"It was an amazing day" - Golden on last season's FA Trophy semi-final, this season's competition and Town's potential

Halifax looked down and out when Tylor Golden came off in the 73rd minute.

The Shaymen were trailing and toiling in their FA Trophy semi-final at Altrincham on April 1, falling at the final hurdle, Wembley receding into the distance.

"I remember thinking 'come on, we just need one more chance', we can't come all this way through the competition, do what we did and go out like this," recalls Golden ahead of the teams' rematch in the competition at The Shay on Saturday.

"I remember Altrincham's bench was going absolutely ballistic with the fourth official, they felt the time was up but obviously there were stoppages throughout the game which led to that.

"That caught my eye because they were going ballistic, and the next thing I knew I saw Milli pick the ball up out of the corner of my eye and I heard an eruption, looked and we'd scored."

Golden had been ill with tonsillitis the week of the game and admits he wasn't himself on the pitch that day.

"I hadn't felt like myself the whole week but with how important the game was, I just knew I needed to do whatever I could," he said.

"It was a conversation with the gaffer saying just get through what I could and once the tank's empty, we'll sort that out when the time comes.

"I remember coming off thinking 'I could collapse here', I felt absolutely drained but it's the semi-final of the FA Trophy, you don't know if you'll be there again, so I just had to do everything I could and do my best.

"Luckily in the end I didn't hinder the team!"

Golden wasn't the only one to under-perform for Town on the day, with Halifax second best and lucky to sneak through.

"We didn't do it the easy way, we never do, but it was an amazing day," Golden recalls.

"There's no hiding it, we knew they could have been two or three up by the time we came in at half-time, they played very well.

"We weren't really ourselves but in the end, we showed the character we had in the group to go on and win it.

"We knew how to stay in the game and we knew that as long as we were in the game, we'd always have that belief we could get something.

"Obviously it was a bit of magic to get that last minute equaliser and then it went to pens, which happened all the way through the competition!

"Just seeing the fans and everything, it was definitely one of the biggest moments of my career so far, just that feeling of jubilation and knowing you were going to Wembley."

The Shaymen had Sam Johnson as well as Milli Alli to thank for dragging them to the final.

"When you have the penalty king in there it gives you good reassurance," Golden said.

"I remember having a discussion with him before a previous round and he was saying he loves penalty shoot-outs and he's shown it throughout his time at the club.

"When you have a keeper as good as that, in that situation, as big as him in the goal - when you step up to take a pen, the goal feels small already because of the pressure but when you see Sam Johnson there, you don't think there's much space around him to get it in.

"That's a huge advantage for us, but his experience in those situations is massive as well."

The Shaymen, of course, went on to beat Gateshead in the final, but Golden says tasting success in the competition only a few months ago won't weaken their resolve to try and do so again.

"I think, no matter what competition you're in, that hunger is always there to go and win it, otherwise there's no point being in it," he said.

"That's the attitude within our squad and that's a major thing when you come here, the will to win, the will to achieve, because that's what we all want.

"You all want days like that (at Wembley), that day for me will forever be in my memory and you want as many days as you can like that in your career.

"I know we have a few new lads this year but the topic has come up over the last few weeks, especially when the draw came out, a few stories came out about Wembley for the new lads, so I'm sure that will only make them more hungry to be 'well, I want to be a part of that this time round'.

"And you've got a point to prove when you're the holders, you want to show everyone why you went on and won it.

"So I think it gives you more hunger to show everyone again how good you are."

Rather than being an unnecessary distraction, Golden believes the FA Trophy has the potential to help Town's promotion push.

"You always see it when you get knocked out of a cup, 'let's just focus on the league', when you're not doing well in the league," he said.

"But I think that's what helped us last year, the fact that we had a bad run at the start and when the FA Trophy came, we were mid-table, flirting with the play-offs and the FA Trophy run gave us a bit more confidence within ourselves.

"It plays hand-in-hand because if you go on a good cup run it gives you confidence to do well in the league.

"You're most likely playing teams in your league in this cup so if you get a one-up on them before you meet them in the league, and I know we've got Altrincham over the holiday period, if we can get a win against them this weekend then we've got a one-up on them, especially with how well they're doing in the league this year.

"But we'd have the confidence that 'we've only beaten them two weeks ago so there's no reason why not'.

"They go hand-in-hand for me. If you're not doing well in the league it's a good distraction to have a good cup run, but if you're doing well in the league then doing well in the cup gives you even more confidence to push on."

Pushing on is exactly what Golden feels Halifax have done as a team from the dreadful start to last season.

And the defender feels The Shaymen are close to pushing on even further.

"I think we're a very, very good team in this league," he said.

"I know it's frustrating for everyone watching that were literally that small percentage away from being one of the best, if not the best, in the league.

"Since I've been at the club, and before that, the defensive record is always up there with the best and that makes it so hard for teams to come and play us, and I know clubs don't like coming to play us because of that.

"It's just that small percentage of being able to convert the chances we're making into goals.

"Some games we do, some games we don't, but what needs to be said is it's football, it's how it is, we can miss chances, it's going to happen.

"We create chances but unfortunately we're going to score every chance. I wish we would!

"But I think we're in a very good position, we've got a good, solid foundation.

"I think what helps us this year as well is that a lot of us were together last year and a lot of us played together for the majority of last season, whereas when I came in last year it was that transition period of a lot of new faces, some who hadn't been there before, some who weren't playing.

"So I think we've found that connection, that relationship this season quite early on, which has allowed us to be in a good stead.

"Around this time last year, maybe a couple of months earlier, we were rock bottom, we weren't having a good time, but we're flirting with the play-offs.

"I know we've had a bit of a backlash from dropping points when we shouldn't have, which I totally agree with. There's certain games, especially the last couple, that we know as a squad that we shouldn't be dropping the points we have done.

"But the fact we're in that situation and we're three points off the play-offs shows how far we've come and how much of a better position we're in now than we were at the start of last season.

"We're always developing as a team and as individuals, so the sky's the limit for us really."

Golden is unequivocal when asked if there's is more to come from the squad.

"There's massive amounts still, you just look at the age of the squad, there's so much potential," he said.

"There's lads that haven't been playing loads, there's lads that have been playing a good amount of games here, some lads are still finding that consistency.

"You look at Kane (Thomson-Sommers), he came and got injured unfortunately, he's come in and had a run of games and you can see what a good addition he is to the squad because he's had that run of games and he's really shown what an asset he can be for us.

"So it's getting those games under the belt for some lads, getting that run of games and really showing everyone what they're about.

"From what I see in training every day, it's really exciting, there's a lot of potential in this group."

Golden's own trajectory at Town is of a similar upward curve to that of his team over the last 18 months.

The defender has developed into a strong, assured and dynamic player after an inconsistent, tentative start.

"It feels like a lifetime ago now!" he reflects.

"There were ups and downs last year but it's only made me stronger.

"I was in a bad mindset personally before joining the club, just because of the frustrations of football and not playing when you feel like you should, not getting the opportunites.

"When I came here, I said to myself it needs to be a clean slate and sooner rather than later, got that confidence back and I'm enjoying my football again.

"I'm going out, enjoying every day, enjoying every game, enjoying that competitive nature because there's nothing worse as a footballer as having that drive and hunger and then being told you're not allowed to go play.

"It's mad, it's one of the only jobs in the world probably where you get told you're not allowed to do it.

"But it's been a brilliant 18 months for me, I've really enjoyed it, really enjoyed my progress, getting regular games and improving game-by-game, which I feel I have.

"I feel like I'm in a good spot to push on even more because I know within myself that, yeah, I've done well but I've got even more to show."