FC Halifax Town: Wild says Shaymen are ready to go for crunch clash at Notts County

The Shaymen could move up to third or be overtaken by Notts County and pushed out of the top seven by the end of the game.

It will only be Town's second game in 24 days after the postponements of their home matches against Bromley and Dover.

"Oz (Graham Osbourne, groundsman) hadn't been able to get on it all week so we knew it was coming," Wild said of Saturday's postponement.

"That will hopefully give the staff some time to get on it, give it the once over and hopefully get Barnet on on Saturday."

When asked if the postponement had been a good thing for his squad, Wild said: "No because I don't like us not playing because it takes us some time to get back up to speed again.

"But we came in yesterday and done some tactical work, ready for Notts County, a two-day lead-in, so every cloud and all that.

"So we're ready to go.

"It'll be a great game, proper ground, two really good footballing teams.

"It's one apiece now so let's see who comes up with the victory over the three games.

"We're excited to go and give our best performance at one of the big clubs."

Town produced one of their best performances under Wild when they won 2-1 at Notts County last season.

"We're hoping for more of the same," Wild said, "let's see if our plan that we've come up with stands the test of a good side."

Notts County beat Halifax 2-1 in the FA Trophy earlier this month, and Wild is under no illusions about the threat they pose.

"I think if you let them play they're one of the best footballing sides in the league," he said.

"We've got to stop them, they've got threats and quality players all over the pitch, they've got threats all over the pitch and we really need to make sure we're at it, because if we're not then they have the players and the capability to give you a good hiding."

Town have a good record so far this season though against fellow promotion chasers in the National League, beating Stockport, Grimsby and Dagenham and Redbridge and drawing away to Boreham Wood, Grimsby, Chesterfield and Bromley.

"I think it's a factor but we've just got to keep doing well, doing well against the good teams shows we can live with the good teams in this league," Wild said.

Wild continues to be linked with the managerial role at Bradford City, but when asked if there had been any contact from The Bantams, said: "No, there hasn't."

And when asked whether he would welcome any approach, he said: "It's irrelevant because they haven't made an approach, so it's irrelevant at the moment."

The Town boss said midfielder Martin Woods, who limped off against County in the FA Trophy, is now back in training, but confirmed Jay Benn will miss the game through suspension.

On midfielder Kieran Green, Wild said: "I've just been speaking to the physio this morning, we're hopeful he'll start some sort of running next week."

And on striker Matty Stenson, Wild said: "Matty's been joining in training, getting his fitness up and hopefully in the next couple of weeks he'll be in a position to be in line for selection."

Wild is still expecting one or two of his fringe players to head out on loan soon.

"That's taking a little bit longer than anticipated but hopefully we can get that done soon," he said.

On midfielder Sam McLintock, Wild said: "We're trying to get him sorted (with another loan), we want to try and get him something up here.

"So we're working on that as we speak and hopefully we can get that sorted in the next couple of days."

Follow all the updates from the game on our live blog on the Courier website, where there will also be an on-the-whistle match report and post-match reaction from Town boss Pete Wild.