Have been for Halifax
Pictured, clockwise from top left, Matt Glennon is beaten for the only goal of the game at Grimsby; Jamie Jackson’s late winner at home to Braintree; Scott Boden sums up the night as Town exit the FA Trophy at home to Wrexham; Town celebrate Lois Maynard’s third-minute opener against Bradford in the FA Cup; Marc Roberts is dismissed in the 2-2 home league draw with Wrexham; England C score in the 4-2 win against Estonia under 23s at the Shay; Town’s game against Dartford is snowed off in February; Scott Boden celebrates scoring in Town’s 3-1 win over Dartford at Droylsden. Circles: Flowers in memory of former director De bbie Charlton ; Matt Pearson comes off the bench for England C. Main picture: Town fans during the FA Cup clash with Bradford and ex-Town striker James Dean and Simon Ainge during the 0-0 draw with Chorley eye against The Darts with a 3-1 win at Droylsden after The Shay surface was deemed unplayable.
The Butchers Arms was far from the green, green grass of home either though, begging the question of just how bad the Shay pitch was if this was regarded as a suitable alternative.
The answer? Very bad, as Town would repeatedly discover.
Halifax’s first game on proper home turf for a month saw them knocked out of the FA Trophy by Wrexham.
But a few days layer, such trivialities were brought into shocking focus by the death of the club’s director of business development Debbie Charlton, who died in a car crash after attending Town’s 3-2 home win against Dover on February 14.
In an almost ethereal mo- ment the following Saturday, Jamie Jackson headed a late winner at home to Braintree in front of the South Stand, just yards from Debbie’s office, which had been left untouched.
It would be another fiveand-a-half hours until Town’s next goal as a creditable draw at Kidderminster was followed by frustrating dropped points against Southport and Dartford.
In hindsight, a run of six consecutive draws then did irreparable damage to Town’s play-off hopes; points did not mean prizes.
Performances weren’t the problem, with Town standing toe-to-toe against Bristol Rovers, eventual-champions Barnet and nose-to-nose with Maccesfield.
But previous postponements had left Halifax, and the pitch, with a punishing schedule, with eight games crammed into March and no room for a midweek breather.
A 2- 1 win at Nuneaton to end the month would be Town’s last of the campaign, which petered out badly and ended with only one victory from their final 15 games.
Town’s final outing at Woking did a decent job of encapsulating the campaign in 94 minutes.
The Shaymen began with purpose and positivity, twice taking the lead, before gradually slipping down the gears and succumbing to a barelybelievable finale of two goals in two minutes in added time.
A place in the top 10 is no mean feat for a Gregory-less part-time team, but there is a sense of what might have been about a season which, for the first time under Aspin, ended with a crawl rather than a sprint to the finish.