Millington wants Shaymen to show they can compete with the best in Good Friday clash with Wrexham

Town will host big-spending Wrexham a week after their incredible FA Trophy semi-final triumph at Altrincham which booked their return to Wembley next month.

And Millington is confident his players can put the euphoria of that win to one side and refocus on what promises to be a huge test against the Welsh side.

"In some respects it's a blessing to have this game after a cup semi-final and in another respect it's a real challenge because obviously we can't afford to put a single foot wrong against Wrexham because every tiny mistake, they've got the capacity to punish," Millington told the Courier.

"So we've got to be right on our mettle and be prepared and fully focused on them.

"In some respects it's good to have such a big, important game because it does refocus the mind straight away onto the job.

"If it was a slightly lesser fixture against what are considered the lesser teams in an atmosphere that wasn't as electric as Good Friday's atmosphere's going to be, then it might have been a bigger banana skin.

"But we can't ignore the enormity of the game for sure."

While Millington says there are now places at Wembley to play for, the FA Trophy final will be put to one side and the focus will return to the league.

"For me it's all about the next game," he said.

"Of course we're aware of the next block of three games because of the importance of all three.

"But all the focus now goes on to fully preparing and fully delivering against Wrexham and that's all we'll focus on.

"We'll pick a team we think is capable of getting us three points against Wrexham, that's the way we'll approach it.

"The lads are in no doubt that when they do get called upon in these remaining league games, they've got to perform because it might be the last chance to stake a claim for Wembley starts, so they're fully aware of that.

"And with an almost fully-fit squad we've got a lot of players to pick from and they'll all have an opportunity to show what they can do between now and the end of the league season.

"Competition is rife and we're in a position that everybody should be motivated to deliver when they get the chance."

Millington says there will be no fear from his side at taking on such a formidable opposition, with Wrexham already scoring more than 100 goals this season and winning 31 of their 40 league games.

"We go into it looking to win the game," the Town boss said. "Everyone will be bored of me saying it this season but we do approach every game with the intention of trying to win it.

"I'd be a fool if I didn't acknowledge that's a huge challenge against this Wrexham side because of their form this season.

"We go into it with a realistic approach of knowing it's going to be a huge challenge, but it's 11 men against 11 men at the end of the day and we've got some fantastic young men in our squad now and some excellent experience and we've given some fantastic performances that haven't quite been fully rewarded at times this season.

"So we don't go into it with any fear and we go into it with every intention of trying to win the game, and if we fail to do that we certainly want to put on a show and show that we can compete with the big boys, like we did for large parts of the Chesterfield game and Barnet at home.

"Barnet are another strong team at the top end of the division who we went toe-to-toe with for the full match and should probably have come out of that game with a win and certainly deserved a draw out of it.

"So we know we can do that and we want to show to everybody that we can compete with those at the top end of the division because that's what we'll be working hard to do next season."

Halifax are eight points above the relegation zone in the National League with just seven matches remaining.

"Until we're mathematically safe it's an unfinished job, but over and above that we've got to finish strong," Millington said.

"There's loads of reasons why we need to do well, there's players playing for contracts, there's us looking at the players we've got in the building and how we build the squad for next season.

"We know what we've got to get right next season after this season, we know where we've got to strengthen and what attributes the players we retain and bring in have got to have.

"So there's an awful lot of motivation there.

"Of course players are motivated by the opportunity to play at Wembley, so they've got to be mindful of finishing strong to put themselves in with a chance of starting at Wembley.

"We're one defeat in eight, and that was away at Chesterfield, which there's no shame in, so we've got to maintain and improve on what is a steady run, and make it a good run by turning some of the draws we're getting into wins.

"But there's no shortage of reasons why we want to finish strong and play well."

When asked if Town would need their best performance of the season in order to beat Wrexham, Millington said: "I think we probably are yeah, we're going to have to be as good as we've been in some of the performances and for the first 65, 70 minutes of Wrexham away, where we were fantastic and could have arguably come out of that game with something.

"We're going to reach those levels and probably raise them as well.

"But we know we can do that, we've got to get the blend of youth and experience right because it's a huge game so we'll need the fearlessness and the legs that the younger players bring us but we'll also need the experience of some of the older heads to be able to manage the game and try to manage the momentum of the game.

"So we're going to need a number of things to come together but most importantly, we've got to turn up and perform because we're off the back of a fantastic result against Altrincham and we go into a week where we've got Wrexham, then York, then Maidstone and we've got to be right at our best for all three of those games."

Wrexham have already reached 100 points this season, and are three points clear of second-placed Notts County with a game in hand.

Top-scorer Paul Mullin has 34 league goals this season - only three fewer than Halifax have managed altogether in the league - while ex-England keeper Ben Foster and former Town striker Billy Waters are among their squad."One thing I think that goes unmentioned when we talk about Wrexham's strengths and their power and the depth of their resources is the job Phil Parkinson and the staff have done," Millington said.

"In some respects you expect him to do that because of the players he's got at his disposal, because of the resources, because if they want to go and buy a player, they can do.

"But what we've also got to remember the level of pressure and the weight of expectation that he has to carry because all of that privilege the club have currently got.

"He can't afford to put a foot wrong and I think it's a rare occasion this season when they have, so I think it should be acknowledged that him and his staff have done a wonderful job because everybody wants them to slip and everybody's looking for them to trip over.

"So credit's got to go to them for the relentless nature they've approached the season."

More than 4,000 Wrexham fans are expected at the game, which is set to be Halifax's biggest home attendance since their 2017 play-off final win against Chorley, which was watched by 7,920.

"The fans will find themselves in exactly the same situation as the players in that they're up against a real challenging opposition," Millington said.

"We had an experience of that on Saturday because we had one thousand up against nearly four thousand Altrincham fans.

"So Saturday was good practice for the fans so they can bring the levels. When they did reach the levels on Saturday, it was really impressive and it was a sight to behold.

"So if we can reach those dizzy heights again of the atmosphere they created and maintain that for 90 minutes plus then wow, what an experience it'll be for everybody present."

Millington gave his players a couple of days off at the start of this week.

"The alternative was come in on Monday, have Tuesday off and have a two-day lead-in, but we just felt that the emotional experience of Saturday meant that coming on Monday would have been a wasted journey for everybody because it was such an emotionally-tiring day," he said.

Millington says Harrogate loanee Max Wright could feature on Friday in some capacity.

"We'll be looking at him in training this week to see where he's up to," said the Town boss.

"Friday might be a bit too soon for a start but potentially off the bench, and I would hope that by Monday we'll have a chance to involve him."

On Liverpool loanee Fidel O'Rourke, Millington said: "He's fit and firing and would have been up for potential selection to start on Saturday had he not fallen ill on Thursday.

"But he's fully fit. It's good to have him fit and back around it."

And on midfielder Kian Spence, the Halifax boss said: "He's still progressing slowly and hasn't progressed to kicking a ball yet."