Johnson hoping to extend his stay with Town
PLAYERS, MANAGERS and European Super Leagues may come and go, but the presence of Sam Johnson between the sticks at The Shay has become reassuringly familiar over the last five-and-a-half years.
Johnson made his 200th league appearance for Town last month, having made his debut back in November 2015 under Jim Harvey.
The 28-year-old admits his double-century has gone quickly.
“It’s something I’m very proud of,” he said. “When you come on loan to somewhere you don’t expect to stay there (for that long) but everyone knows my love for the club, and I’m looking for another 200 hopefully.”
When asked how different he is to the player and person who first joined the club, he said: “As a person, I’m pretty chilled and laid back so I’m still the same really. I’d like to think I’ve come on as a goalkeeper. You do get better as a goalkeeper as the years go on, playing more games you learn what kind of goalkeeper you are.”
Johnson agrees he gas grown in confidence and become more vocal.
“Personally, to be honest, I think I’ve been average, OK,” he said of his season so far.
“I don’t think I’ve been at fault for a lot of goals, so I’d say decent but if I’m really harsh on myself this has probably been my weakest season.
“I don’t think I’ve been horrendous, and I think I’ve been very good through the years. It’s up to me to get back to those standards. I don’t think I’ve had a bad season but hopefully I get back to the standards I’ve been at.”
Johnson has played his part in helping propel The Shaymen into a play-off push this season with a string of top-class saves, including in Tuesday night’s 2-1 win at Chesterfield.
And the stopper says this season’s Shaymen side tops any other he has been part of.
“It’s probably the best Halifax team I’ve played in, especially going forward, we score quite a lot of goals compared to how we did in the past,” he said.
“We haven’t kept as many clean sheets but that’s something we’re looking at. I’ve kept a lot of clean sheets and finished 14th, 15th in the league, I’m not keeping as many this season but we’re fifth at the minute, so it’s an easy choice for me which one I prefer. We’ve done really well and (to be in the play-off race) it’s massive for the club, massive for the fans and for the players. We can dream of that, and we’re looking forward to the games that are left. I think you saw against King’s Lynn that we didn’t crumble when we went 2-0 down. We could have easily fallen under pressure and it gone 3-0 and 4-0 again.
“But I’d like to praise the lads because we sorted that out on the pitch, we saw what went wrong and we put it right ourselves, we didn’t need people telling us what to do.”
Johnson is out of contract in the summer, but would be happy to extend his stay at the club.
“I haven’t really discussed it but if something was offered to me I’d love to take it and keep going,” he said.
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