Millington ‘disappointed’ despite Shaymen’s dominant victory over Dorking

Chris Millington admitted there was ‘a tinge of disappointment’ despite his FC Halifax Town side claiming a 3-1 win over Dorking Wanderers on Tuesday night.
Chris Millington admitted there was ‘a tinge of disappointment’ despite his FC Halifax Town side claiming a 3-1 win over Dorking Wanderers on Tuesday night.Chris Millington admitted there was ‘a tinge of disappointment’ despite his FC Halifax Town side claiming a 3-1 win over Dorking Wanderers on Tuesday night.
Chris Millington admitted there was ‘a tinge of disappointment’ despite his FC Halifax Town side claiming a 3-1 win over Dorking Wanderers on Tuesday night.

Three excellent goals from Jamie Cooke, Kian Spence and Tylor Golden put Town firmly in control - and on their way to a sixth consecutive home league victory which has put them two points within the play-offs - but Millington wasn’t blown away by his side’s display.

“It is probably a mark of how far we have come in that we have won 3-1 and we are disappointed with the performance,” Millington said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We were disappointed to concede and then they had another chance late on. But it’s been a marker of how strong we have been lately that we haven’t been conceding chances, let alone goals.

“There’s a tinge of disappointment but I have got to remind myself that the lads put in a mammoth effort on Saturday against Chesterfield, there have been illnesses and bugs throughout the camp and we have been down to the bare bones in recent weeks and they have put in a massive effort to get us to this point.

“We knew it would be difficult as the atmosphere against Chesterfield - on a Saturday afternoon at The Shay - was phenomenal. On a cold, miserable Tuesday evening in December, against a team like Dorking who don’t bring a huge away following, the atmosphere wasn’t quite the same and the expectation is possibly there from the fans that we will go and win the game anyway.

“So it was a different type of game and we knew that we would have to get ourselves up for it. We were pleased with elements of the game but there are elements of our possession where we want to be better, slicker, crisper and more accurate and we will work on that and keep trying to improve that side of our game.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It is one of those occasions where I have got to go against the grain a bit and be pleased with the result even if the performance wasn’t quite where we want it to be.”

Ahead of the fixture, which was finally concluded at the fourth time of asking, Millington had insisted his side needed to score more goals.

And his players certainly delivered on the message as Cooke, Spence and Golden all produced wonderful finishes - ensuring the Shaymen had netted more than twice in a single league game for the first time this season.

On the goals, Millington said:

“To score three goals - and for it to be three different scorers and players contributing other than the two main strikers - are pleasing things we can take out of tonight.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s the first time we’ve scored three in the league but it would have been nice if it was a clean sheet and a 3-0 but, again, that’s me being picky.

“Jamie Cooke is a player who does so much unselfish work and continues to contribute, so for him to get that reward and set us off tonight was pleasing.

“And we know what a clean striker of the ball Kian can be, so when he gets them on target they can be hard to save.

“Tyler made me nervous the way he stayed on the ball for so long in the box! I was slightly anxious and I wasn’t certain that he would get time to finish it off.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Spence’s impressive performance certainly caught the eye as he craftily assisted Cooke and Golden for their goals, as well as scoring a long-distance cracker himself in-between.

On the number 8’s virtuoso display, Millington said:

“He has played two positions today. He played the deeper midfield role which he has not played for a while and then had a little spell in the more advanced role and then dropped back to the deeper role late on.

“He has shown his versatility and shown his importance to the team and as we always expect with Kian he has added an incredible amount of energy in terms of his willingness to run, to press, to join in with attacks and to get us up the pitch.

“It was a typically important performance from Kian but very pleasing that there was an end product to his work as well.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“His strike was very pleasing and that kind of finish from the edge of the box is something we have had a lot of opportunity to work on over the last couple of weeks, so it was pleasing to see that go in.”

Matt Warburton made his first league start since September 24, in the 1-0 defeat at Eastleigh, and he was one of two changes from the splendid victory over Chesterfield, with Jesse Debrah coming in to captain the side. Jordan Slew also got some valuable minutes in the second half when he replaced Angelo Capello.

Jack Senior and Luke Summerfield dropped out of the matchday squad completely due to illness.

On the injury and illness front, Millington revealed:

“Warby is great because he is a goal threat and he is experienced and a good communicator so that helps us solve problems on the pitch particularly well. It was great to have him in and around.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It was also a fantastic opportunity to get some minutes for Jordan Slew who has been out for a while. It was good to get him back in the mix.

“Both (Jack and Luke) are ill and both were in a bad way on Saturday and really put themselves through the wringer for us to help us get the three points.

“It would have been foolish to ask them to do that again tonight in such a short space of time because they have both been quite ill. For the health of the boys, it was the right thing to leave them out.”

Related topics: