"There should be an improved urgency about everything we do" - Millington looking for improvements when Town visit Boston on Saturday

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
Town boss Chris Millington is confident there will be a reaction from his team when they visit Boston United on Saturday.

Halifax were dumped out of the FA Cup last weekend with a 4-2 defeat at Oldham Athletic, a game in which they were 4-1 down at half-time.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But they have a chance to help put that behind them when they return to National League action at a Boston team who are third-from-bottom having won just two of their first 13 league matches.

"We don't want to get too downbeat about a poor 45 minutes of football," Millington said

Chris MillingtonChris Millington
Chris Millington

"The danger at this club is you have a wobble or a poor game, or in Saturday's case, a poor 45 minutes and we all focus on that and forget about all the good things going on at the football club.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"So we want to get back to showing people why we need them to get behind the team.

"We want to get the town out for the football club and try and build some momentum in terms of the following we've got, and Saturday's the perfect opportunity to do that."

Millington added: "The first few games of the season were a bit of a challenge because of personnel issues, but beyond that we've dominated possession in pretty much every game we've played, we've created more chances than our opponents, we're scoring more goals than we have in recent seasons.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"There's a lot to be positive about but we'll continue to try and do our bit in that sense and I know the vast majority of the fans see the progress we're making.

"We need the rest of the town to see it as well, and want to get behind it.

"It isn't going to be without its problems, it isn't going to be without its off days, it isn't going to be without its mistakes and odd poor performances.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"But that's part of being in football, it doesn't all go perfectly, but we've got to see the progress and be really positive about the direction of travel of the football club."

On whether he expected to see a reaction from his side after the Oldham game, Millington said: "Games like that hurt, you don't want to get beaten by your local rivals in that way.

"You don't want to suffer a 45 minutes where you come off 4-1 down.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"I agree with a lot of what's been said inside and outside the group.

"Anything that could go wrong did go wrong, there were certainly poor performances in there but there was also a bit of bad luck mixed in to make it worse.

"We can't get too wrapped up in a bad 45 minutes of football, but it hurts, and when anything hurts like that, we should see a reaction to it because we don't want to experience that kind of feeling again.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It does focus the mind and it puts us in a position where we want to give that little bit extra and we want to make sure we don't suffer that kind of fate again.

"So I think in that sense there will be some level of reaction and there should be an improved urgency about everything we do."

Town conceded four goals in a half of football on Saturday for the first time since April 2021, and have kept just three clean sheets in 15 games in all competitions this season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"In the league we've conceded about the same number as we did this time last year," Millington said.

"Before Tamworth we'd conceded exactly the same amount as we had at the same stage last season.

"The only difference this season is we're conceding pretty much every game, so rather than conceding two, three, four in a game - obviously Oldham in the FA Cup aside - we've conceded the odd goal in a number of games, which we didn't do last season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"So we want to get back to keeping clean sheets but we said this post-Christmas last season, we wanted to go from being a team that was winning games 1-0 and having 30 per cent possession to creating more scoring opportunities, because people demanded more entertainment.

"Well, to do that you've got to put more men further up the pitch, you leave more risk at the back and as we create and we score more, we're going to be vulnerable to potentially conceding more.

"So it does go with the territory but we're not going to ignore it, we want to score more and concede less, that's what we're always working to try and achieve."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Town finished Saturday's game with a back three, and when asked whether he would consider a change in system at Boston, Millington said: "It's certainly not off the table.

"What we've done so far this season is we've played more expansive football, we've created more opportunities and we've scored more goals, so that is a very important point to note.

"But the balance is always about scoring more whilst conceding less.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It's something we'll consider for Boston, but if we don't we ain't going to be rigid throughout the season in playing the same shape, that's for sure."

Midfielder Florent Hoti came off the bench to set-up Jo Cummings' consolation goal at Oldham, but has been struggling for form of late.

"He's a player we love working with and he makes us that bit different when he's fully firing," Millington said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"The difference for Flo is he missed pre-season, coming back from the operation he had to have on his shoulder in the close season.

"So he was behind everyone else, and then when he got in the team he got a run of nine starts and in some of those games, was very, very influential and others not.

"That's where we're at now, he's basically got his pre-season out of the way and what we're looking for now is consistency.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"This is why he's here; if you can get a player with the talent of Flo Hoti influencing every aspect of the game, both in and out of possession, and doing so on a consistent basis, then it'll be very, very positive for us as a team and also very, very positive for Flo in terms of his career progression because he'll attract an awful lot of attention.

"We've every faith that'll happen, and a little bit of patience and support for Flo will go an awful long way."

Hoti isn't the only Town player producing mixed performances though, leading to a rather unsettled side.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"I think there is consistency; Will Smith's played an awful lot of football, Jo Cummings has come in but Adam Senior's played every minute of every game," said Millington.

"Scott High and Jack Evans have begun to build a really solid partnership, Max Wright, when he's been fit, has figured an awful lot, Andrew's (Oluwabori) played an awful lot of football but of late he's had to work his way back into the team, and Jamie Cooke has figured in most games this season.

"There's maybe two or three positions where we've got to get some consistency of form, but over the two (previous) seasons I've been manager, I believe we've got much more strength in depth and we've got more competition for places.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We've got players who are able to come in and threaten those who might feel like they're the first choice.

"We're confident we'll hit a run of form but there's always going to be injuries, Cookie came out (of the team) because of a red card and had to work his way back in, and there'll be the odd one who'll have to come out because of a downturn in form or situations where they need to be better.

"There's always going to be reasons we'll have to make changes but I do feel, given the stage of the season we're at, that we're more settled than we've been in the previous two seasons for knowing what shapes we're going to be able to play consistently and what players are consistently performing to a good level."

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.