FC Halifax Town: “We’ve got to be harder to play against” says Wild ahead of Bromley game

The Shaymen were knocked out of the FA Trophy on Tuesday night at home to National League North side Southport, a performance Wild described as “weak”.

“We’ve got to be harder to play against, with and without the football,” said Wild. “Both sides of it.

“I’m digging people out for not taking their chances but if we keep conceding goals every week then it makes it tougher for the lads to keep us in football matches.

“I think we need to be better at both ends of the pitch.

“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s a disaster, rip it up and start again. We did look rusty on Tuesday, you could tell that with the inconsistency of the season, as soon as you stop, the consistency stops.

“I could see that a mile off, but that’s not an excuse, it is what it is, that’s why you’re getting all these daft results in the league because there’s no consistency.

“So I’m hoping that gets the rustiness away from us and we’re back to somewhere where we need to be on Saturday.

“I said to the players if they play like that on Saturday, it’s going to be a long afternoon.

“It’s upon yourselves as professional footballers to roll your sleeves up, get into training Thursday morning and be ready for two hard days training ahead of Bromley.”

Town have now gone 15 games without keeping a clean sheet.

“It’s disappointing,” said Wild. “Fans want a more exciting brand of football, we’ve brought that, so at times that does come with its own consequences of clean sheets.

“Yes we need to be better, but we’re scoring goals generally, so you can’t have everything.”

Southport was the first of eight games in 26 days for The Shaymen, who play Saturday-Tuesday for the next three weeks.

“It’s a busy run of fixtures,” said Wild. “We’ve got to get our heads down and keep getting some points on the board, and make sure we push on.”

And Wild is confident he has the squad capable of coping with such an arduous run of games.

“Hydey (Jake Hyde) will be back next week,” said the Town boss, “which gives us more options, and we’ve brought Tahvon (Campbell) in, who will give us goals as well.

“Jamie Allen will have another two days training by Saturday which gets him back up to where he needs to be.

“We have to be careful he doesn’t have a recurrence of what he had before, it’s a long stretch now and I don’t want anybody injured.

“In terms of the squad, we’ve got loads of potential, loads of top players, it’s just hitting the back of the net.”

On midfielder Reuben Noble-Lazarus, who is still working his way back to full fitness, Wild said: “He was out running again on Tuesday (before the game), he’s getting fitter and stronger, and we’re hoping he’ll be giving me something to think about soon.”