FC Halifax Town: “We’ve got to be more than ready for what’s coming” says Wild ahead of Solihull visit

The Shaymen are aiming for a hat-trick of wins against Solihull on Saturday after back-to-back victories against Wealdstone and Notts County over the last few days, which have lifted them to within a point of the play-offs.

Mark Yates will take charge of Solihull having been re-appointed on Thursday after boss Jimmy Shan and assistant Richard Beale have left the club on Wednesday.

Solihull, who are 17th, have just one win in their last 10 games, and were thrashed 5-0 at home by Stockport on Tuesday night.

“I think Solihull tactically are excellent, I think they’ve got some really good individuals,” Wild said.

“I know they’ve been beaten heavily on Tuesday but a wounded animal is always its hardest when it’s on the floor and I’m sure they’ll come back and be desperate to put it right on Saturday against us.

“So we’ve got to be more than ready for what’s coming on Saturday.

“The worst thing that can happen to us is we get complacent and think we’ve cracked it. We ain’t cracked it by any stretch, we’re just having a good run of form.

“It’s important now we remain focused and don’t get ahead of ourselves, and don’t start going ‘if, if, if’.

“We’ll just concentrate on Saturday.”

When asked how any complacency can be avoided, Wild said: “Nit pick I think, sometimes I nit pick because I know it gets the reaction I want.

“I’ve learned now that if I have a nibble, some of them get annoyed with me but if I nit pick, that gets them going again and tells them that I watch everything, I see everything.

“I might not coach every day, they think I might not see everything but I see everything and I constantly remind them of that.”

Town are without a win in their last three home games ahead of the visits of Solihull and Aldershot.

“We’ve got to be better at home,” Wild said. “It’s important in these really important two home games now that we put some good performances together and pick up some points.

“We’re better when we’re in a run of games. When we come out of that run of games we find it hard to get going again.

“We’re more focused when we’re in a run of games.

“You can see it in how they train, you can see it in their eyes, you can see it in how they behave.

“My job is to keep chomping at them, keep them on track and if I feel like the levels are dropping, keep them going again, and then make the right decisions at the right times in personnel for games, and rely on my staff as well to make sure they’re excellently coached on the training ground.”

Nathan Clarke, Kian Spence and Danny Williams are all expected to be available on Saturday. Williams has now served his two-game suspension, while Clarke and Spence are now fit after recovering from an eye problem and knee injury respectively.

“I’m going to have to have some awkward conversations for the first time this season, which I don’t mind, it’s about time,” said Wild.

Jack Senior will be assessed before the game due to an ongoing shin problem.

“Against Hartlepool he got an impact injury and he came off,” Wild said.
“He’s been icing it, it’s been sore, aching. He got kicked on it in the first minute so he rode through it on Saturday, been icing it, got kicked on it but the painkillers haven’t worn in in time and before it hurt us we needed to change it.

“It’s one of them that’s just sore to touch. He’s got to keep icing it, but I could see him hobbling.

“He got done a couple of times when he’d normally get there and you just think ‘he’s not moving right, let’s get him off’.”

Wild said it was fatigue rather than any specific injury that was the reason behind Jack Earing’s substitution late on at Notts County.

Wild is also set to attempt to extend goalkeeper Chris Renshaw’s loan deal from Witton Albion, which expires after Saturday’s game, with Harrison Davison-Hale still out injured.

Follow all the action from Saturday’s game against Solihull with Town writer Tom Scargill’s live blog at https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/football/halifax-town.