Aldershot 1-1 FC Halifax Town: "For 60 minutes it was just not good enough" says Town boss Wild

FC Halifax Town boss Pete Wild said his side were not good enough for the first hour after their 1-1 draw at Aldershot.
Pete Wild.Pete Wild.
Pete Wild.

The hosts took a first minute lead through George Fowler, but equalised thanks to Jerome Binnom-Williams' header with eight minutes remaining.

"Set-pieces are what you can affect in games, and to concede one after 50 seconds was really disappointing, and something that frustrates me," Wild said of Aldershot's goal, which came from a corner..

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"I felt that for the first 60 minutes of the game we weren't good enough, we let them force how we played.

"They forced us one way, and by doing that, they stopped us doing what we're good at, and we've got to be braver, we've got to receive the ball better so we can go out the other side, and we just didn't do that today.

"For 60 minutes, it was just not good enough."

Wild was happy with how his side finished the game, with Town growing into the contest as the second-half went on.

"Last half-an-hour, we were camped in their half, we looked like we were going to score," said the Town boss.

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"Across the game we've had five really good chances to score. So we created enough chances to win the match.

"We just didn't do it today, and because we didn't impose ourselves for the first 60 minutes.

"The first thing I wrote on the board today was 'front foot defending and front foot football'.

"And it was back foot football for the first 60 minutes."

When asked why Town were so poor for the first hour, Wild said: "I don't know, conceding early doesn't help.

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"But I think to be fair to them, they got their angles right, they stopped what we're good at.

"But we showed we can still break teams down, but we just didn't do it with enough quality today, and that's something that this group will have to learn.

"We've done unbelievably well to get where we are in such a short space of time.

"We're still developing, we're still looking at players to see how they fit into our team.

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"So we're doing unbelievably well, but it's another reminder we've got to keep working hard on the training ground."

When asked if he will take more positives or negatives from the game, Wild said: "I don't really take negatives. I take areas to develop and things we need to do better at, and we will be better at.

"But we'll review the game and come back in with the lads next week, review what went well and the areas we need to address on Saturday against Fylde."

On goalscorer Binnom-Williams, Wild said: "Jerome's fighting to get himself fit and trying to get fitter and fitter.

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"He's working really hard in the gym and with the strength and conditioning lads to get fit. He hasn't really had a pre-season so games are getting him fit at the moment.

"We know at times that teams will try and expose us down that side, we're aware of that, but he's more than capable of defending against that.

"And then he pops up in the other box to salvage a point for us, which was pleasing."

Wild says he could sense the equaliser was coming.

"100 per cent," he said. "We knew we'd get at least one, we were just unfortunate not to take any more chances today."

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Josh Staunton spurned a great chance to win the game for Town at the death when he headed Liam McAlinden's cross wide.

"He says he couldn't get across quick enough, but like I say, we've had five or six really good opportunities to score," Wild said.

"So we are creating chances. The next part of the jigsaw is putting them in the back of the net, and we'll try to do that as quickly as possible."

McAlinden was Town's only change for the game, coming in for fellow striker Tobi Sho-Silva.

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"McAlinden's a nine by trade but he can play off the left as well," Wild said.

"Tobi looked really tired on Tuesday night so I wanted to give him a break, and McAlinden's got the quality to play up there.

"You've got to rotate your team round at times and give lads opportunities and give lads a rest when they need it.

"We tried something different today and we'll have to think about what we do."

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On injury victims Niall Maher and Danny Williams, Wild said: "We need to have a look at Niall on Monday and decide what we do with him.

"But Danny Williams should be back next Saturday."

Town now have 10 points from their first five games of the season, and Wild is pleased with that return.

"Yeah, considering I don't think we're anywhere near the finished package yet, we're really pleased to get into double-figures so quickly," he said.

"We've got to keep pushing on. We've got another three games this month, so the more points we get on the board this month it helps drive us towards where we want to be at the end of the season."