FC Halifax Town: "It's a competition we're taking seriously," says Wild ahead of FA Trophy clash with Bradford Park Avenue

Halifax are joint-top of the National League after Tuesday night's 2-0 win over King's Lynn, their second consecutive victory following last weekend's 1-0 success at Wealdstone.

Town face Grimsby, twice, and Chesterfield over Christmas and New Year, but before then are aiming to progress in the FA Trophy.

"It's high on my priority list," Wild said, "I want to do well in the competition, and we'll be taking the game very, very seriously on Saturday."

Wild sees no reason why, with a bit of luck, his side can't go deep into the competition the club won in 2016.

"No, no reason," he said. "We want to do well in it, it's a competition we're taking seriously and a competition we want to do well in."

Wild added: "We're in a good place, 39 points on the board after 19 games, we'd certainly have taken that before we started, so we've all got to be very happy with that.

"We need to make sure that we remain grounded, don't get carried away and we keep putting points on the board over what is going to be a really tough Christmas period, the fixtures couldn't be any tougher."

When asked if there might be changes made to his team for the game, with the likes of Luke Summerfield, Martin Woods and Jack Vale all pushing for a start, Wild said: "We'll see, we just want to win the game so I'll pick a team to win the game.

"We've got a lot of players, but I'll pick a team to win the game."

On Park Avenue, who are managed by former Town captain Mark Bower and sit 19th in the National League North, just two points above the relegation zone, Wild said: "Good footballing side, especially on the 3G, they've got some really bright young players.

"We're expecting a good football match. We're a good football team, they play good football, so it makes for a great game."

Does Wild think there will be any extra bite to the contest with it being against their neighbours?

"Maybe for the fans, not for me," he said. "There should be bite in every game, whether we're playing Wealdstone away or Bradford Park Avenue away, we want to win the game."

Some Premier League games have had to be postponed in recent days due to Covid outbreaks among squads, but Wild is relaxed about how Town are dealing with preventing any outbreaks of their own.

"Covid is the second word on our chairman's lips, we're sensible as a football club," he said.

"We're not going back to testing because we've no need to, we've always gone by the basis of if you're ill, you report in ill and then you go and get a test.

"We trust the players to follow the protocols that have been in place all season."

Wild says Jesse Debrah was fit for selection on Tuesday night having recovered from injury.

Winger Jamie Allen won't be available on Saturday, but Wild hopes he will be in contention for the Boxing Day game against Grimsby.

Follow all the action from the game on Saturday on our live blog on the Courier website, where there will also be an on-the-whistle match report and post match reaction from Pete Wild.