By Ben Guzdek
Halifax Town Football Club will look to improve on their home form as they battle mid-table side Gloucester City to qualify to the Vanarama National League North playoffs.
The last time the two sides have met was earlier in the season where ‘The Shaymen’ visited Whaddon Road and claimed a comfortable 2-0 win.
Now that the tables have turned and the league has reached its 33rd round of fixtures, it looks to be Gloucester who have a good chance of avenging their defeat.
The Shaymen vs The Tigers
The Shaymens have only won 43% of their home games so far, despite losing only two games it’s actually the games where they finish level that’s reflected badly on their home form.
So as it turns out Halifax look to be better off away from home, they won half of their away games with the other half being a couple of draws and the rest were defeats.
Meanwhile, Gloucester appear to be the clear underdogs, not only do they rest in the middle of the table but they’ve only won once in their previous five games, Halifax have won three.
Even though Halifax play better away from home, The Tigers’ away form equals to The Shaymen’s home form – 43%.
After the final whistle
If Halifax were to win this they could potentially rise up to second with another win on Tuesday against Gainsborough at The Shay.
The top teams in the division will be facing each other. So if league leaders Flyde draw with third placed Kidderminster, second-placed Salford draw with sixth place Stockport and fourth-placed Chorley lose to tenth place Harrogate.
It’s certainly a good chance to for Halifax to improve their form and put themselves in a title race, as well as a certain place in the play-offs.
Town boss Billy Heath is confident his players are made of the right stuff to finish in the play-offs, as he says to the Halifax Courier “This is where we find out a lot about the players and find out what they’re made of. You’ve got to have character and strong-minded players. It’s not about who is the best team, sometimes it’s about who has that desire and who finds a way to win – that’s the key.