FC Halifax Town 2-1 Dagenham and Redbridge: Win was well deserved, says Hughes

Jonathan Edwards notched the winner after Matty Kosylo’s opener was quickly cancelled out by Tomi Adeloye.

“It was important that we got back to winning ways today with the midweek defeat at Salford,” said Hughes.

“The manager put a lot of legwork in, in preparation for this game, we had a clear game-plan for today and I think at the start of the game, for the first 20 minutes we dominated.

“If we could have got that early goal we could have been comfortable winners, but they held on and made the first 20 minutes difficult for us.

“We then took the lead, which set us up well for the rest of the game. Unfortunately they equalised, which took us into half-time at one each.

“I thought it was important after the half-time break that we came out and stamped our authority on the game, but as it happened, it was an equal affair at the start (of the second-half).

“I think once we got the second goal it was a matter of us trying to see the game out. I thought it was a good performance overall, 2-1 was a favourable result for us and well deserved.”

On Kosylo’s opener, Hughes said: “We broke away there, Matty was able to isolate the defender and once he got in the box, he had other options but in true fashion of a front player, he took the shot on.

“The keeper, who I thought had a very good game and made numerous saves, got a hand to it but all credit to Kosylo, he got us up and running with the goal.”

Hughes said Town’s winner was something that had been worked on in training.

“Ben Tomlinson’s been on fire and his set-plays have been very, very good,” he said.

“Again, credit to the manager, it was something he had worked on on Friday.

“It was a fantastic header by Nathan (Clarke) and Jonathan was alive in the box and managed to help it on.”

Hughes, who also doubles as Town’s goalkeeping coach, was pleased with Sam Johnson’s display.

He said: “In fairness to Sam he wasn’t over-busy, but he had a free-kick to deal with into his top left hand corner - a very, very good save.

“And then later on in the second-half he made another very good save to his left off the header.”

The win is Town’s fourth in their first five games and leaves them second in the table.

“It’s a great start for us,” Hughes added. “Obviously there’s a long, long way to go, a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

“Clearly we’re very well organised, we go about our business in the proper fashion but there’s a lot more work to be done.”