"There's a couple more that are close" - Town boss Millington targeting at least four further signings

Jordan Keane became Halifax's sixth summer addition this week when he joined the club from Stockport County, adding to the arrivals of Sam Smart, Jack Hunter, Mani Dierseruvwe, Jamie Stott and Tylor Golden.

And Millington is looking for at least four more, which will include a left-back, a right-back and a striker.

"There's a couple more that are close," he said.

"As we predicted earlier in pre-season, that it would be a case of as time went on and players missed out on other opportunities either at a higher level or in a club they may have been trialling at, then they would become available, and that's starting to happen more and more.

"So a lot of the conversations we had early on are now starting to bear fruit."

Dierseruvwe looks set to begin the season as Town's first-choice striker, but Millington says it's vital there is competition for that starting spot.

"We're going to need support for Mani, he's going to need somebody to not only challenge him and stretch him, but also to support him and be able to take minutes," he said.

"It's a tough role we ask of our strikers, we ask a lot of work out of them, and to be asking them to be playing 90 minutes week in, week out is clearly unrealistic, so we'll be looking for another striker.

"We definitely need cover at both right-back and left-back and we also want to bolster the central defensive area as well."

Lewis Alessandra and Jorome Slew, brother of Town winger Jordan, are both trialling with the club at the moment.

"They're both in with us and they've both impressed us in training," Millington said.

Millington is open to the prospect of some of the triallists at the club being signed permanently.

"The purpose of them being here is to try and earn a contract with us, so they're all here on merit and with a view to trying to earn themselves a contract with us," he said.

On speculation linking Town with Stockport right-back Sam Minihan, Millington said: "We've known about Sam for a long time, I'm aware he's currently a Stockport player.

"He's someone we've admired for a long time."

On the arrival of Keane, who won promotion twice with Stockport, Millington said: "It took a little while to get going, it's been in the offing for quite a long time, but it gathered momentum in the last few days and we managed to get it over the line.

"I've been an admirer of Jordan from his early days at Boston, but in particular his time at Stockport really stood him out as a really good footballer, in and out of possession, and he's a good character.

"He'll add some seniority to the dressing room, and he'll add some leadership that we want to the spine of the team."

Millington said Keane, who will be playing at the weekend in the round-robin games against Salford and Hertha Berlin, can play as a centre-back or a central midfielder.

"He can do both equally as well, and over the course of the season he will be asked to do both."

Youth team left-back Duarte Furtado started Tuesday's friendly against Fylde.

"He's excelled in the youth team and trained with the first-team an awful lot over the last few months," Millington said.

"We believe he earned the opportunity to be involved so it was important for us, along with Sam Essien, who played in central midfield for the last half-hour, to reward the youth team players when they're doing well and I think in both cases they acquitted themselves fantastically well for us."

Millington said Jamie Allen was unavailable for selection on Tuesday.

Midfielder Luke Summerfield took part in some of the warm-up before the Fylde game, while Millington said Kian Spence is on the road to recovery.

"We hope to see them involved probably mid-way through pre-season," said the Town boss.

On the absence of defender Jack Senior at Fylde, Millington said: "He felt his groin in training on Monday so that was just a precaution to leave him out."

And on why Kieran Green wasn't involved in the game on Tuesday, Millington said: "He phoned on Tuesday morning with flu-like symptoms, so we chose to leave him out."

Millington says he has been impressed by attacking midfielder Jamie Cooke in pre-season so far.

"Jamie's been fantastic, probably the stand-out player in training this week," he said.

"We want to give him the opportunity to show what he can do in the pre-season friendlies, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility he gets minutes out on loan this season.

"But he's in with as good a shout as anyone of earning himself a starting position in the team."

On fellow youngster Sam McLintock, Millington said: "We're just weighing up what Sam's pathway going forward looks like, whether it involves more time with us, time out on loan or a new start for him, so we'll be working with him on that over the next week."