Halifax can look back with a lot of pride on their first season back in the Conference Premier as they went ever so close to getting yet another promotion. The Shaymen were expected to battle hard and try to consolidate in mid-table before the season having sneaked in via the play-offs in the previous year. Neil Aspin managed to keep hold of his prized assets, Lee Gregory, Scott McManus and Dan Gardner, at the start of the season and made some very shrews signing that would prove big success over the season. The opening game of the campaign was a bruising 5:1 loss at Cambridge but the players bounced back impressively with a win over Wrexham and went on to maintain a great run of form at home throughout the campaign. The direct style, using the prowess and movement of Gregory up front while keeping a very solid base in midfield and defence, provided a very good platform and the Shaymen soon settled into the league and looked pretty much liked seasoned campaigners in it. They delivered some rousing performances at home in these early month, most notably a startling annihilation of Grimsby for a 4:0 home win, and maintained the good momentum as the season went. The one issue for them was their away form and they indeed managed to get just a single victory on the road in the first six months of the season. They had a slight blip in late November and in December but remained in the top half of the table. Gregory was sizzling form on goal and there were genuine fears that he will be snatched away by a Football League club in January. Yet, proposed moves did not happen and the striker only got better as the season went on. Lois Maynard and Marc Roberts were models of constancy in midfield and defence in their debut seasons at this level while Ryan Crowther proved a great addition to the squad, post-January. Yet, a play-off charge still looked beyond them until they real hit their stride in March. A few away wins, while maintaining the flawless him form, torpedoed them into the upper regions of the table and they became the form side in the division at the business end of the season. Some genuinely impressive showings, especially at home to Luton and away at Barnet, put them on the verge of the play-offs and they pretty much assured that with a week to spare. They looked to be in good position to topple Cambridge in the play-off semi-final but their lack of experience in these big games eventually told in the second leg as they conceded two goals in the first half and saw their advantage from the first leg disappear. Thus, their brave promotion challenge was eventually ended in agonising manner but the players have far exceeded expectations and that season will be cherished and remembered by the fans for a while. However, the likely loss of Gregory in the summer will be hard to contain and Aspin will need to work very hard not to let the team stagnate.
