"The challenges have come left, right and centre but we've faced them head on" - Town assistant manager Cooper reflects on his first season at The Shay

Town's assistant manager joined the club last summer to work alongside Chris Millington and try to produce another promotion push at The Shay.

But by the start of October, Halifax were bottom of the table having won just two of their first 11 games.

Halifax then won nine of their next 14 games to rise to the verge of the play-offs and ensure progress in the FA Trophy.

One win in their next 13 games, excluding penalties, piled the pressure back on the duo as any hopes of a top seven finish vanished.

But seven wins, excluding penalties, in the last 15 matches have seen Town progress to Wembley and finish the season bang in form.

And that's not to mention injuries, illness and a host of other problems he and Millington have had to contend with.

"When we've been with other managers after games, they've said 'what a season for you in terms of the journey you've been on' and all the stuff that's been thrown at us," Cooper says.

"For me, it's my first season in the National League so it's all I've known.

"It's just been constant, constant changes, challenges, things thrown at us that we've had to deal with but it's probably made us forge a really strong, positive relationship sooner.

"We want the best for the club, the best for the town and to develop players and be successful.

"We challenge each other, we're supportive and my role is to listen and give advice when needed.

"Clearly, that's probably been more prominent than any season we'll ever have because of the challenges we've had to face from all sides this season.

"I think it brought us closer together a lot quicker than expected, the long phone calls and the long trips home, there's been a need for togetherness and a real brutal honesty because it does take its toll.

"It's a lifestyle, it's not a job that switches off, you're constantly on and you're constantly thinking about what's just happened, what's going on currently and what's coming over the hill in terms of challenges.

"It has been tough, especially for Milly in his first year in the role, but I know he's deeply passionate about the club, he wants to do well for everyone and he's been driven by that throughout the season.

"I know he didn't get a break over the off-season last year because he took on the role straight away, so hopefully he'll get a bit of down time, get the recruitment right and done early and then have a bit of a breather and press the reset button in terms of mentally more than anything, and then be recharged and ready to go ahead to hit pre-season."

Cooper feel he is a better coach now than at the start of the season for the adversity he has experienced.

"As a staff, we've remained really strong and shown unity in what we're trying to do," he says.

"We haven't torn up what we know best and what we feel develops players.

"We always knew it was going to take time, we always knew with an overhaul of players in the summer and a new management team, it wasn't going to happen overnight.

"We wanted it to happen sooner and we thought things were stating to click earlier, when we started a good run going into the December period.

"And then we got derailed again and had to regroup.

"But what's been consistent is just keep grafting on the pitch with the players and keep trying to improve them, keep trying to develop them, keep trying to give feedback to areas we'd like to improve and what they're doing well. That's remained throughout the season.

"The challenges have come left, right and centre but we've faced them head on, faced any criticism head on as well and kept going with what we needed to do.

"Whether it's been bringing in reinforcements when we needed to who had an impact, whether it's been tweaking formations but still retaining the principles we have and how we want the team to play.

"I've definitely grown as a coach in that sense through the challenges we've had.

"The schedule is relentless, the games that were called off meant we ended up in a backlog and that means your training time is decreased because you're more about recovery and rest and there's a quick turnover to focus on the next game.

"It's about being adaptable and make sure we've been clear in what we've been trying to do in our planning."

Reflecting on the season, the former Leeds United academy coach says: "A real journey, obviously the latter stages of it have been really positive and there's been some green shoots of what we embedded at the start of the season, with a lot of players making the most of their opportunity and getting a lot of minutes at this level.

"The slow start has ultimately probably cost us when you look at the league placing and how agonisingly close we could have been to the play-offs when you look at some of the performances we had in the early stage of the season and then that period over Christmas and into January.

"There was multiple circumstances around that but we're responsible for the results on the pitch and the development of the players.

"We had a really great spell with six wins on the bounce with more free-flowing, attacking football, pressing, and that's come again later at the end of the season.

"But there's been periods in there when it's been really disappointing, especially at the start and then around that Christmas period and into January where we just didn't get the results or the performances that merited the results, which was frustrating.

"But knowing that a lot of the players that we've needed, with the high turnover we've had through injury and illness, there's been a lot that have stepped up and had their first real, true test playing in the National League.

"And there are good signs for the future from those players."

Despite hopes of another play-off finish, The Shaymen ended the campaign ten points short of the top seven.

"Ultimately on the day the performances haven't been good enough, especially if we think of certain home games," Cooper says.

"There's been opportunities we've created and haven't taken.

"We've never been one that has conceded an amount of goals so in terms of out of possession, when we haven't had the ball, we've been quite solid and structured, especially after the first dozen games.

"But it's been as a collective, not just from any striker that's been on the pitch or a front three, we just haven't converted the chances or scored enough goals.

"Coupled with that, illness and injury levels have been pretty high but ultimately, no excuses.

"We've needed to be more clinical and more ruthless in that final third, create more attacks and take more of the chances.

