Hartlepool United v FC Halifax Town preview
Here is our preview of FC Halifax Town’s National League game against Hartlepool United.
Venue: Victoria Park
Date: Saturday, September 7
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: John Mulligan showed seven yellow cards in his only other National League game this season, York's 1-0 home win over Rochdale. This is his second season refereeing in the fifth tier - last season he was in charge of Town's 0-0 draw at Barnet, when he awarded Halifax a penalty but The Shaymen felt he should have also awarded a sending off rather than a booking to a Barnet player for a cynical foul.
Odds: Hartlepool win 11/10, draw 13/5, Halifax win 2/1
In the league this season
Hartlepool: 10th - PL6 W2 D3 L1 F5 A4 GD1 Pts9
Halifax: 14th - PL6 W2 D2 L2 F5 A5 GD0 Pts8
Results so far
Hartlepool: Yeovil (a) W 1-0, Southend (h) D 0-0, Tamworth (a) W 1-0, Wealdstone (h) D 1-1, Woking (a) L 3-2, Braintree (h) D 0-0
Halifax: Barnet (h) W 2-1, Aldershot (h) L 1-0, Gateshead (h) D 1-1, Dag & Red (a) D 1-1, Solihull (h) L 1-0, Ebbsfleet (a) W 1-0
Manager: After playing in non-league football, Darren Sarll went into coaching at Stevenage, Rotherham and Brentford, eventually taking over permanently at Stevenage for a couple of years. Became Yeovil boss in 2019 after their relegation to the fifth tier and secured a play-off finish in his first season. Did a decent job under difficult circumstances at Huish Park, and left the club to join Woking in March 2022, leading them into the play-offs as well.
One to watch: Mani Dieseruvwe was Halifax's top scorer in the 2023-24 season with 14 goals, but surpassed that tally with Hartlepool, netting 23 times in the league last term.
Head-to-head: Played 132, Hartlepool wins 51, draws 23, Halifax wins 58
Last time they met: A Dieseruvwe penalty saw Hartlepool beat Halifax 1-0 at Victoria Park in March.
Match facts: Hartlepool are yet to win a home game this season, but are yet to lose one as well.
Only bottom side Ebbsfleet have scored as few home goals as Hartlepool so far this season (1)
Only Rochdale have conceded as few away goals so far this season as Halifax (1)
Halifax have only scored one goal in the first half of a game this season.
Halifax’s last win at Hartlepool came on Saturday, August 14, 1999.
Saturday's National League fixtures:
Gateshead v Barnet Altrincham v Ebbsfleet Maidenhead v Dag & Red Oldham v Southend Eastleigh v Tamworth Hartlepool v Halifax Braintree v Woking Sutton Utd v Boston Utd Fylde v Yeovil Wealdstone v York Solihull M v Forest Green Aldershot v Rochdale