FC Halifax Town: “I expect them to perform well” says assistant boss Millington

Assistant manager Chris Milington says he expects Halifax to perform well in their National League play-off eliminator at Boreham Wood next Friday.
Football - FC Halifax Town v Stockport County at The MBI Shay Stadium. Town assistant manager Chris Millington (left) and boss Pete Wild.Football - FC Halifax Town v Stockport County at The MBI Shay Stadium. Town assistant manager Chris Millington (left) and boss Pete Wild.
Football - FC Halifax Town v Stockport County at The MBI Shay Stadium. Town assistant manager Chris Millington (left) and boss Pete Wild.

A place at Harrogate in the semi-final is at stake for Town, in what is arguably their biggest game since their last play-off appearance against Cambridge in 2014.

“I’m confident that we’re in a position to be able to put in a performance that warrants progressing,” said Millington.

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“I think the lads are in a state where I expect them to perform well, I expect them to go out and have good moments of possession, I expect them to be really resilient and dogged out of possession, I expect them to be effective when we have the ball.
“I’m excited, I’m looking forward to seeing the lads perform.

“It’ll be a tough game, not only are they a good side, very well organised - the way they play, they do it well - but also there’s the added challenge of it being such an important, one-off game.

“It’ll be difficult, they’ll make it hard for us and we’ll look to do the same for them.”

Millington and Town boss Pete Wild were effectively in limbo for several weeks awaiting the decision over whether the play-offs would go ahead at all.

And he says that was a challenging time for the Town squad.

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“Not only have we had the good news of beginning the play-offs after finishing in the play-off positions, but also we’ve had the challenging times brought on by the pandemic,” he said.

“So for such a long time there was a lot of uncertainty and it was difficult for the players, not only as young men but wondering if they’d get the opportunity to finish the work they’d started over the season.

“It was a pretty difficult time all round, not only because of the illness, but all the other challenges that throws up.

“They’ve come back raring to go, they’ve got a new lease of life.”

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Prior to football’s enforced break, Town had lost four of their last five games, and headed into lockdown on the back of a dismal 1-0 home defeat to strugglers Ebbsfleet.

But Millington is confident The Shaymen will be a different proposition now.

“We had a few lads playing with knocks and niggles, which adds an element of mental fatigue,” he reflected.

“I think as a group we were showing signs of mental fatigue and tiredness. It was that stage of the season where it becomes difficult and for a small squad, even more so because there’s much more pressure on them to keep performing week-in, week-out.

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“In a strange kind of way, it probably came at a good time for us in that the players needed a bit of a breather, a bit of time to refresh and regenerate.

“Although we wouldn’t have wished it to be in this kind of way, in some respects it’s done them good and they’ve come back almost like it’s the beginning of a new season, raring to go, injury free and really hungry.”

The weeks of inactivity on the pitch also allowed Wild and Millington lots of time to look back over the season.

“The time we had during lockdown was really useful for me and Pete, to spend some time reflecting on how the season had gone so far, what we’d done well, what we needed to do better, the clarity of our messages to the players, what’s been successful in our training methods,” Millington said.

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“We’ve had a lot of time to understand what it is we want to get over to the lads and try to pick the most successful ways of doing that.

“We’ve reflected and looked at what we did well, and what we needed to improve.

“We’ll certainly change some things. They won’t be drastic changes.

“The size of the squad and the players we’ve got available would suggest we’ve got to use those players to their strengths.

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“We were doing that prior to lockdown but the time we’ve had to look back over games and the way we approached training has led us to do things slightly differently and ask different things of the players.

“You’ve also got to take into account that now we’re into the most important cup competition we can possibly be involved in, so that’s got to drive our thinking to some degree.”

When asked what he wants to see from the team at Boreham Wood, Millington said: “I want to see them give it their best shot. That’s something we can take for granted but there are so many things around the occasion, pressure on the game because it’s a one-off, we’re away from home, there’ll be lots of different things they have to take into consideration, which they won’t have had to think about in the past - the way the changing facilities are set-up, the fact there’s no crowd - things that take their attention that wouldn’t normally.

“The real wish for them is they give it everything they’ve got in the game and allow themselves to just focus and attend to the really important stuff, which is what goes on on the pitch, and meet their full potential.

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“With the situation with substitutes (five will be allowed to come on), it gives you more hope of being involved, so there’ll be more players involved than there would be in a normal situation.

“I’m always keen to see a good performance and I’m keen to see the lads implement what we do in training and perform the way we ask them to.

“It’s about the mentality, having a real focus on what it is we’re trying to do, understanding the management of the game, making sure they understand what the objectives are in the different times of the game, depending on the scoreline, and being able to work as an effective unit from one to 11.

“The team that has the greater cohesion, I would expect to do better.”

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Millington admits there will be nerves among the squad, but is happy with how the players are shaping up.

“I’d be worried if they didn’t experience some butterflies on the day. I would find that a bit confusing because it’s such a big occasion,” he said.

“But they’re in great shape, they all seem really happy to be back, they’re training with a freedom, enjoyment and enthusiasm, and it’s a real happy camp.

“I’m sure there’ll be a mixture of excitement and nerves, but it’s about us managing that and managing the occasion, managing the challenges the new normal produces.

“We’re all happy to be back together.”

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Millington says no stone has been left unturned in planning for the game.
“We’ve been as thorough as we can in our preparation, what we’re trying to do is work with the lads around game management, making sure they’re prepared for every eventuality, and they’ve got a clear objective.

“So if we’re one-up, two-up, what are we trying to achieve, how are we looking to manage the game?

“If we’re behind and we need to pull it back, how do we approach that situation?

“We’re trying to make sure we’ve got a thorough approach and the lads understand that.”

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If Town win, it would be the first of potentially three huge games in the space of 17 days, with a trip to Harrogate and, victory there permitting, Wembley to follow.

“We’ve thought of the process, the way it plays out, and in terms of a training programme we’ve got that in place,” Millington said.

“How we manage the physical load, how we manage the tactical approach of that training programme,

“But Boreham Wood is our sole objective, and we’ll see where that leads us.”

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