Manager: Mark Lillis

Stadium: The Shay

Capacity: 7,449

Last Season: 18th

Comings and goings

Out: Jamie Paterson (Doncaster, free), Chris Newton (released), Richard Lucas (released now Boston United)

In: midfielder Steve Thompson (Rotherham, free), striker Gary Jones (Hartlepool, free after loan spell last season)

One to watch: Steve Kerrigan. Signed from Shrewsbury Town for £20,000 on transfer deadline day last year, Kerrigan made an immediate impact scoring three times in seven games. Pre-season has proved even more productive with ten goals scored and his partnership with Gary Jones is looking ominous for defences.

Odds: With largely the same squad as last year, the consensus around the Shay is that Town will do well to improve on last season's disappointing standing. However, Halifax could benefit from a settled situation and Lillis has adopted a change in system, 5-3-2 as opposed to 4-4-2, to force a change in fortunes. Always reasonably solid at the back, Town, who went more than 500 minutes without scoring last season, have cause for op-timism with plunder pair Kerrigan and Jones now leading the line and ready to be unleashed from the start.