"I think that's shown by what's gone on later in the season where we've had more attempts at goal and scored more.

"Collectively, defensively we've been pretty sound throughout the season, but ultimately it's the responsibility of the staff that we're best prepared and delivering performances that merit how we want to play and that hasn't been consistent all the way through the season."

But there have been some positive moments as well as negative ones for Town this term.

"What we needed to do in difficult moments when we were really suffering was discuss it, talk it through, analyse it, go through the same process but be really open to what we need to do to turn it round," Cooper says.

"That was the same after the York game at home, after the Chesterfield game at home, after Wrexham at home.

"It's not all been due to what's gone wrong and what do we need to change, but what produced those games, what produced the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

"So not always just focusing on what went wrong and what do we need to fix, but why have these performances come off the back of the preparation we've done, whether it's been team selection or tactics.

"It has been trying to remain level headed all the way through, trying not to get too down during the low moments but also not celebrate and go absolutely crazy when we get a victory.

"The transition from Woking to York, when we went really high press and trying to win the ball back as early as we could and run all over teams, did produce a positive result and maybe a momentum shift for the players as well."

Halifax ended the season strongly, taking 18 points from the last 24 available, and of course, reaching the final of the FA Trophy at Wembley.

"Massively excited, it's a brilliant opportunity for us as coaches, and to go up against a team who are really well-coached," Cooper says.

"They like to get it on the deck and play, so to pit your wits against another team who like to get the ball down and play is a great challenge and one that we're relishing.

"To be able to represent the town on the day and take a large number of fans down there, to have a day and an occasion like we're going to have, is brilliant.

"We've got to stay humble as a staff and make sure we don't change our approach too much and how we've worked over the course of the season.

"You can tell there's a lot more interest in the game, being around family and friends who all want to be part of it, it's got that real excitement and buzz around it.

"To play at the national stadium and be part of the coaching team doing that is really exciting and something I'm really proud to be doing with this group of staff.

"I'm looking forward to the preparations, then getting down on the day and hoping to do ourselves justice on the day.

"We've spoken to big Sam about the impact it has and spoken to past players as well and their memories of the day.

"I've spoken to supporters about it as well who were there last time.

"It's just dead exciting and I'm just keen to be part of what is hopefully a memorable end to the season."

The end to one season inevitably sees attention turn to the start of the next, even with a Wembley final in-between.

And Cooper feels The Shaymen have a strong foundation to build-on heading into next season.

"I do, and that goes back to the work on the grass," he says.

"It has taken longer than I anticipated but we're hoping we're showing the supporters the fruits of a lot of hard work throughout the season and we're now more settled in how we want to play.

"The development of some of the players has really kicked on, especially in the last couple of months.

"We finished the season really strong, which is a positive way to go into a cup final and the off-season, refresh and then go again, keeping a core group of players and adding some quality as well.

"I think we're in a much better place now in terms of the players we've got have got a lot more minutes under their belt, a lot of good experiences to learn from, which can only put us in a better stead going into a new season."

The success or failure of Town's campaign next season will depend a lot on how many of their squad then can keep and who they can bring in.

"It's one of the main facets of a successful National League team," Cooper says.

"The recruitment and retention of players is a massive part of what we do, and you saw what happens with players leaving to go into the Football League last season, multiple players leaving and bringing a new group of players in.

"They need time to adjust and adapt to how we work, how we coach and how we play.

"The players who people might not have known too much about at the beginning of the season are the ones that people are mentioning now in a positive way, how they've grown and what they're like as National League players.

"It's essential we secure and tie people down, that we retain the people we can, but that we're also constantly working to try and bring players in that are either going to hit the ground running and make us stronger, or as we've done before, players who are a bit younger and might not start straight away, but can build-up and gather momentum, adapt and take a first-team shirt.

"It's huge that we try and do it early and as smoothly as possible and not leave a lot of it to the last minute.

"Not all of that is in our hands. It's a really difficult part of the industry now in terms of people that are involved in negotiating with a first-team player, but Milly's in complete clarity in terms of what he's after, what he's looking at, supported by the staff to go and watch players and gather as much information as we can to help him make an informed decision on what he's looking for."

Cooper says that work never stops behind-the-scenes. Challenging, demanding, unrelenting.

"It's constant, I don't think there's ever a time when it's not. It's always bubbling away," he says.

"It's just whether it takes more of the manager's time and my time at different stages of the season.

"We're constantly out watching games throughout the season, whether it's been the league above, the league below, two league below or our league.

"That's with an eye to not just who we're playing the next game or the game after that but potential signings as well.

"Then you have your own network, our background of working with younger players who are coming into senior football over the last three or four years.

"It does ramp up over the last five weeks or so, we've been meeting more regularly about it.

"But it is constant throughout the season, we have a database of players which is updated weekly and from that, we get a profile of the type of players we're looking for and the areas we're looking to strengthen.

"And then it's over to the manager to make the decision on whether he thinks it's a viable fit with the chairman to see if it's going to work financially within the structure of the club."