"It was vital we got the three points" - Millington hails 'important' win after Shaymen beat Aldershot

Goals from Harvey Gilmour and Milli Alli opened up an eight-point gap between Town and the bottom four.

"I'm pleased to get the three points, pleased to earn the result and edge that bit closer to the 50-point mark," Millington said.

"It was vital we got the three points tonight.

"The focus has all been on making sure we do everything we can to win the game tonight and it was important we did.

"The reason I feel we needed it is because we've put in some good performances recently and come away with draws - we should have beat Yeovil, we should have beat Gateshead, we should have beat Dorking.

"There's any number of games over recent weeks where we've worked hard, played well, created chances and not won.

"So that can't continue for long because that in itself is demotivating, players want to win football matches and if what they're doing isn't securing them results then it becomes difficult to get motivated.

"So from that point of view was the most important thing, so the players got some reward for the hard work and for trying to do the right things.

"Ironically it probably wasn't our best performance of recent weeks but that's the story of our season, we've played fantastically well in games and come out with little or nothing, and then in both games against Aldershot recently, we've not played particularly well but won both of them."

Town dominated the game but struggled to create many chances before Gilmour's goal.

But Millington was always confident a goal was coming.

"Absolutely yeah, I think we controlled the play, I think we played really good stuff between the boxes in the first-half," he said.

"Angelo Capello put in three, maybe four, really good crosses but we just didn't have the bodies attacking the space, there weren't enough players hitting the spaces in the area.

"We knew we were getting balls in the box, we knew we were playing well up to the edge of the box, and with a couple of tweaks and a couple of words of encouragement at half-time, we knew we'd get opportunities."

On Gilmour, the Town boss said: "Delighted for him, what a journey he's been on this season, from being treated like a pariah at the beginning of the season to being almost undroppable at this stage of the season and winning us games, like the FA Trophy quarter-final and important games at home.

"He's a player that we're desperate to keep hold of next season but we need the fans to help us with that because the atmosphere around some of the layers is really demotivating for some of them.

"So if we're going to hold on to the likes of Harvey Gilmour and Jack Senior, they've got to make it a fun place to play football.

"The fans want wins, as well do, but I think what they've got to recognise is we've got a young group of players who we desperately want to succeed, they want to desperately want to succeed and they need encouragement.

"They're not just going to turn into world-beaters overnight.

"It's a season that should have been a different story, the story should have been about us flying high and with the big names that we brought in, we expected to be doing that, and through no fault of the players, the situation has been different and more challenging.

"We've got to recognise there are positive stories coming out of the club at the moment, which are some of the fantastic young players who are coming through.

"Fantastic young players have off days and make poor decisions at times, but we need to support them, we need to encourage them and we need to make them want to be here."

Alli and Mani Dieseruvwe both played well coming off the bench in the second-half.

"Important players for us tonight, coming off the bench," Millington said.

"I had a chat with Mani yesterday and he felt the rest had done him good and he felt re-energised and ready to impact games again.

"And not dissimilar with Milli, although he put in some fantastic numbers in terms of his running stats against Chesterfield, he admitted he felt tired and maybe more mentally than physically.

"It looked tonight, when they came on, that the rest has done them both the world of good so they've both done themselves no harm in putting themselves up for selection for Saturday."

Read more from the Town boss in Thursday's Courier and on our website later this week.