"I'm really enjoying it" - Midfielder Tayt Trusty on joining Town, his stunner against Hornchurch and the season ahead

Dozens of former Shaymen players have graduated into the Football League in recent years after a spell at Town, the latest being midfielder Jay Turner-Cooke, who joined League Two side Shrewsbury over the summer.

And 22-year-old Trusty has shown enough promise already this season to suggest he will follow the same path sooner or later.

"I'm really enjoying it, I feel like the boys and the gaffer have helped me," he told the Courier.

"I'm not from the north, although I've played up north before, but I've adapted well.

"I feel like at the start, it was about showing that I could play in this team and I feel like, since then, I've settled in a bit and I've just got to keep going really."

Such is Halifax's trakc record in acting as a bridge to the EFL for young players that Trusty was attracted to joining the club for that very reason.

"I know Halifax are good at getting young players in, players that have played in the lower leagues and then making them shine and do well," he said.

"That excited me when I heard about it.

"I saw they just missed out on the play-offs last year but in the past few years they've been in and around it, but I feel like now is the time to push on and get promoted."

Trusty was playing Sunday League football and took part in a trial game, after which Blackpool invited him for a match and offered him a contract.

But the midfielder, who was born in Dartford, broke his fibula aged 19 while at Blackpool, which kept him out for four months.

"It was my debut in the Papa John's, I'd only been on for 10, 15 minutes," he recalled.

"The game was dead and I just got challenged.

"It was an unfortunate one.

"The boys and the physio were good at Blackpool.

"It's not nice being on the sidelines seeing everyone training.

"We had a good group there and I got to go home for a while so my family helped me.

"That was my first major injury. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I can stay injury free, but it was a big shock because usually I'm playing.

"I feel like I did well in my time at Blackpool. I was in the last year of my contract so after (the injury) I didn't really have the opportunity to show why I should have still been there.

"But everything happens for a reason I guess."

Trusty is unusual at Town in not having come from an academy background earlier in his career.

"I feel like it's kind of helped me in a way," he said.

"It's always good to be in an academy for your technique and stuff, but with my journey, I've always had to go and get it.

"I've always had to go and prove why I should be playing or I should be at a club, but I feel like it helped me because it made me want it that extra bit more."

After leaving Blackpool, Trusty spent a season at Maidstone before joining Eastbourne Borough last season, where he got relegated from the Conference South.

"I really enjoyed it, but it was an unfortunate season," he said.

"It ward hard, we had a lot of change within the season and it wasn't really stable.

"We had a good group there and we were a bit unlucky.

"We didn't have a good season but it was enjoyable apart from that."

Trusty looked unconvincing in pre-season for Town, struggling to impact games and being beset by sloppy mistakes, but has blossomed into a player of huge promise since the campaign began.

"When I come into a new environment, it takes me a bit of time to settle in," he said.

"I feel like I can still do a lot more, that I'm still finding my feet.

"Hopefully I continue to go on an upwards trajectory.

"Previously, I've always been a bit of a slow starter and then build into it but hopefully I can do that a bit quicker this time."

Trusty's season so far was capped by a magnificent volley from outside the box in the club's 3-0 home win over Hornchurch September 12.

"When it came to me, there was only one thing on my mind," he said.

"As soon as it touched my foot, I knew it was going in, it was such a sweet connection.

"Hopefully I can score more of them."

"Prior to this (move), I haven't really scored a lot of goals, but I feel like I can definitely add more goals to my game.

"But at the same time, I'm someone that's unselfish, so I'll do the hard work, and I feel like I'm quite intense in everything I do.

"I like to put in a challenge, I like to win second balls and I feel like I have a good range of passing, so hopefully I can offer that to the team."

Trusty says last weekend's 1-1 draw with Sutton was tough to take, after Halifax went ahead in the 94th minute, only for the visitors to equalise with the last kick of the match.

"It's always a tough one, we've done so well to defend for 90 minutes, got a goal and I thought that we were the better team, especially in the second-half," he said.

"Last 30 seconds; I feel like if we had to play that again, we'd have won 1-0, but it's a hard one to deal with, frustrating, but it's onto the next one."

Trusty insists The Shaymen can compete in the race for promotion this season.

"One hundred per cent. We have a good group, on and off the pitch, we're all together," he said.

"The manager and the staff help us, there's no pressure on us, we have the licence to do things we want to do.

"And that's a good thing for the group, no-one feels under pressure.

"Even against Boreham Wood and Forest Green, we were unlucky to come out without a point or a result against them, who are predicted to do well.

"I think, in moments in those games, we did better than them.

"In the table, there's teams above us who we've done well against and I feel like we've been unlucky, especially on Saturday."