Stott and Town defence benefit from players’ soaring confidence
Jamie Stott has experienced a redemption and recovery akin to his team this season.
From the ignominy of a red card on his debut, the centreback has become a mainstay at the heart of the Halifax defence.
From featuring in the 5-1 collapse at Aldershot, one of only four appearances in the first three months of the season, Stott is literally a central part of a defence that has kept three clean sheets in the last five games and six shut-outs in the last ten.
"There's no mistaking it was a bad start to the season," Stott said: "I had a good preseason but the red card wasn't the best start for myself and the team.
"We weren't picking up enough wins but I feel like when I came back into the team, I've done well and I really feel like I'm playing with confidence.
"I feel good at the minute. It helps when everyone else is playing well as well, it makes you play better.
"I feel like myself and the team are hitting confidence and a bit of form at the right time and I feel like, from November onwards, I've had a good season."
Town's 1-1 draw with Bromley on Tuesday night means they have taken 13 points from a possible 15 in the league and have only lost once in their last 12 games.
"It's a bit of a shame it didn't come in January, February time but we are ending
the season well," said Stott.
"To hit some form, now is the right time with Wembley coming up, you want to go into it in good form.
"We want to finish as high as we can this season so if we can get into the top half and getting to a cup final, it's a better season than we might have imagined a couple of months ago."
When asked what has made the difference to Town's form, Stott said: "I think it's consistency in performances and results.
"Everyone's on the same wavelength, I think it's confidence as well.
"A confidence boost can take you a long way, and we have attacking players on form at the minute like Mani
and Milli, Rob's scored two in two now, which helps us as defenders.
"We've not been one to concede too many goals but we've not been a team to score too many.
"But the previous four or five games, we've started to show our attacking abilities more, I think in the last five games we've scored 12 or 13 and conceded two.
"We are hitting a bit of consistency."
Stott added: "It's been a strange season. Without making too many excuses, we've had some bad injuries to players at wrong times, we've just never had a fully-fit squad.
"We've had some lows which we don't really want to look back on now, the only thing we can do now is look forward and there's only positive things that are coming out of the club and the team now. We've got that big day in May but before then we've got three more games to play and hopefully we can get maximum points, if not, let's try and get as many points as we can so we can finish in the top half of the table."