Millington says Shaymen will appeal sending-off that could keep Dieseruvwe out of FA Trophy final

The Halifax striker was sent-off for an elbow on Woking defender Joe McNerney late in the game, which will rule him out of the FA Trophy final next month unless the decision is overturned.

The dismissal was a sour note on a superb win for The Shaymen, thanks to Rob Harker's first-half goal.

"I felt it was harsh," Millington said of Dieseruvwe's sending-off. "He's just come on, it's the first time he's competed for an aerial ball, he's certainly not the type of player who go up with the intention of hurting anyone.

"It looked to me like he's using his arm to lever himself into the air and the lad's come round his blind-side and yeah, the elbow strikes the lad, but I think the injury makes it look worse than it was as a challenge.

"It was probably a yellow, to make the point, but I thought a red was harsh."

When asked if the red card would rule Dieseruvwe out of Town's game at Wembley, Millington said: "It's a three game ban, so Eastleigh, the Trophy and then it'll go into next season.

"We've got to look into it and I've discussed it with the ref already.

"We'll review the situation and see what we can do to try and at least get it looked at.

"He's been on a journey this season. He came here to score goals and be fighting at the top end of the division, and he's had to dig in, graft and help the team find itself.

"He's done that, he's contributed to us getting to where we are, which is in a much healthier position in the league and in a Trophy final.

"So it'd just be devastating for him not to have the opportunity to take part in that and contribute to that because he's earned the right to.

"It's certainly my intention that we do everything we can to try and help him out, because that's what he deserves."

Millington was otherwise delighted with what he saw from his side as they moved up to tenth in the National League.

"I thought they were fantastic," he said, "there was a togetherness and a unity about them.

"Matty Warburton said at half-time that lads were celebrating good tackles, good blocks, which is a real positive sign of unity and something we've got to be dead proud of.

"I felt it at half-time. We didn't know if we'd go on and win it but I'm just so proud of the performance and the togetherness they showed.

"Through sheer determination, they've got the win.

"Darren Sarll's teams are incredibly combative, tough, they keep going from the first minute to the last.

"This is an incredibly tight pitch, so there's a lot of collisions and coming-togethers.

"Their robustness is by design, it isn't by accident. They expect to deal with these types of games because that's what they're designed to do.

"We're not quite the same, we're used to playing on a big, open pitch with lots of space and having a bit more time on the ball.

"So the way the lads dealt with it was phenomenal and I'm just really delighted they got the win because I felt their hard work and organisation deserved a reward, so I'm really pleased for them in that sense."

On match-winner Harker, Millington said: "He's growing up. He came in as a finisher, which we see day in, day out in training.

"When he latches onto things like that, you've every confidence he'll find the back of the net.

"What he's learning to do is all the rest of the game that keeps him on the pitch long enough to be around when those chances present themselves.

"Not dissimilar to Milli Alli, who's got to do the same, learn how to make themselves of value to the team so that when the opportunities present themselves to score goals, they've done enough to keep themselves on the pitch.

"That's a real important lesson and one they both seem to be learning."

The Shaymen also registered another clean sheet thanks to their resolute defensive display, which also pleased the Town boss.

"I'm a bit of an anorak me, I like that stuff, I love a really solid, hard-working, well-organised defensive display and we had that today," Millington said.

"There was a resilience and a robustness which lads like Angelo, Milli, Rob, Tylor, Adam Senior, Jamie Stott and Festus Arthur have learned that sometimes, that's just what you've got to do in the National League to get yourself a result.

"It's a very different performance to the one when we faced Woking earlier in the season, so hopefully it's a marker of how far the team has come."

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