"We know we've got areas we want to improve on," says Cooper ahead of Halifax's clash with Wealdstone

The Shaymen were underwhelming in a 1-0 defeat at Braintree on Tuesday night, following on from a hard-fought 1-0 win at Maidenhead last Saturday.

That was after their best performance of the season so far in a 3-1 win against Eastleigh, which is the type of display Cooper, who will remain in temporary charge in manager Chris Millington's absence, is calling for.

"I'd just love the fans, and everyone, to get behind us, like they have done, in these moments, and to get a response from us, the staff and the players, give them something to cheer for," he said.

"Tuesday's result, in terms of the bigger picture, isn't what we want, and isn't good enough.

"So we've got to be professional, get our work done and make sure we're fully prepped and ready in what is obviously difficult circumstances at the moment."

Cooper admits Town need to step up their performance from their last two outings and impose themselves more.

"I thought there were moments in the last two games where we could have done that better," he said.

"We did get the ball down and play against Maidenhead, and created the goal from it.

"We had good spells of possession, and at Braintree, when we had good spells of possession and worked the ball into areas, we just weren't clinical enough or didn't make the final decision, whether it was the pass or shot.

"We've got to address it and we've got to fix it at source.

"We've got to try and get the ball down and show people what we're like at home, and get back to how we've been playing at home in the style we want.

"It was obviously a good performance last time out there, and we'll be ready."

Cooper is also keen to avoid consecutive defeats, which Town haven't suffered since February.

"Back-to-back defeats is something you want to avoid, you want to get straight back to winning ways," he said.

"As much as you want to go on a run, like we have, when the bubble bursts, straight away you want to get back on and try to be solid.

"But that only starts with hard work. The graft and resilience of the staff, to dig in and try to get a performance worthy of the points.

"We know we've got areas we want to improve on."

When asked where he most wants to see an improvement, Cooper said: "Better with the ball.

"We have good technical players, so we need to keep the ball for longer spells but with a purpose, to try and get into attacking areas but also commit more bodies forward and create more opportunities.

"I don't think there was any lack of application in terms of work rate and endeavour, we just didn't have the spark and lost the key moments of the game.

"So to get a reaction is what we're looking for."

Defender Adam Alimi-Adetoro looks set to miss the game, having also not played in the defeat at Braintree on Tuesday.

"He's under concussion protocol, so I think that'll end with the Tamworth game in mind, so he won't be fit for Saturday," Cooper said.

On striker Zak Emmerson's hamstring injury, Cooper said: "He's still in the gym, he's not been back on the grass yet, so we don't have a definitive timescale on where he's at.

"It's slow progress at the minute.

"Jack Jenkins is ahead of Zak in his return, he's been back out on the grass a bit more but still not returned to full training."