FC Halifax Town: Wild wants Shaymen on the front-foot in FA Trophy clash

Both teams go into the game in strong form, with Town having won five games on the spin, and Halesowen winning four of their last five and unbeaten in the Southern Central Division since September.

They have already played 11 games in this season’s FA Trophy, and knocked out National League Maidenhead in the last round after a replay.
“It’s a game we’ve got to approach no differently to any other game,” said Wild.

“We’ve got to get on the front-foot early, impose ourselves on them and not give them any impetus to get going.
“We’ll try to pin them back and see if we can get a goal early doors and steady everybody. Then hopefully we can push on from there.

“But we’re in no way underestmating them, in no way are we going to take the game lightly. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully that’ll be enough.”

When asked what his message to his team would be, Wild said: “More of the same, keep going, keep doing what you’re doing, don’t change anything.

“Play with aggression, intensity, play on the front-foot and make sure that we don’t give them anything to hang on to.
“We’ve got to go and dominate the match.”

The game will be played to a conclusion on the day, with extra time and penalties if it is a draw after 90 minutes.

Wild will make at least two changes to his side with Niall Maher suspended for Saturday’s game, and Devante Rodney ineligible.

On the fitness of captain Matty Brown, who has missed the last three games with an ankle injury, Wild said: “He’ll go through his rehab this week and we’ll see whether he’s in contention later in the week.

“It’s just not settled down as quickly as we thought it would, but hopefully later in the week it’ll calm down.”

Wild is not getting carried away by his side’s fine run of form and lofty league position though.

“The expectations have risen again now and everybody’s thinking we’ve just got to turn up to win, and that’s clearly not the case,” he said.

“We’ve got to pay them the respect they deserve. They’ve had an excellent run to get to where they are, and full credit to them.

“I won’t be taking it lightly, the players won’t be taking it lightly. If we win 1-0, we win 1-0, end of story.

“We’ve just got to win the game, it doesn’t matter how.

“They’re not going to roll over and have their bellies tickled, they’re going to throw everything they’ve got at it.

“They’re flying in their league so they’ll be full of confidence.

“We’ve got a very tough test on Saturday and we’ve got to make sure we stand up to that.”

Wild says he is familiar with Halesowen’s 28-goal top-scorer Montel Gibson.

“Montel’s been made aware to me for a while now, I’ve just not had the time to get down and watch him,” added the Town boss.

“But I’ve known of him for a while and his goalscoring form. I’ve been sent a lot of clips across the season of Montel scoring his goals.

“He’s had an excellent season and it’ll be great to see him test himself at our level and see what he’s got. I’m looking forward to seeing how he does against us.”

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