FC Halifax Town: Hutchison has no regrets over Shay spell

Football - FC Halifax Town v Worcester. Tom Denton holds off Graham Hutchison

Hutchison’s ill-fated spell at The Shay started in Febraury last year, when Town were challenging for a play-off place under Neil Aspin.

But that evaporated as Halifax endured a miserable end to the season, which carried on into the following campaign, which saw them relegated.

Hutchison played in 15 of Town’s last 16 league games in 2014-15, but made only five appearances the season after, spending most of the campaign on loan at Telford.

Hutchison, who captained Worcester in their 3-0 defeat at The Shay last Saturday, said: “I came in in January and we were in the play-offs.

“I think we kept three clean sheets in my first four games, so my start was pretty good.

“But we dropped out of the play-offs and just deteriorated.

“Neil went through a big rebuild over the summer but there were lads that came in that weren’t good enough for that level, some that were.

“Before I knew it, it was October and I was out on loan at Telford and I never really came back apart from when I was injured.

“I wouldn’t say I improved as a player at Halifax but it improved me as a man and footballer off the field, taking a knock-back, learning how to deal with tough situations and different changing-rooms.

“It manned me up.”

Despite the move not working out for either party, Hutchison reflects on his spell at Halifax positively.

“It’s one of those things. I don’t look back on my time at the club with any regrets,” he said.

“I made some really good friends and enjoyed it.

“It wasn’t a great year for the club but I didn’t have as much involvement in that as I would’ve liked.

“I don’t think Neil fancied me as a player. Obviously he signed me and for whatever reason felt it appropriate to play me at right-back.

“He’s the manager and I was happy to play where he asked but it’s not my strongest position.

“The initial thought was for me to go to Telford and get some game-time because I’m not the type of lad who is content sitting on the bench.

“I wanted to stay there and help keep the club up, which we did and that was a great feeling.

“But I was gutted to see Halifax go down.”