Gary Johnson’s men will be looking for another three points on the road as they make another long journey this weekend to Yorkshire for the match with FC Halifax Town at The Shay Stadium.
Who’s the Boss?
Pete Wild was appointed as Halifax manager in July 2019, following the departure of previous boss Jamie Fullarton. A decade at Oldham Athletic saw Pete serve the club admirably in a number of roles, with the highlight coming as he masterminded a 1-0 FA Cup win over Premier League side Fulham during his spell in caretaker charge.
After securing an unexpected play-off place for The Shayman in 2019/20, Wild is looking for his side to match that success once again, following a 10th-placed finish last term, and is on track with his team currently in the play-off places.
How have they been doing?
FC Halifax Town are having a very good season and currently sit in 3rd place going into this weekend’s game. They are currently unbeaten in the last six games with five of those ending in victory, the last of those being on Tuesday night when they defeated play-off chasing Bromley 1-0 at the Shay Stadium. So far this season out of 31 games played they have won 19 drawn 6 and lost 6 and are currently seven points behind leaders Stockport with a game in hand, while they are on the same points as Chesterfield(63) in 2nd place but have two games in hand on them.
Player to watch
Jordan Slew will be well known to United after scoring two of the goals in FC Halifax’s 3-2 victory at Plainmoor earlier in the season. Slew came through the youth ranks at Sheffield United, signing his first professional contract while at the club, before joining then Premier League side Blackburn Rovers for a reported 1.1 million pounds. While at Ewood Park the 29 year old had loan spells at such clubs as Stevenage, Rotherham and Port Vale as well as a spell in Scotland where he played for Ross County.
Since his release from Rovers the striker has gone on to play for the likes of Cambridge United, Plymouth Argyle and Morecombe before a summer move to FC Halifax where in 27 league appearances so far this season he has scored 9 goals. Slew has also represented England at U-19 lever where he made two appearances in 2011.
Played for both
After playing for Kings Langley and Banbury United it was in the 2017/18 season that saw Manny Duku have his most successful season to date, where in 39 league games he scored 33 goals for Hayes & Yeading United before Gary Johnson, while at Cheltenham Town, signed him in the summer of 2018. While at Whaddon Road Duku had loan spells at Barnet and then FC Halifax Town, where in twelve league matches he scored three goals. The forward then joined up with Johnson again as he came to Plainmoor in June 2019, but he couldn’t replicate his past performances and despite making fifteen league appearances Duku couldn’t find his goal-scoring touch. After spending two years in Scotland at Raith Rovers and Inverness Caledonian Thistle the 29 year old is currently in the National League South with Havant & Waterlooville.
Previous Encounter
- FC Halifax Town 1 – 2 Torquay United, 21st November 2020, National League.
United’s excellent start to the season continued, as they secured another three points against FC Halifax Town at The Shay, with skipper Asa Hall’s goal from an inviting Ben Whitfield cross being cancelled out by an early second-half equaliser from Jamie Allen. However despite missing a penalty, Torquay rode out 2-1 winners when a deep Ben Wynter cross led to a late winner from Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, who controlled the ball admirably before firing through a crowd of players and into the back of the net to maintain United’s place at the top of the National League table.