FC Halifax Town: Wild calls for intensity from Shaymen in Saturday’s clash with table-toppers Sutton

Sutton are four points ahead of second-placed Hartlepool with three games in hand.

They are unbeaten in their last 10 games, winning eight, and have won their last five away matches in a row, the latest being a 3-1 win at Bromley on Tuesday night.

“They’ve certainly got a good structure, a system of play that works for them,” said Wild.

“They work very hard for each other, they work to get set-pieces in and around the box.

“They’ve got pace that can hurt you, so they’ve got some really strong facets to their game and they’ve used them well.

“Recently I think they’ve tried to buy decisions in and around the box to set set-pieces up and I think we’ll have to be wary that we don’t get frustrated with them trying to buy decisions in and around the box, that’s certainly a tactic of theirs recently.

“But in general play they pose quite a lot of threats and we need to be ready for them.”
When asked if he was surprised to see Sutton top of the league at this stage of the season, Wild said: “It’s been such a weird season that anybody could push for that top spot, and it’s Sutton who’ve out the consistency together and the run together.

“Whoever puts the consistency together deserves to be top and fair play to them.”

The Town boss was clear on what he wants to see from his team on Saturday.
“Get back to what we’re good at, and how we play, being a threat with our pace, our power, be a threat by dominating the football and making sure we’re a threat without the ball like we have been at so many away grounds this year where we’ve stopped teams playing because of our intensity,” he said.

“That’s what we need to be, and I think this break of no midweek game has come at the right time.

“We’re really pleased that it’s come at this time because I think it’ll stand us in good stead.”

Town’s defeat at Eastleigh last Saturday was their first in seven games, and Wild admits The Shaymen, who only registered one shot on target in the match, need to be better going forward.
“I don’t think Eastleigh was a blip, it was just a tight game that could’ve gone either way and we move on,” he said.

“It’s been a really good month for us, we’ve out lots of points on the board and we want to continue to do that.

“Yes, we need to be more of a threat with the football, and that’s something we’ll address this week.

“But out of possession we looked really solid on Saturday and that was really pleasing.”

The Town squad were given Monday off after a punishing run of six games in 19 days.
“I gave them all a rest on Monday, a well deserved rest, and they were back on the training ground on Tuesday and they looked sharp, they looked fiery, they looked like they’d been re-galvanised, a bit of energy, and that really pleased me coming off the training ground,” Wild said.