FC Halifax Town: Striker McAlinden back among the goals after barren run

Liam McAlinden already has more goals in August alone than his last year-and-a-half of football.
Football - FC Halifax Town v AFC Fylde at The Shay Stadium. Liam McAlinden celebrates scoring for Halifax.Football - FC Halifax Town v AFC Fylde at The Shay Stadium. Liam McAlinden celebrates scoring for Halifax.
Football - FC Halifax Town v AFC Fylde at The Shay Stadium. Liam McAlinden celebrates scoring for Halifax.

The forward is Town’s top scorer with three goals from six games, including the match-winning penalty in Monday’s win over Barrow.

That is in stark contrast to how he fared prior to joining The Shaymen, with only one goal while on loan at Brackley to speak of since November 2017.

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McAlinden fell out of favour at Cheltenham after joining them last summer, and was sent out on loan to Brackley and Kidderminster.

But he has made an impressive start to his time at Halifax, also finding the net in wins over Dagenham and Redbridge and Fylde.

“I said before I wanted to add goals to my game so it’s been really great, really positive and we’ve got to go into Saturday now and hopefully get another result,” he said.

“I think we’re performing really well as a team. To go 1-0 down really early (at Barrow) sometimes you can get a bit down in the dumps, but we picked ourselves back up and dug in until half-time.

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“It wasn’t our greatest performance but it shows what we’re about I think, to stay resolute and get into half-time 1-0, which gave us a chance in the second-half.”

When asked what he puts his strong start down to, McAlinden said: “It helps when you’re scoring goals and winning games, that breeds confidence.

“I want to be playing, I want to be contributing to the team, and I feel like I’m doing that at the minute, so long may it continue.

“With the penalty, I knew I wanted to go and pick the ball up and take it, because I’m in that frame of mind at the minute.

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“It’s great but it can quite easily change, so I won’t get ahead of myself.

“But we’ll keep being positive. We’ve got a really tough game coming up on Saturday.

“They’re everyone’s favourites to win the league but we’ll prepare right. They’ve got to come to us and take us on at The Shay which has been difficult for teams so far this season.”

The former Wolves youngster has played as a left-winger and a striker so far for Town.

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“I can play anywhere across that front line, I’m not so much a big target man like Tobes (Sho-Silva), who really brings the team together.

“Second-half on Monday I played off him, which is good for me. I’m comfortable playing on the left too.”

The 25-year-old is confident he can maintain his goalscoring form, adding: “I do create chances and I get a lot of chances, it’s just been taking that’s been the problem over the last 18 months.

“Confidence breeds goals so if I can stay on form and score as many as I can, then great. It’s only going to benefit the team and keep us up where we want to be.”