FC Halifax Town: “We want to show we can match them” says Wild ahead of Hartlepool clash

It will be the third meeting between the teams in a month after Town knocked Pools out of the FA Trophy on penalties after a 3-3 draw, and then Hartlepool got their revenge with a 3-1 league win on Boxing Day in the north-east.

Both clubs go into the game in good form, with Halifax winning six of their last nine games and Hartlepool winning five of their last seven.

“It’s another tough game,” said Wild. “We want to show we can match them.

“I didn’t see anything between the two sides, and I’m sure it’ll prove to be another good encounter between two form teams.

“I’m looking to make home advantage count and back up what we’ve done on Saturday.”

Wild handed debuts to defender Jean Belehouane and striker Lewis Mansell in the 1-1 draw at King’s Lynn on Saturday.

When asked if there would be any wriggle room in his squad for any changes to his side on Tuesday, the Town boss said: “We’ll have Byrney (Neill Byrne) back (from suspension) and Jamie Allen will have another couple of days training under his belt, so that makes the squad stronger.”

Hartlepool are second in the National League having won nine of their first 17 league games.

“It’s another good test for us, we’ve just got to keep ticking the games off,” said Wild.

“It’s a team that’s in and around where we want to be so we want to prove a point against a team in and around where we want to be.”

Some Hartlepool fans cast doubt over the reason why the game was originally called off, with The Shay pitch being frozen.

“It’s another chance to put the wrongs right from Boxing Day,” said Wild.

“Despite what they thought, we didn’t try and get the game called off, but some of the words that have been said makes it a little bit more spicy than I thought it was going to be.”

Follow all the action from the game on Tuesday night with our Town writer Tom Scargill’s live blog at https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/.

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