Barnet 1-1 FC Halifax Town: Wild pleased with his side’s efforts in Barnet draw

Jack Redshaw celebrated his contract extension with the opening goal, which was cancelled out after the interval by Jack Taylor.
“We were better first-half, they were better second-half. It’s a fair point,” said Wild, who was deprived of defender Michael Duckworth for the game due to tonsillitis.
“There’s some tired legs out there. We put another good shift in, I think the fans were appreciative of that.

“It’s another point, it keeps us rolling on. We’ve looked solid this week and I think you’ve seen a reaction this week after what happened against Notts County and on Boxing Day.

“I thought the lads were excellent today and I’m really pleased to pick up five points in the week.”

When asked what pleased him most about his side’s performance, Wild said: “Our resilience, we looked tough to beat again. We looked hard to play against, we’ve got players who will run round and put a shift in.

“We’ve always got a goal in us. We could have taken more of our chances in the first-half, we had three or four really good chances first-half to kill the game off.

“Then second-half we defended resiliently and maybe could have nicked it at the end.

“The most pleasing thing is they kept going. Yes, they’re tired, they’ve put a lot into this week, but they kept going and I hope the fans appreciated their efforts.”

Town again lined-up in a 3-5-2 formation, and Wild is pleased with the results.

“It’s working, we’re getting more bodies in their box and it’s allowing us to get pressure on the ball wide earlier,” said the Town boss.

“Teams aren’t getting an easy ride with us and it allows us to get three centre-halves defending.

“We haven’t really had time to work on it, we’ve had one day on the training ground this week.

“We’ve got lots to get better at in it, and we’ll see how it goes.

“We’ve got a resilience and a siege mentality that we want to get better and we’re desperate to stay in the top-half of the table that we haven’t been out of all season.”

On Redshaw’s contract extension, Wild said: “I’ve worked hard all week to make sure Jack stays with us. I’d like to thank the chairman for backing me because I think it shows what we can do.

“We’re not fighting in the same pot as some clubs in this league in terms of money going round for centre forwards and wages being paid, but I think we’ve found a little gem there and I hope he does well for us in the second-half of the season.”

Midfielder Charlie Cooper also signed a deal until the end of the season.

“Out of possession he’s been excellent, I thought he was back to his best today,” Wild said.

“He gets around the pitch, he puts tackles in, he’s tough to play against.”His passing hasn’t been great recently but I thought today his passing was back to where it was when he joined us.

“He’s prepared to get around the pitch and do the donkey work that maybe sometimes others don’t want to do, and I think he and Josh Staunton make a good partnership.”

Striker Shawn McCoulsky came on as a late substitute against Barnet and will now return to parent club Forest Green Rovers.

“It’s not worked the way we thought it would,” said Wild. “I’m disappointed because I don’t like anybody to come in and have a bad experience but it’s just not worked for him.

“But we’ll learn from that and move forward, and we’ll see what we do going forward.”

Striker Liam McAlinden’s contract is now due to expire, and Wild said on the forward’s future: “There’s an offer on the table for Liam, there has been for weeks, but he’s got suitors from higher up and we’ll have to see what comes from that.

“I made our offer weeks ago. I understand the kid wants to do the best for him.

“He’s done well for the club and we’ve done well for him. We both knew it was a short-term deal because neither of us knew what we were getting.

“Now we’ll see what happens.”

If McAlinden leaves the club, Wild said he does have a plan b: “I’ve got a couple ready, in inverted commas, but there would still be a lot to do to get them over the line.”We’ll just have to see what happens.”