Wild apologises to supporters after Boxing Day thrashing at Stockport
FC HALIFAX Town boss Pete Wild apologised to the club’s supporters after his side were thrashed 5-1 at Stockport.
Town were 2-0 down at halftime, and fell 4-0 down after the interval before Liam McAlinden got one back, but man-of-thematch Elliot Osborne completed his hat-trick to round off the scoring and cap a miserable afternoon for The Shaymen.
“It’s not good enough, the fans have every right to have a go at us,” said Wild.
“Clearly, it was utterly not good enough all over the park. We didn’t run hard enough, we didn’t tackle hard enough, we got ran all over. Not good enough at all. We didn’t want enough, which is a damning statement. I’ve said that (in the changing room).
“When a team wants it more than you that’s the most damning statement in football, and they wanted it more than us today. They ran all over us.
“First and foremost, let me apologise to every fan who paid their hard-earned money to come today. That is not good enough. But let me tell you, I will sort this out, and I will get this right. I’ll work as hard as I can to get this right, and we’ll come out the other side of this.”
Town fell behind when Tom Walker’s corner was headed in at the far post by Festus Arthur.
Elliot Osborne doubled their lead after the marauding leftback Tyler Garratt cut the ball back to him and he fired the ball low across goal.
Osborne’s low shot sneaked under Johnson to make it 3-0 before a corner was turned into his own net by Matty Brown.
Liam McAlinden got one back for Town with an excellent low drive, but Osborne completed his hat-trick when his shot was deflected in off Brown.
Stockport: Hinchliffe, Minihan, Palmer, Arthur, Garratt, Keane, Turnbull, Thomas, Osborne (Cowan 82), T Walker (S Walker 76), Bell (Mulhern 67). Subs not used: Leesley, Ormson.
Scorers: Arthur (25), Osborne (43. 53, 73), Brown (own goal 61)
Shots on target: 7; Shots off target: 7 Corners: 3
Halifax: Johnson, Maher, Staunton, Brown, Duckworth, Cooper, Nolan (Williams 62), Allen, C King, McAlinden, Sho-Silva (Redshaw 72). Subs not used: Appleyard, Macdonald, McCoulsky.
Shots on target: 3; Shots off target: 9
Corners: 5
Attendance: 5,536
Referee: Daniel Middleton
Town man of the match: Cameron King