FC Halifax Town: “We’ll be raring to go” says Town midfielder King

It will be Town’s first competitive game in 18 weeks since their 1-0 loss at home to Ebbsfleet.

And King says the squad can’t wait for next Friday’s clash to come round, with a place in the semi-finals against Harrogate at stake.

“It’s been good to get back, we had a long time off,” he said.

“We always seem to start the season well, and this kind of feels like it’s a new chapter.

“Obviously you couldn’t have predicted what was going to happen, and it is awful, but maybe in a footballing sense, the break may have done us a favour and hopefully now we can get over the line and finish what we started.

“The lads are excited, we’ve had three, four months off. This is what we play for, to play matches (like this).

“We’ll be raring to go, everyone’s looking forward to it.

“There’s always nerves, but good ones. If you’re not nervous, you’re not ready.

“I’m sure as soon as the game starts, then the nerves will be gone after a couple of good touches of the ball.”

Town were among the sides fancied to be fighting relegation this season, but ended up finishing sixth in the table.

“There were times in the season when we felt like we were very good, and then there were times where we were poor and flat,” said King.

“I think it’s the right position, and we’ve deserved it.

“We always knew at the start of the season we had a good team.

“We’re on a low budget but there was a good spine to the team and we have a mix of experience and youth.

“We knew we were going to have a good go.”

Boreham Wood finished one place higher than Town, and beat Halifax 2-0 at The Shay earlier this season.

“They’re going to be fast up-front,” King said. “It’s going to be a weird one because teams aren’t going to have had a full season behind them.

“It’s going to be whoever turns up on the day and wants it more, so the lads are going to have to put in a shift for sure.

“Hopefully we’ll work harder than them and get the job done.

“We’re the underdogs in the play-offs, you can tell by the odds, but in a sense we feel like we can win any game.

“Nothing is too far for us, we’ll be going there thinking we can win, totally, and it’ll be a massive disappointment if we don’t.”

When asked why he thinks Town can win the game, King said: “Just the dressing room, we’ve got a great dressing room, everyone’s close and when a team comes together, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing against, we should be alright.

“Hopefully we go there, we stick to everything we’ve been doing well and we have a good day.”

King, who joined Town during the summer of 2018, says the game is probably the most important of his career so far.

“Maybe I needed that bit of a break. I feel great, I’m just trying to get sharper every day,” he said.

“We haven’t got a lot of time, there’s not many days left until the first game, so we’re trying to get as sharp as possible.

“We’re never going to be as fit as doing a pre-season but hopefully fit enough to play 90 minutes, and play it well.”