Joe Quigley missing from two yards, Alex McQueen clipping a corner straight out of play in stoppage time, Peter Taylor taking off our three brightest players - there were a number of moments which summed up yesterday's entire game with such precision and accuracy.
Their manager Pete Wild said that we could and should have got a point. It's hard to disagree with him but the premise that we were unlucky and didn't get the rub of the green is just wrong. Halifax deserved the three points for the simple fact that they actually looked dangerous in and around the box, which is where - for all our acceptable play in other areas - it all fell apart for us. It's true that we knocked the ball about well at times, it's true that we were much the better team up until Halifax scored with their first shot on goal. However, with a manager who exhibits such baffling tactics and a team that are so wasteful when the chances finally fall to us, we were always going to lose. Luque and Dobson are good crossers of the ball but when the main talisman of our team who is supposed to be a threatening presence in the area is actually a complete passenger who offers very little, then it's no wonder that our creativity came to a sudden halt. It's no wonder that we haven't scored in two of our three games so far - only Chorley and Eastleigh can say the same. Quigley's miss was absolutely dreadful, our third contender for 'miss of the season' in as many games. What did we expect, though, from a striker who averages 1.5 goals per club? What did we expect from a striker who has failed at four bottom-half National League sides in the past? What did we expect from a striker who Shamir Mullings, the man he's currently rivalling as possibly our worst player in the last decade if not longer, kept out of the Maidstone team? He's not 'finding his feet', he's not 'settling in', he's not 'adjusting' - he's awful and I know that's a brave judgement on somebody based on three games but it's fact. Taylor hasn't unearthed a 20 goal-a-season striker just waiting to be unleashed; the most skilful and intelligent thing Quigley has done so far is managing to not connect with a cross that was practically on the goal-line. Seeing him stay on the pitch despite doing nothing in our three fixtures to date is torturous. Even more so when players who look sharp are inexplicably taken off. Quite why we'd withdraw Luque, Dobson and Eleftheriou when we're 1-0 down and trailing with time running out, was beyond the 74 travelling fans. The substitutions ironically killed the game at a time where we were getting closer. Had we brought on Grant for Quigley, we could've got a point or at the very least given it a much better go than we eventually mustered. The players he took off, plus Balanta, were the only ones creating anything. Therein lies the problem with Taylor. Even at 1-0 down he was trying to limit Halifax rather than strengthen us. In his post-match interview he then played down the result by emphasising how hard it is to go to the team top of the league - we're three games in and Halifax are a bottom-half team who will be closer to relegation than promotion. So there we go. Days after a very impressive victory at Dover, we revert to type and are brought crashing down again. In order to get the 16 points Peter Taylor is targeting from August, we need to win four of the five remaining games this month which isn't going to happen. Two big home games coming up though and we need points from them.
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January 2024
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