"They were very sharp" - Town boss Millington happy with what he's seen as Shaymen return for pre-season training

The Shaymen met up for a day of testing at Leeds Beckett University on Friday before starting training proper today (Monday).

The Town boss says things have been going "very well" since pre-season preparations began.

"We had pre-season testing on Friday which all went smoothly," he told the Courier.

"It was interesting to see the results but everyone performed well and it was a really well run day by Aaron Scholes.

"We've been back out on the grass today, which is great, get the ball rolling and get the lads at it.

"They were very sharp, there were one or two who were really fantastic but it was a sharp session considering it was the first session back."

Town had 27 players take part in Monday's session, which included four youth team players and three triallists.

"All in really good shape," Millington said, "almost like they've not been away in some cases."

New signings Will Smith and Tom Pugh have been part of training, but Florent Hoti and Ryan Galvin are not taking part yet due to their recovery from close season operations on their shoulder and ankle respectively.

"Those two, and Jack Evans, had operations in the close season," said Millington.

"Jack's back in training because it was on his hand but Flo and Ryan will be mid-to-end of pre-season before they're back in."

Millington reiterated that attacker Jamie Cooke is close to agreeing a new contract with The Shaymen.

"We're hoping that'll be resolved in the next 24 hours, it's just the finer details of the contract that are being sorted out," he said.

A deal for Town's next new signing remains very close to being sealed too, said the Town boss.

"Similar stage to Cookie, just dotting eyes and crossing tees on the paperwork and getting the finer points of the contract in place," Millington said.

Read more from the Halifax manager on the Courier website tomorrow.