Millington bemoans poor first-half and failure to take chances in Shaymen's draw with Solihull

Andrew Dallas put Solihull ahead in the first-half, before Mani Dieseruvwe equalised for The Shaymen after the break.

"It's just a familiar feeling really isn't it, what could have been," Millington said.

"If we'd have put 60 or 70 minutes worth of performance together, what we might have been able to achieve.

"But again, we've given them a head start.

"Again the reaction second-half has been fantastic, but if we'd have started the game like that and gone well into the second-half like that we'd have given ourselves a much better chance of winning the game."

It was another poor first-half from Town, who toiled badly and deservedly trailed at the interval.

"I think we probably over-thought it a bit," Millington said. "They've got the rotations in the wide areas and I think there was too much fear of them picking us off if we went pressing them.

"Of course we want to be in a compact shape, but from that shape we need to press with intensity and we didn't do that at all in the first-half.

"That meant they had the better of the first-half. I don't think they were particularly strong, it's not like they were peppering our goal and Sam Johnson had a lot to do.

"But they certainly looked the better team because they were moving the ball better and we were struggling to answer the questions they were posing."

Of Town's 17 home goals this season, only three have come in the first-half.

"The bigger worry for me is the types of goals we're having to score, we've got Milli Alli rasping in a worldie on Saturday against Boreham Wood when we had other clear-cut chances, or very good balls across the box we didn't finish off," Millington said.

"And then it's even more magnified today in that Mani's scored a 20, 22 yard worldie and yet we've missed chances within the six-yard box that you really don't need any type of technical ability to finish, you've just got to get something on it.

"The positive is we're creating those chances, the negative is we're having to rely on shots from outside the box to earn us points in games and that's got to change.

"We want to be finishing all the chances that happen within the six-yard box, and by all means we'll take the odd worldie from outside the box, but let's not rely on those."

Dallas' opener is the latest in a strong of avoidable goals Town have shipped this season.

"Yeah, terrible," admitted Millington. "There's a question mark over whether or not it was offside, but that's not an excuse because we still should have defended it better.

"We don't get out quick enough off the initial clearance to go and press it and as we come out, we don't mark, so it's another one we've got to accept was more our doing than theirs."

Millington thought his side should have had two penalties in the game.

"I've just been in to see the referee about those," he said.

"I think there was some inconsistency around free0kicks that were given Solihull's way in open play, with very limited contact.

"And then there's been heavy contact on a couple of occasions in their box just waved away and it does confuse me.

"They were penalties."

Overall, Millington felt his side did enough to win the game.

"We've conceded a goal in the first-half again that's more our doing than theirs," said the Halifax boss.

"They've not really affected Sam Johnson for the rest of the half and then, throughout the second-half, we've had the majority of the pressure.

"We've delivered the majority of the intensity and we've created the majority of the chances, and those were some really clear-cut chances, but we didn't put them away.

"I think we're probably more disappointed with the result than Solihull will be.

"But then there's the chance right at the death, which could have undermined the whole evening's work, and thankfully Sam dug us out at that point and retained the point."

On the substitution of winger Max Wright, Millington said: "He was exhausted, he's playing on a massive pitch which is dead heavy, he's done a massive amount of running.

"He was stood five minutes before that with his hands on his knees, desperately trying to get his breath back, so as much as we'd love to keep him on for 90 minutes, there's no point in keeping on a player who's no longer got the ability to get around the pitch."

It's now just one win in 12 for The Shaymen, excluding penalties.

"We created enough chances to win the game at Boreham Wood, we created enough chances to win the game today," Millington said.

"We're certainly doing enough to win games, we've clearly got to do more because we're not winning them, but I'd prefer to look at it as two unbeaten."

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