The ever-present Sam Johnson collected his 250th FC Halifax Town appearance yesterday afternoon, and he capped it off perfectly with a clean sheet. Here he is speaking to Shaymen TV.
Johnson is into his seventh season at the Club and has reached various landmarks while playing for the Shaymen. After the convincing win over Stockport County, he gave his thoughts on the latest achievement. “I’m really pleased to have reached 250 games for Halifax, and it’s even nicer when you keep a clean sheet and get a win,” Sam said. “Hopefully, there are another 250 around the corner, because I’m happy being here and I want to achieve some good things at the Club.”
As for the match itself, the Shaymen beat Stockport 3-0 after a first-half free-kick from Matty Warburton; then a right-place, right-time finish from Tom Bradbury; before Billy Waters added a third. Sam spoke about the game; “In the first half, we battled well, because for the first 20 minutes, Stockport pressed us high and made it a physical game,” Johnson stated.
He added; “We dealt with Stockport, and then the goal from Matty was very important. Then in the second half, I thought we dominated the game and blew Stockport away, which is very pleasing for us.”
Away from the goals, it has already been mentioned that Big Sam kept another clean sheet; “We should have had more clean sheets this season,” Johnson admitted. “Bradbury and I keep saying that we should have way more than just two. So, we are really pleased with it, and everyone knows that our back four is very young, but they have been a different class in the last few games.”
Ahead of the match, a lot was said about Stockport’s threat going forward, with the likes of former MLS attacker John Rooney and former Championship striker Paddy Madden facing the Shaymen. Therefore, the question beckoned, how did Sam prepare for the game, when knowing who he was facing?
“Not too much goes into my planning when seeing the opposition attackers to be honest,” Sam said. “You do see players like Rooney and know that he’s going to have shots from outside the box, and if you can prepare for that then you do the same as everyone and just stop the ball from going into the goal. When you know they’ve got a striker like Madden, then you can sometimes make a change to address it.”
Watch the FULL INTERVIEW on Shaymen TV
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