Solihull Moors 0-1 FC Halifax Town: Poor performance but great result, says Heath after first win

Town manager Billy Heath felt his side produced their worst performance of the season in their 1-0 win at Solihull Moors on Saturday.
Billy HeathBilly Heath
Billy Heath

Adam Morgan marked his first start of the season with the winning goal in the first-half, but Halifax came under pressure after the interval and dug deep to preserve their win.

Heath said it was another game of two halves but was pleased to get the team’s first victory of the campaign under their belts.

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“Injury problems are killing us,” he said. “(Martin) Riley’s got a gash on his other shin I believe. He started the game because he’s got a big heart and he wants to do it for us and then we lose him.

“Then it’s square pegs in round holes - we change it when he goes off, change it back at half-time. There were a lot of tired legs, tired bodies.

“The last four games have taken a lot out of us, you could see that. But we dug in, we rode our luck.

“They put us under pressure, they asked questions. We weren’t fluent, it was disjointed at times.

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“I would say that’s our worst performance of the season but we’ve got three points.

“We’ve played a lot better in all four games, but it’s nice we’ve got that first win and hopefully we can go into Guiseley (on Saturday) and get another three.”

Heath admitted Solihull may feel hard done-by not getting anything from the match but was delighted with the attitude displayed by his players.

“You have to have character,” he said. “It wasn’t pretty but it makes no difference.

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“I’m not interested in playing brilliantly and getting beaten. That’s never been a problem to me.

“They’ve shown a lot of character there. Lots of players hanging on with all sorts of injuries.

“Of the 11 that finished on the pitch, probably four shouldn’t have been out there. Cliff Moyo and Josh Wilde were struggling at half-time with an ankle injury and a hamstring injury. Matty Kosylo has got a slight hamstring problem.

“David Lynch was hanging on by his fingertips because he’s not played in three or four weeks. We also lost Scott Garner on Friday, so we were patched-up.

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“They’ve had to dig in but I think it would have been a travesty if we’d conceded.

“They might think they deserve a point but it’s just about closing things out and winning games and that’s what we did.”

When asked how important it was Halifax recorded their first win, Heath replied: “It’s massive. You can see the relief from the boys because you bear the recent scars of what’s happened where you’ve got the point and then it felt, if it can be, even worse than a defeat because of how close we were.

“It was important we didn’t concede late on because that would have deflated us.

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“The boys know we haven’t played great today. We played well enough first-half, we looked comfortable.

“Then the Riley thing disrupted us a bit but second-half you have to dig in and show your mettle.

“Fair play, they threw a lot of bodies at us, unorthodox at times the shape they were playing, sometimes they had six along the front-line. But it’s just about winning.”

On Morgan’s goal and performance, Heath said: “The ball from (Matty) Kosylo was great and it’s a great finish because it’s gone through a player and beaten the keeper.

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“He’s done great in the first-half. Second-half, the game was choppy and bitty and we couldn’t get any fluency and that’s why we made the change.

“But he’s done very well, although so have all the rest of them.”

Sam Johnson saved a penalty from Solihull in the second-half, but Heath did not agree with the decision to award the hosts a spot-kick for Matty Brown alleged foul on Oladapo Afolayan.

“It wasn’t a penalty, so that’s two against us we’ve had this season,” he said. “But I thought the referee did well.”

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