Woking 0-0 FC Halifax Town: "It's a good point on the road," says Town boss Wild

Halifax boss Pete Wild was proud of his side's efforts after the 10-men of Town battled to a 0-0 draw at Woking.
Pete WildPete Wild
Pete Wild

Nathan Clarke was shown a straight red card for a foul just after the hour mark in an otherwise forgettable contest.

But Halifax dug in after Clarke's dismissal to claim a hard-fought point.

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When asked if a draw was a fair result, Wild said: "100 per cent. We didn't do enough to win the game, but it's a good point on the road.

"Woking are a good side, they've shown that today. Alan (Dowson) has got them playing some top football here.

"So I'm really pleased with a point. I didn't think we did enough to win the game.

"But what's been questioned in recent weeks is our desire to defend both boxes, and I thought were excellent defensively today.

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"To get a clean sheet, to stop the rot with all these silly mistakes, the positive is that we've looked strong in our own box today.

"The keeper's started coming and collecting things, having Browny back in there with some size, that's really helped us."

On Clarke's red card, Wild said: "It's never a red, he's won the ball. Know your players, Nathan Clarke doesn't tackle like that.

"It's the single worst decision I've seen in a long time. I've got to be careful what I say, but it's killed it as a contest.

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When asked why he thought the referee made the decision to send Clarke off, Wild said: "The fourth official said 'good tackle, not even a foul',but they don't help each other.

"We're stood here, we can see it, they've got eyes on it., help the ref out. I think he makes a rash decision without thinking about what he's done."

But Wild was delighted with how his team dug in with 10 men to hold out for a draw.

"I'm proud and pleased, yeah," he said. "Some people have accused us of being too easy and too soft to play against.

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"I've challenged, questioned that of the players in the last two weeks, and I thought the players showed integrity, to dig deep and put a shift in.

"It's a point on the road, it's another point to where we want to be. That's 36 points out of 21 games, which is an excellent return.

"There's going to be ups and downs but what you saw today was us back to our best defensively, and now we've got to create more chances, which we'll work on."

Town failed to register a shot on target in the game.

"As tough as we were to beat, we didn't create anything," Wild said. "I know that's our problem, I keep saying to people I've got to get people out to get people in, and I'm working as hard as I can to do that.

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"You're just going to have to be patient with me. Nobody needs to tell me we need to score more goals, I know that, but we've just got to be patient."

Wild revealed he is hoping to send two or three players out on loan to free up space for some additions.

"We've put a circular out for a couple of our lads to go out on loan, that's Jack Earing and Jacob Hanson," said the Town boss. "Maybe Dayle Southwell as well.

"When I came in my budget was my budget, I've got to move people about.

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"I don't want it come across that I don't rate those three players. They've not had the game time that they probably wanted, so they need to go out, get up to speed, so when they come back, they're at a level that is competitive and ready to go."

On the absences of forwards Jack Redshaw and Liam McAlinden, Wild said: "Jack Redshaw pulled up with a slight calf strain on Thursday, which was disappointing because we've been working hard to get him where he needs to be.

"McAlinden took a knock in training a couple of weeks ago. He's been playing through it and it's got to a point now where it isn't healing.

"He's had an x-ray and it's not broken, it's just the bottom of his foot, the tendon of his muscles that's stretching.

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"Every time he steps on it, it's hurting, so we've just got to drop him out and get it right so we get him fit."

And winger Jamie Allen missed the game having been called up for international duty with Monserrat.

"I think Jamie was as shocked as anybody that he'd been asked," Wild said. "But you're not going to turn down a chance to represent your country.

The kid's playing against El Salvador today and he's got St Lucia on Tuesday, what an experience for him."