FC Halifax Town v Boreham Wood
Saturday 19th November 2022, 3:00pm
The Shay Stadium, Vanarama National League
The Wood face a long trip to Yorkshire to take on FC Halifax Town this weekend, looking to get back to winning ways after failing to come out victorious in their last five league outings.
IN FOCUS: FC HALIFAX TOWN
Following the dissolution of Halifax Town AFC in 2008, it was decided that FC Halifax Town would be placed in the Northern Premier League Division One North and the Shaymen have faced a rapid rise from the eighth tier over the last decade. Three promotions in just five years saw the West Yorkshire-based side find themselves in the National League in 2013, and although they recorded successive top half finishes in their first two seasons they were relegated back to the National League North in their third campaign, a real blow to a side who had for the most part improved year on year. However, they were able to bounce straight back at the first time of asking and have remained in the fifth tier ever since, with the arrival of Pete Wild as manager in 2019 bringing a change in fortunes for the better, as he guided them to the play-offs in two of his three seasons at the Shay Stadium. Unfortunately, Wild’s success didn’t go unnoticed and he departed for League Two side Barrow in the summer, with assistant Chris Millington taking the reins. They have struggled to adapt under their new boss after other high profile departures in Jamie Allen, Billy Waters, Niall Maher, Tom Bradbury, Tyrell Warren, Kieran Green and Martin Woods, although new signing Emmanuel Dieseruvwe has impressed with seven goals for his new side following his move from Grimsby Town.
LAST TIME OUT
Bromley 1-1 FC Halifax Town
Saturday 12th November 2022
Vanarama National League
The Shaymen made it four points from six on the road in a week after a 1-1 draw with Bromley at Hayes Lane.
The hosts started brightly and forced an early corner, but it was the visitors who produced the first shot of the game when Tylor Golden struck wide from distance. Despite Michael Cheek going close shortly after, Halifax responded by forcing a couple of corners themselves shortly after Emmanuel Dieseruvwe had seen an effort deflected into the gloves of Tom Smith, with the former later combining with Jamie Cooke and Angelo Cappello to see the latter shoot wide. Luke Summerfield would also strike narrowly over the crossbar, before Bromley looked to gain control of proceedings with Corey Whitley going close on the stroke of half time.
The Ravens continued to grow into it in the second half with Cheek heading wide, before Whitley scooped an attempted chip over the crossbar. They did finally take one of their opportunities though with Cheek beating Sam Johnson to give Bromley the lead just after the hour-mark, but this would last just three minutes as Cooke was alert to react to Dieseruvwe’s header which had come off the crossbar and put the ball over the line to net an instant equaliser, and with Billy Bingham’s effort in the final ten minutes being the closest either side came to a winner, proved enough to earn a point for his side.
RECENT FORM
Bromley (A) D1-1
Solihull Moors (A) W0-1
Ebbsfleet United (A) L2-1
Oldham Athletic (H) W2-1
Wrexham (A) L3-1
Dagenham & Redbridge (H) W2-0
Halifax have struggled to gain consistency throughout the season so far, although they have seemingly seen a slight improvement in recent weeks. Having followed three successive defeats with a four-game unbeaten run in all competitions, the Shaymen were unable to extend that run to five after beating Dagenham & Redbridge, with title hopefuls Wrexham coming from behind to condemn Chris Millington’s side to a comfortable defeat. Despite this, they have stay unbeaten in their last three league outings, although they did follow victory over Oldham Athletic with defeat in the FA Cup against National League South side Ebbsfleet United. Nonetheless, two goals in as many games from Jamie Cooke against Solihull Moors and Bromley saw the Shaymen rack up six points on the road in a week, with the Shaymen coming into the weekend in relatively decent form.
IN THE DUGOUT: CHRIS MILLINGTON
A midfielder by trade in his playing days, Chris Millington had turned out for Manchester City as youngster before spells at York City and Crewe Alexandra before transitioning into coaching with stints with Altrincham’s Under-18’s and Stockport County’s Centre of Excellence, as well as taking over at Curzon Ashton in 2016. He would briefly move to Croatia before joining up with Pete Wild for the first time, and they would together work in the Oldham Athletic academy before being promoted to the first team following the sackings of Frankie Bunn and Paul Scholes. Millington would later follow Wild to FC Halifax Town and remained as his assistant for three seasons, but the latter opted to depart in the summer for League Two side Barrow leaving the first team job vacant, with the 54-year old filling the void to take on his first first team role.
ONE TO WATCH: EMMANUEL DIERSERUVWE
After coming through the ranks at Sheffield Wednesday, Emmanuel Dierseruvwe was unable to make a first team appearance during his time at Hillsborough but did gain experience on loan at Hyde, Fleetwood Town and Chesterfield, with the latter making his move permanent just a month after moving to the Technique Stadium. He would struggle for goalscoring form during his time with the Spireites and joined Mansfield Town on loan, with a similar experience at Kidderminster Harriers with a loan move to Boston United before departing Aggborough. He found more success after moving to Salford City though, with his nine goals including the opener in the National League play-off final victory over AFC Fylde to help the Ammies reach the Football League for the first time, with Dierseruvwe netting their first ever league goal a few months later. He would be released by Salford in 2021 after brief loan spells at Chester and Oldham Athletic, with a stint at Tranmere Rovers following, but a loan move to Grimsby Town saw him enjoy plenty of success as he netted five goals to help the Mariners reach the National League play-offs. He would score the winner in the eliminator round to knock out Notts County before scoring again in the semi-final against Wrexham, featuring in the subsequent final which Grimsby won to bounce straight back to League Two. Dierservwe would be released from Tranmere upon his return, making the switch to the National League permanent when he joined FC Halifax Town, and he is currently their top scorer with seven goals so far this season.
LAST TIME WE MET
FC Halifax Town 0-1 Boreham Wood
Tuesday 25th January 2022
Vanarama National League
An outstanding workmanlike performance was on show in front of the BT Sport cameras as the Wood extended their unbeaten run to 15 games with a narrow victory on a cold Tuesday night in West Yorkshire.
The visitors were the brighter of the two sides early on and could have taken the lead inside the opening 15 minutes with a couple of golden opportunities for Josh Rees, but FC Halifax Town escaped the danger before producing their first chances of the game as Matty Warburton had two bites of the cherry go amiss. The hosts almost took the lead against the run of play as Martin Woods saw a half-volley creep narrowly wide, but the Wood were rewarded for their dominance five minutes later when Rees finally found a way past Sam Johnson to break the deadlock after getting on the end of Jacob Mendy Mendy’s cross.
Much of the second half proved to be quiet as neither side took authority of the encounter and with the Wood having the upper hand, although the hosts did see some weak calls for a penalty waved away with 15 minutes to go. The Shaymen made some changes to inject some life into proceedings, but it was the Wood had the best opportunity of the half when Tyrone Marsh’s ambitious effort from a tight angle crashed off the crossbar with Johnson beaten. The hosts were in desperation, but they were inches away from nicking an equaliser when Taye Ashby-Hammond had his blushes spared in injury time after Aaron Martin controversially seemed to kick the ball from the Fulham loanee’s hands without being penalised, with the ball diverting goalward before rolling a couple of yards wide. A double substitution was made by Luke Garrard in an attempt to run down the clock, although there was just enough time for Scott Boden’s replacement Danilo Orsi to force Johnson into another save before the referee signalled for full time.
OUR CLUB. OUR TOWN. OUR COMMUNITY.
