Wrexham 1-1 FC Halifax Town: We had the best chances, says a delighted Young

Scott Garner equalised on the verge of half-time after former Town man Scott Boden had put Wrexham in front.

But Halifax got better as the game went on, with Tom Denton spurning two second-half chances to secure an unlikely win for The Shaymen.

“On the balance of play you’d probably say a point was a fair result but I thought we had chances to win the game,” said Young.

“We’ve come away from home to the league leaders and I thought we had the best opportunities in the game.

“Dents (Tom Denton) has had a great one at the far post but it’s come off his knee and gone over the bar somehow.

“We’ve worked hard tactically in terms of the shape. The one time we did come out of it we got done for the goal.

“But the performance of the players and what they’ve taken on board over a very short space of time has been excellent.

“The work-rate was phenomenal. You could see at the end what it meant to them.”

Young was disappointed with the manner of Wrexham’s goal, which saw Boden nod in unmarked from ex-Town captain Kevin Roberts’ cross.

“Matty Kosylo’s gone too far to close down the central midfielder, which he should have left to the lads in midfield,” Young said. “We worked on blocking.

“He’s gone out - eager, you can’t knock that - but it’s a good ball in. We’re disappointed there’s a lad getting a free header eight yards out in the middle of the goal.

“But if you look at the team’s performance overall I’d be nit-picking if I was going to moan about the goal, because they’ve created a lot of chances, put their bodies on the line, played some good stuff and we had two or three chances in the first-half and two or three in the second.”

Young was delighted with his side’s reaction to going a goal down.

“What these lads have got is character,” Young said. “They lack a bit of confidence, obviously when you’re losing football matches at any level that happens, they’re human beings.

“But the response was excellent. We talked before the game about if we go a goal down, to stay at it, keep doing what we’re doing, we don;t change how we’ve set-up to play.

“We knew Chris Holroyd would cause us problems in the hole. We put Michael Collins in a bit of a different role as a real holding midfield player, screening, getting on the ball and making us play, and I thought some of the football we played at times was excellent.”

Young confirmed left-back Scott McManus sustained a knee injury which forced him off.

He said: “We knew we were good height-wise, but they were putting players on who were getting bigger and bigger!

“We were having to take our lads off with injuries - we’ve got a few knocks and bruises.

“We only had 17 senior players to pick from. We’ve now lost Scott McManus with a knee injury, but hopefully it’s not too bad.

“But the most pleasing thing is they were organised and they worked to what we planned.

“If they do that and we get beat then that’s on me, but they stuck to the plan most of the time. From a supporters perspective, you can’t knock the commitment and effort of the players.

“Wrexham were top of the league at the start of the day and absolutely flying but we’re not lucky to get a point, we were well in the game.

“There were a lot tired bodies, but that’s how it should be. They should be out on their feet.

“Since I’ve come through the door they’ve been as good as gold and worked really hard.

“And hopefully we can give them a bit more confidence and belief.”