Will Aspin get his revenge for St.Andrews?

Halifax Town manager Neil Aspin was the right back in the famous third leg of the play offs at St.Andrew's between Charlton Athletic and Leeds United.   If Charlton had lost that match, it is possible that the club may not have survived.   Will the folically challenged manager of the Shaymen be able to get his revenge today?

However, Aspin, who has been coping with the death of his father and his assistant (a death he took very personally), is remarkably philosophical about it.   He told The Non-League Paper, 'Playing for Leeds then, wages weren't the highest, but the bonus ... would have been massive.  At the time you're thinking "If only"'.

'But there's been a lot of water under the bridge since, so I've no particular dislike of Charlton.   I'd have needed to get revenge a lot sooner than 24 years later.'

Aspin does not seem very confident of victory.  He was interviewed at a M1 service station as he spends much of his life on the motorway in his day job arranging rented accommodation for a logistics firm.  He admitted that he would have liked to churn the pitch up by training on Thursday but the chairman would say that's unprofessional.

'The thing about this game is that it's fantastic for raising the club's profile.  It's a beautiful pitch and that could work against us with Charlton.'

Aspin's emphasis is on how the £92,000 the Cup run has raised so far for the club can help to take them forward.  'I'm under no illusions,' he said.   'It's a great tie that raises the profile of the club, and it's fantastic financially.   We need to then use the money we've generated and make sure this club is strong for the future.'

As another blogger has already commented, this match is a no win situation for Chris Powell.   Lose and we will hear all the stuff again about how he is not up to the job.  Draw and we have an additional irritating fixture we could do without.   Win and people will say it was a foregone conclusion.   And if we only win by one goal the media will say that Halifax 'humbled mighty Charlton who had the scare of their lives.'

I would quite happy settle for a 2-1 win, no injuries and no red cards.

I will be watching the match on television which is an unusual experience for me.   We don't have Sky (although a cable service is now on offer to overcome the local council's ban on satellite dishes), but  even when football is on Freeview, I rarely watch.   I prefer to watch football live or listen on the radio which is what I grew up doing.