"It's a game-changing decision" - Millington unhappy with referee after Shaymen are held at home by Bromley

Halifax led at half-time through Rob Harker's goal but were pegged back by Michael Cheek, who converted from a free-kick into the Town box.

But Millington believed the free-kick should not have been awarded by referee Scott Jackson.

"First-half we started bright, we had a very, very good chance early on for Milli, probably a bit too early on for him truth be told," Millington said.

"We then take the lead, we then hit the post, we then have some real good passages of play in their half where they just can't get near us.

"We force the to change shape midway through the half to try and deal with what we were doing and were certainly good value for coming in at half-time in the lead and if anything, disappointed it wasn't more than 1-0.

"Second-half it became a bit more of a war of attrition, I thought they landed on more seconds.

"They were always going to come out and up the levels and their intensity, there's more on it for them because they're pushing for a play-off spot so it was imperative they improved.

"I'm disappointed in the manner which we conceded.

"I'm not one for calling out officials, they have an incredibly difficult job, but it staggers me the amount of free-kicks that Michael Cheek gets from just collapsing as the ball goes into him, he's on his way down before the ball's even come in, little or not contact and the referee can't wait to blow the whistle.

"That gets them the territory in our half and that gets them the opportunity, and it's a game-changing decision that referees and officials won't see it as because it happens midway into the half, they don't see it as a game-changing decision but it's ultimately led to us losing two points.

"That's the difference really, we've coped manfully with their increased intensity in the second-half.

"But for a predictable decision, even if it's an incorrect decision, then we would have won it."

When asked if Town could have defended the free-kick better, Millington said: "I don't think we covered ourselves in glory, I think we could have dealt with it much better.

"But the frustration is we shouldn't have had to defend it, the game should have been allowed to continue, we'd have stepped in and been on the counter-attack.

"But unfortunately that's not the case.

"For the most part, the defending when Bromley weren't given a helping hand, we defended incredibly well, and the one occasion when they're helped out with a poor decision, it's the one that hurt us."

Halifax came off the pace in the second-half after a terrific opening 45 minutes.

When asked why that was, Millington said: "I think it's two-fold, I think their levels increased and I think we started to try and beat them at their game a little bit, we went a bit too direct when we could have continued to build from our centre-halves and play with a bit more quality.

"But, listen, we're 1-0 up against a promotion-chasing team and we've controlled them, so I'm not going to call out the lads for maybe trying to manage the game, but I think maybe we could have continued to try and dominate them with the ball a little bit longer and then managed the game from a later stage rather than as early as we did."

Millington was booked towards the end of the game after strongly disagreeing with one of the assistant referees' decisions.

"I questioned the linesman because he gave a throw-in when the ball hadn't gone out of play, clearly hadn't gone out of play," said the Town boss.

"I think maybe the embarrassment of making such an incorrect call, he wanted to cover that by making it a different conversation but the fact is the ball was in play and he gave a throw-in to Bromley, which was really strange."

Millington made three changes to his side, with Matty Warburton, Harker and Jordan Keane all starting.

"I hope people would see the quality of the performance overall was in-keeping with recent performances, so in that sense I'd say we've maintained our levels," Millington said.

"Its given us an opportunity to give people with knocks and maybe a certain level or either mental or physical fatigue a little breather.

"The changes haven't done us any harm in terms of the result and I think they'll have done us the world of good in terms of allowing certain players to get their levels of freshness and energy back."

Town defender Jack Senior was forced off in the second-half with an injury.

"I think he was booted in the hip so hopefully it's not going to be anything significantly long-term," Millington said.

"But it's clearly not good when somebody has to come off with an injury like that.

"It's a case of fingers-crossed but he'll need to be assessed and monitored over the next couple of days."

And midfielder Kian Spence was an unused substitute in the game, his first time being named in a matchday squad since Boxing Day.

"Exciting times, he took part in the warm-up on Saturday, he's been really bright in training," Millington said.

"In an ideal world we'd have liked to have got him ten minutes tonight to just give him the confidence back really but that last ten minutes certainly wasn't the time to be reintroducing someone after such a long lay-off.

"So we'll see where we're at come the weekend."