New Harleston Town manager Matt Halliday set to give existing squad a chance before bringing in new signings
New Harleston Town manager Matt Halliday says he has not come in to ‘rip it up’ and will give the current squad the chance to impress before going down his list of potential new recruits.
The man who led Sheringham to back-to-back titles, taking them up from the Fosters Solicitors Anglian Combination Premier Division to the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division alongside his new deputy Connor McCarthy, oversaw his first game in charge at The Rec on Saturday, recording a 2-2 draw with third-placed Thetford Town.
Harleston, who Halliday said were missing eight players for various reasons, took the lead twice - once in each half - through Spencer Cawcutt but were pegged back in crushing circumstances with an own goal three minutes from time.
It saw them drop a place to 17th - one place and just two points above the relegation zone, but with four games in hand on current third-from-bottom side Lakenheath, who they travel to tomorrow in a crunch fixture (3pm).
But despite going into the fixture on the back of three games without a win, which includes two draws, Halliday said he is ready to give the current playing staff he inherited from Danny Crow a chance to prove themselves.
“I haven’t really seen a lot of the players, as weird as that sounds, because they’ve been suspended or injured or unavailable for different reasons, so once we get them in, I think it’ll be a case of then seeing what we’ve got,” he said.
“Obviously, the squad is actually a really good squad. I think it could just do with a little bit more pace and maybe some younger players in and around in.
“Yes, we’ve got a list of players that potentially we would like to have, but I’m going to give this team my concentration and the opportunity to impress first and then we’ll go from there, really.”
Halliday, who had been relieved of his duties at higher-league Wroxham after a 12-game spell, having initially joined them as assistant manager, thought the offer the next day to jump back on the horse at Harleston was too good to turn down for an unknown length of time away from the cut-and-thrust of a Saturday afternoon.
“I think Dan and Tom (Marsden, previous assistant) had done really well to get it to a point where they were in the play-offs and constantly challenging at the top there,” he said.
“I’m not here to rip it up, I’m just here to put my own spin on it really and get them back to high positions from where they currently are in the league.
“I’’ve always known Harleston to be a team near the top and that’s currently not happening at the moment.
“Our job is to see how high we can get this season, see how far we can push them up the table and hopefully start preparing for next season.”
And he was encouraged with what he saw in his first game.
He said: “I think you could see that they have a lot of heart and fight and grit and determination and all that kind of side of the game and that was clearly evident.
“They just need a consistent team and a little bit of confidence. And hopefully Saturday will give us a little bit of confidence going forward.”
The Magpies follow up the weekend’s fixture at a Lakenheath outfit who ended their winless run on Saturday with a 3-1 home win against Soham Town Rangers by travelling over to Thetford to face the Brecklanders again on Tuesday (7.45pm), this time in the League Challenge Cup fourth round with what is believed to be a quarter-finals spot awaiting the winners.
