few boys back then and we will see what we can do. The spirit is high, and we will be doing everything we can to kick on.”
Watch the full interview on ShaymenTV.
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