Sutton United 1-0 FC Halifax Town: "If we play like that, we'll win more than we lose" says Wild

Town's only win this season remains their opening day victory over Dagenham after Harry Beautyman's penalty won the game for Sutton.

"First-half they (Sutton) did a lot without doing a lot," said Wild.

"The penalty was systematic of the referee's performance today, I thought he was absolutely abysmal, and that's me being polite about him.

"I couldn't fathom out his decision-making, but I'm not going to blame the ref, we've got to put our chances away.

"I think we're so close, I really think we're so close.

"We've spent 45 minutes absolutely camped in their half, we've hit the bar, they've put bodies on the line in their box when we're having strikes at goal.

"Every team goes through a bad spell, unfortunately it's ours at the moment.

"But it's not as though, in this bad spell, that we're horrible to watch, we're playing poorly.

"I think we're playing really well, we're just not finishing our chances.

"It'll come, it'll change and people best be ready for us when it changes because we're a good side and we're playing some good stuff.

"It's just that finishing bit and when we get that, we'll be fine."

Town skipper Nathan Clarke was forced off early in the second-half with an injury.

"Clarkey had to come off," said Wild. "He scratched his eye after about 20 minutes and one eye was blurred.

"He was adamant he wanted to go out for the second-half, true professional that he is, and after five minutes we agreed that we had to take the decision out of his hands.

"We went 4-3-3 and I thought it really suited us on this pitch, we had loads of pace, loads of energy, loads of runners beyond. We really felt it worked."

When asked whether he would consider sticking with the 4-3-3 system, Wild said: "It's something we had in the locker anyway and something we'd been exploring.

"I didn't want to just jump from our system because that doesn't send the right message to the players, jumping from system to system, so it has to be right.

"Today was right for them and I thought it really worked.

"We're so, so close, but that doesn't mean we're going to let off the gas because we're close, it means we've got to keep working harder.

"But we'll be judged after 44 games, not nine. If we continue to play like that, we're going to win more than we lose."

When asked if there was anything he thought his side needed to do differently, Wild said: "Put the ball in the net.

"Do I think we need to do anything differently in our build up play? No.

"Do I think when we get the ball wide we need to do anything different? No.

"Do I think we need to score more goals? Yeah, that's the only thing that's letting us down at the moment.

"When we get in those areas, putting the ball in the back of the net.

"We'll continue to work on it. I'm not down, I know it's going to click and I know it's going to click soon."

Asked why he was so confident his side's form would start to change, Wild said: "I've just seen it for 75 minutes out of 90, we've just absolutely been camped in their half.

"Even when they've had the ball, they haven't done anything with it.

"The pen was a shambles. It was for handball when his hands are by his side, but they've refereed the game for him today, which is quite clear for everybody to see.

"Unfortunately that happens more in this league than it doesn't, and that's a real problem in this league."

Wild said Clarke is due to go to an eye hospital so it was too early to say whether he would be fit to face Barnet on Wednesday, but Jake Hyde will be in contention for the game.

"He's got a sore back, and playing on the 3G and with all the games coming up, it's not worth risking him after we spent all that money trying to get it right," said Wild.

On debutants Nyal Bell, who hit the bar after coming off the bench, and Neil Danns, Wild said: "Both did well. If Belly puts that away it's a great debut, but it's a good debut, he looked strong, he looked a nuisance, he looked hard to play against.

"That's exactly what I wanted from him and he delivered that.

"Dannsy just got crowded out in that middle. We thought we'd get him on the ball and he'd have that quality to pick those pockets of space but unfortunately those pockets of space didn't appear like we thought they might do.

"So we had to change it, that's football and you have to bready to change things tactically."

On Wednesday's clash with Barnet, the Town boss said: "We need any sort of win. I think if we get one win, we'll be off and we'll be up and running.

"That win will come soon enough. If anybody's coming away from here today thinking 'oh my god that's dire' then they're watching a different game to me.

"I think we're making the right moves, making the right plays, delivering the right information to the players.

"I just said to them 'keep your heads up, keep going, nobody puts their head down in here, our performances are decent, goals will come, just keep your heads up, keep believing in us'.

"Yeah the fans are disgruntled because we're not winning games but look at the process, look at how we're playing and the goals are soon to follow.

"Everybody knows we're close, everybody knows that things will turn for us quickly."