FC Halifax Town: “We’ve just got to concentrate on what we do” says Wild ahead of Boreham Wood clash

FC Halifax Town can take a huge step towards finishing in the play-offs if they beat Boreham Wood at The Shay on Saturday.
FC Halifax Town v Solihull Moors, The Shay, Saturday, March 13, 2021. Photo: TS Media. Pete WildFC Halifax Town v Solihull Moors, The Shay, Saturday, March 13, 2021. Photo: TS Media. Pete Wild
FC Halifax Town v Solihull Moors, The Shay, Saturday, March 13, 2021. Photo: TS Media. Pete Wild

Town’s destiny is in their own hands with four games remaining, and manager Pete Wild wants his side solely focused on Saturday’s game and not how the result might affect The Shaymen’s play-off chances.

“It is what it is, we’ve just got to concentrate on what we do,” he said.

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“We’ve got to keep putting points on the board and if we can get some points on the board on Saturday, then that sets us up for two tough away games.

“And if we get points in those tough away games, then obviously that rolls into what everybody’s talking about and we’ll see where it takes us.

“We don’t talk about them (the play-offs), we just talk about Boreham Wood, that’s the only thing we talk about, and the importance of getting a positive result against Boreham Wood.

“We’ll let everything else take care of itself.”

Boreham Wood come into the game on the back of a 5-1 home win over King’s Lynn on Bank Holiday Monday, but that was only their second victory in their last 16 matches.

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“I think you’re expecting exactly what we all know about Boreham Wood, well coached, very physical, a mixture of strength and pace throughout the team, a team that’s been together for 18 months, two years now,” Wild said.

“He (manager Luke Garrard) has lads that he trusts and that have served him well. Everything we’ve known about Boreham Wood since I’ve been at the club will be prevalent on Saturday.

“The one thing you can say about them is they won’t roll over and have their bellies tickled, regardless of where they are in the league and what stage we are in the season.

“Luke’s got to make sure they come up here and give us a game. Coming off the back of such a good result they had on Monday, I’m more than wary of the threat Boreham Wood will pose us on Saturday.”

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Town have collected as many points away from home as they have at The Shay this season, with two remaining matches at home and two away.

“Because of fans not being in the ground, you’re seeing this across the leagues above us,” said Wild.

“There’s no real advantage (of being at home), and we’ve seen that in the amount of away games we’ve won.

“It’s something that, with our form, I think teams sometimes come to The Shay and think ‘wow, this is a proper ground, let’s have a proper go here’.

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“And because of how well the lads have done this season, people pay us more attention than they’ve done in the past. They’re all contributing factors, but the main reason is there’s no fans in.”

But Wild doesn’t necessarily think his side is more suited to playing away from home.

“Not really, no. Everybody can come up with a theory, what they think, but the real crux of the matter is we want to win every game, we’ve had some hard fought wins at home and away and you just pick up as many points as you can across the season.

“It doesn’t matter whether you get them home or away, as long as you pick up points.”

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When asked if he has a points target in mind for a play-off finish, Wild said: “Yes, but I’m not sharing it.

“I know what I think we’ll need to be nailed on, but it’s irrelevant.

“The only thing we can control is how many points we get on Saturday against Boreham Wood.
“If we keep doing what we do, then it’s irrelevant what everybody else does.

“I think it’s that stage of the season where it gets dead cagey, and you maybe approach games in a different way, teams will see you as a coup, teams will say ‘come on, they’re in the play-offs, lets play better against them because it looks good on us’.
“I think there’s a lot more twists and turns to go yet.”

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On this week’s departure of Billy Chadwick back to parent club Hull City, Wild said: “Unfortunately FA rules state he can only do a certain number of days with us, and that’s within the terms of his deal, because of when Hull sent him out to us.

“So he has to go back. It’s a sad miss but he’s a top player who is going to have a top career.”

Wild said Chadwick’s impending return was one of the reasons why striker Darren Stephenson, who made his debut at Yeovil, was brought in on loan from Curzon Ashton.

“Yeah, it was one of the thought-processes,” he said. “We just didn’t want to be left short.

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“We had a squad game at Mossley on Tuesday night in which a lot of our squad players got minutes that haven’t been in the games recently.”

Wild said he wouldn’t know more on Jack Earing’s progress from injury until Thursday when he is in training.

On Cheltenham loanee Tahvon Campbell, Wild said: “Tav’s had two days back at Cheltenham after the scan, so he’s had some conditioning sessions and he’ll be able to train on Thursday.”

Forward Jamie Allen missed the win at Yeovil through injury.

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“He’ll train on Thursday, he just needed that ankle to settle down,” Wild said.

“It was a case of when do we get Jamie a break and we just felt the trip to Yeovil was the opportunity because we wouldn’t be back in until Thursday.”

And on Huddersfield loanee Micah Obiero, Wild said: “He’s going to have an injection to settle the hips down and he’ll be back next week probably.”

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