FC Halifax Town: Johnson says Shaymen are full of belief they can upset the odds

Of the six teams competing in the play-offs, Halifax are the 16/1 outsiders with the bookies to earn promotion into League Two.

But Johnson, who is about to embark on his second play-off campaign with the club after being part of the side that saw off Salford and Chorley in the 2017 Conference North play-offs, insists Halifax are confident of success.

“We’re expecting a very tough game, they beat us 2-0 at our place so we know what they’re capable of,” he said of Boreham Wood.

“They’ve got four very good strikers who we’ve been made aware about but hopefully we can contain them and then go from there.

“I don’t think anyone other than our fans and ourselves in the dressing room are expecting a lot from us, especially looking at the odds from the bookmakers.

“So from that perspective the pressures off, but we’re going into it full of belief.

“I don’t think the nerves have kicked in yet, that might happen leading up to the game.

“But I think they’ll be good nerves. I’ll certainly be a bit nervous myself, especially (considering) last time in the play-offs with Halifax. They were the most nerve-wracking games I’ve played in. But hopefully we have the same result,

“We’re not under any illusions. It’d be three games at Boreham Wood, Harrogate and then either Barnet, Yeovil or Notts County, they’re three tough games.

“But you’ve got to believe it to achieve it and we’re going in believing we can do it.”

Johnson says even being in the play-offs at all is a “massive achievement” for the club.

“Hats off to everyone that’s been involved,” he said.

“At the start of the season not many people at all would’ve expected us to get where we did but that seems a long time ago now.

“For a long time we’ve built up (the belief) in ourselves that we could make the play-offs.

“I think it’s a bit of an underdog story. We’ve played pretty consistently all the way through the season and the play-offs is a lottery, you’ve got to believe it to achieve it.

“We go in full of belief and hopefully we can cause a few upsets along the way.”

Johnson has been a consistently strong performer for Town since first joining them during the 2015-16 season, and was part of the club’s FA Trophy win at Wembley at the end of that campaign.

His role could become even more crucial at Boreham Wood if the game is a draw after 90 minutes, with the match then going straight to penalties.

“I think every goalkeeper has their own way of handling penalties,” he said.

“I don’t like thinking too much into it, I go off instinct and I’ve got a pretty good record when it comes to saving penalties.

“I’m just going to do what I normally do and hopefully it comes off if it gets to that stage.

“Me and Joe (Stead, goalkeeping coach) have talked about it. I think if you’ve got a lot of penalties to look at, and there’s a good ratio that go one way, then it’s a good thing to look at. But if you just looking at a one-off penalty here and there, I don’t think there’s any statistics behind it, so I’m not too much into that.

“But if they’ve taken six or seven penalties and five or six have gone one way then you can look at that, but it’s a bit of a lottery.”