"We executed a game plan" - Millington delighted with Town's resilience after opening day win over Barnet

Goals from Jamie Cooke and Adam Alimi-Adetoro on his debut got Town off to the perfect start at The Shay.

"Delighted for the lads, given the context of the game and some of the challenges we've had to face in the last week or ten days," Millington told the Courier.

"It took some resilience and, I'm sure I'll say this plenty of times this season but we're a young group, but what they are is a group of good learners.

"The debutants today - Will Smith, very good, Tom Pugh worked his socks off and gave us a bit of quality when we needed it, and Adam Adetoro I'm really pleased for because it doesn't get much tougher as an introduction into National League football, playing against Kabamba, Stead and Brunt, they're not going to be many better than them.

"And I thought he showed some real grit and determination. We know he's a good footballer but what we needed to see evidence of was how much heart he's got and he showed plenty of that today."

Asked if he had seen the result coming this week, Millington said: "Always, I always expect us to win. In my time here, we've never played a team where I've not believed we've had enough to win, as long as we execite our game plan.

"We executed a game plan today. I'd have liked us to have had more controlled spells of possession but what was an absolute must was we were clinical when the chances fell to us and we were well organised off the ball, and we achieved both of those."

But the Town boss was also loathe to get too carried away by the result.

"It's one game, it's the first game of the season," he said.

"Barnet will get better and so will we, so by the time we play them again it'll be a very different situation and I expect both teams to be paying with more quality by then.

"But you can only beat the team that's in-front of you and considering it was such a good team, it was really pleasing that the lads' effort, hard work and perseverance was rewarded with a result."

Millington was pleased at the mentality his team showed in securing the win.

"I want to be associated with a group of men who are hard working, resilient, show perseverance when things are tough, and then we can celebrate the wins along the way a bit more because we know how hard earned they have to be at times," he said.

"The really pleasing thing today is that this is a tie against a top of the table team, and they're always decided by the small margins.

"All too often, in my time at the club, we've been on the wrong end of those small margins, so a real focus for us in these games against the so-called big teams, is we come out on the right side of the moments, and with the finishes from Cookie and Adam and everybody else doing their jobs, then that'll certainly help us come out on the right side of the small margins more often than not."

Cooke's opener came after a brilliant run and cross by Adan George, before Adetoro prodded home the winner from a corner.

"The move is great, the lads perform those types of moves in training over and over and over again, and do them with quality," Millington said.

"We've not shown that enough in the last couple of seasons in games, so there have rightly been question marks over our ability to finish.

"But a focus for us is to try and help the lads transfer that from training to games, and they've done it in the way Adan and Cookie combined for the first goal - that was fantastic.

"And making sure we're making more first contacts in the opposition box will lead to opportunities to score like we did with the second goal.

"So they are by design but it also requires the players to go out and deliver it, which they did."

Town lined-up in a 3-4-3 in the game due to injuries deproving them of some first-teamers.

"It's no secret I'd prefer to get us going in a back four, it gives us an extra body higher up the pitch, we're a more attacking threat with a back four because we get that extra attacker on the pitch," said Millington.

"But needs must today, we had to blend the best starting 11 out of the players we had available, and there were some of the younger lads on the bench, who I believe will contribuet this season but I didn't think it'd be fair to start them in such a big game as Barnet at home on the opening day.""It was a case of making sure we could get a team that we knew would be competitive against a very good Barnet team, and moulding a shape to suit."

Latest signing Owen Bray came off the bench for his debut, having signed a short-term, three month deal with the club.

"Hopefully both parties are happy and it's going well enough to extend it further," Millington said.

"He's a good footballer, he's been with us during pre-season and we wanted to get him in a couple of weeks ago but with injuries happening, and we're a young team with a lack of experience, there was some discussion around making sure that final position or two that were available are going to make us better.

"Owen's been brilliant in pre-season training and the games he's played in pre-season, he's made a positive impact, so I was pleased to get it done.

"He's a good footballer, he's great with the ball at his feet and given time, he'll make us a much better possession-based team.

"He can play deeper central midfield, attacking central midfield or even play off either side.

"But we see him playing in the middle of the park more often than not."

On injured midfielder Florent Hoti, Millington said: "He took part in a lot of the session yesterday, obviously it was a low tempo match prep session so it wasn't overly stressful on his body, but he did well to come through that.

"Along with the other injured lads, he was out running today.

"The only two who weren't were Harvey Sutcliffe and Max Wright, who were both doing gym work."

Millington said there was a "slim possibility" Hoti would be available for the Aldershot game next Saturday, but defender Harvey Sutcliffe is unlikely to be fit.

Max Wright and Jo Cummings will be unavailable for at least a couple of weeks, while Ryan Galvin and Kane Thompson-Sommers still look set to be out until the end of the month.

Adan George and Adam Alimi-Adetoro both went down during the game with cramp, while Angelo Cappello suffered a dead leg but is expected to be fine.