Halifax go in to tomorrow’s enticing National League clash with Dagenham & Redbridge with every reason to have solid belief in the way they are going about their business this season. The Shaymen are top of the pile following two impressive wins; the first came on the opening day of the season with a 4-1 trouncing of Ebbsfleet United and then on Tuesday another triumph came their way with a 2-0 score giving them the three points at home to Hartlepool.
Goals against Pools came courtesy of the impressive Josh Staunton — he opened the scoring with a strike just after the break — before the ever-lively Tobi Sho-Silva sealed the deal with a second goal.
Defender Staunton says the wins were welcome but came with different approaches thanks to the mixed tactics of their opponents. He told the club’s official website that unlike the encounter with Ebbsfleet, Hartlepool were quite hard to play against because of the way they set up with the diamond in midfield.
He added:
“I think to be fair the first half an hour we didn’t adjust to it too well, last 15 minutes in the first half we got more of a foothold in the game and stopped them playing through us so easily, and I thought second half we matched them. We got hold of their number eight better in the midfield, because they were playing through us a bit and the gaffer addressed that at half time and got us working better as a pair to try and nullify that threat and I think once we took that away from them, they went round the side of us but we defended our box well and put bodies on the line and they couldn’t break us down.”
Meanwhile, Halifax’s opponents on Saturday arrive in Yorkshire with one win and one reverse so far this term. The Daggers suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Woking on the opening day of the campaign. But they bounced back with some style when Angleo Balanta and Mitch Brundle grabbed the goals that allowed Peter Taylor’s men to triumph 2-1 at Dover Athletic on Tuesday – providing a much-needed boost.
Harrogate Town, who were so very impressive last season, have drawn one, with Solihall Moors, and earned a win in their second game and sit in second spot in the table. They drew 2-2 with Moors on the first day off the new campaign and then in midweek recorded a rather convincing 3-0 victory over Barrow. Two strikes from Will Smith did the damage and Connor Hall made sure that the points were heading to Simon Weaver’s outfit — and no one could deny them their rightful triumph in the final analysis.
Already, the National League is one which will throw up plenty of excitement, that is for sure!
