Allen strikes late on to seal fourth consecutive victory
TOWN MANAGER Pete Wild says the manner of his side 1-0 win over Aldershot was the most pleasing thing after Halifax again dug deep to secure another crucial victory in the race for the play-offs.
Jamie Allen struck late on to seal The Shaymen’s fourth consecutive win after another hard-fought game.
“I thought we started really well, I thought we were on the front-foot, I thought we created loads of chances first 10, 15 minutes,” Wild said.
“I said to Sarg (Joe Sargison, first-team coach) we needed to take one of those chances to get a foothold in the game.
“We didn’t and we over-committed men forward from the 20th minute onwards, and were susceptible to the counter-attack because of our over-committal to try and score a goal.
“We addressed that at halftime, I wanted them to be more on the front-foot in the secondhalf and I thought we were.
“With 20 minutes to go it just became a basketball game, you have it, we have it, and it was going to be 1-0 either way.”
Town set-up in a 4-3-3 formation but switched to a 3-5-2 system shortly before half-time.
“They’d set up in a diamond on Saturday, but they’re generally 4-3-3 and I thought because they caused us so many problems in a 4-3-3 at their place that they’d set up with that, and they didn’t, which surprised me,” Wild said.
“So we spent 20 minutes just seeing how they were playing, their shape, and we decided we’d be able to hurt them better in a 3-5-2.
“Like I’ve said in previous weeks, we can flit from a four at the back to a three at the back, and players don’t need any explanation of what to do.
“I think that’s tactically something we’ve been better at this year, being able to flit between systems, and it really helped us.
“I thought we were able to keep the ball better up-front when that happened, and that gave us a foothold to try and push forward, so I was really pleased how that worked.
“Late on, they’ve tried to go to a 4-3-3, which is their strongest formation and try and run us, bring pace on, and I thought we dealt with that well.”
Tahvon Campbell and Billy Chadwick both hit the bar for The Shaymen in a strong start, but after Town were unable to turn their dominance into a lead, Aldershot grew into the game, with Mo Bettamer and Toby Edser both bringing saves from Sam Johnson.
Bettamer squandered a good chance shortly after the restart, with Johnson saving his shot from an angle, before the keeper tipped Josh Rees’ long-range shot behind.
Halifax responded through Chadwick, who showed terrific tenacity to win the ball before marauding down the right, but his fizzed cross was just out of Campbell’s reach.
The contest was finely balanced with little to separate the sides.
Kian Spence’s first touch on his debut was a glancing header wide from Jack Earing’s cross, but Aldershot were sniffing a goal too, competing well and not afraid to push players forward, with Jermaine Anderson catching the eye thanks to some driving runs from midfield.
Gaps started to appear as both teams began to tire; it was now about who wanted it more, who was prepared to dig the deepest for a possible winner.
Minutes after Aldershot’s celebrations were cut short by the offside flag, a superb through ball played in Allen, and he swept the ball across goal into the far corner from the right of the box, and another precious three points were in the bag.
Halifax: Johnson, Byrne, Maher, Bradbury, King, Woods, Green, Earing, Allen, Campbell (Tear 74), Chadwick (Spence 65). Subs not used: Renshaw, Clarke, Benn.
Scorer: Allen (83)
Shots on target: 3; Shots off target: 10
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