"I feel like myself and the team are hitting confidence and a bit of form at the right time," says Shaymen defender Stott

From the ignominy of a red card on his debut, the centre-back 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 pre-season 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 conceded 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, I feel like 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.

"Everyone's looking for a positive end to the season.

"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."

Town's strange season could have a fairytale ending though, with an FA Trophy final appearance at Wembley to come next month.

"I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe we'd done it, last kick of the game and winning on penalties like that, it just happened so quick," Stott recalled of The Shaymen's dramatic semi-final triumph at Altrincham.

"I feel like in the space of ten minutes we went from going out to going through.

"Everyone's buzzing for it. It's a shame there's a three week gap in between the last game of the season to the final.

"It's not that everyone's not excited but it feels like a long time away.

"We've still got three games left of the season and there's still shirts to play for, everyone wants to go into that final on form, playing well and for the team to be playing with confidence.

"Hopefully if we do that, we can enjoy that day and hopefully get the win.

"Going into the final, you want to be winning the games before it and be in form, full of confidence, scoring goals, not conceding many.

"We've had three clean sheets in the last five so hopefully we can continue that defensive form, I hope we can keep the defensive unit solid, not concede many goals, let the attackers go and do what they've been doing in terms of scoring and we can keep that back door shut.

"If we do that then everyone's in good habits going into that final."

Stott appears to have a great chance of starting at Wembley, but the defender is taking nothing for granted, which is probably for the best after this strangest of seasons.

"I don't feel like I've got it nailed down, I don't think anyone can think like that," Stott said.

"Of course I'd like to think that if I stay fit then I'll have a chance of playing but you just never know.

"You've got to pick your best team on the day to go and win that game.

"It's an important game for the club, for the fans, for us as players, everyone wants to be on the pitch but I'm sure the team will be picked on who can go out to win the game."