"We needed to roll our sleeves up, we needed to fight and I think you saw that in abundance" - Assistant manager Cooper on Halifax's much-needed home win over Kidderminster

Town are now in the top seven thanks to Milli Alli's match-winning brace, which sealed only Halifax's second home win of the season.

Asked if he felt it had been a deserved victory, Cooper told the Courier: "On the balance of play I think it was fairly even. The chances they created in the first-half, especially earlier on - we wanted to come out of the blocks firing a lot more than we did.

"It took us a while to settle into it.

"We made a tweak to our shape and it took maybe a little bit more time to adjust but I thought as soon as we got to grips with it, we were able to get a bit more of a foothold in the game.

"It was a case of being solid when we didn't have the ball and then being able to break free and try to catch them on the counter-attack.

"All in all, I think we've created chances and we've defended our box well at times.

"Obviously we're disappointed to concede through a set-piece, especially after taking the lead, that's really tough and something we pride ourselves on.

"We know how they set-up but we just didn't quite execute how we've been working on it, but we did in the second-half when we needed to dig deep.

"A really evenly-fought contest with opportunities for both teams, maybe they had the best of the opportunities, but I'm just pleased we got the three points."

Cooper admitted Town needed to dig in at times to record a much-needed home win.

"We needed to send a message here at home that we wanted to graft and do whatever we could for the three points," he said.

"We spoke at half-time about whether we could get the tempo with the all a bit quicker, could we keep hold of it for longer spells higher up, and that'd give us chance to reset and get into a better shape so we didn't get counter-attacked on, where a couple of their chances came from in the first-half.

"They hadn't scored a tremendous amount but had also been on a really good run defensively, so we knew opportunities would be hard to come by.

"We knew the type of game we were going to face, we prepared for it well.

"There's areas we could have executed better and I know it's a work in progress, but we needed to roll our sleeves up, we needed to fight and I think you saw that in abundance towards the end, with bodies on the line, lads doing everything for the shirt.

"There's different ways to win. From a coaching perspective, there's loads we want to work on and we can get better at.

"But credit to the lads for putting in a shift and a performance."

The win ends Halifax's home hoodoo, which has cast a cloud over what has otherwise been a good start to the season, and helps put to bed last week's disastrous FA Cup defeat to Marine.

"Within the group it was all about getting together, rallying round, meeting early in the week, putting a few things straight, having a clear plan of what we wanted to do and how we wanted to operate, and grafting for each other," Cooper said.

"That was the staff and players, fully committed to it all week.

"For sure, it's a big relief to get the home win and send the supporters home happy.

"That's nine points from nine, we're seventh in the table. I think it's a superb position for us to be in considering we haven't been at our best at home.

"I think a bit of perspective's needed from all of us in terms of where we are and some of the battles and challenges we've had to face.

"We've had young lads who've gone out there today and gone toe-to-toe, we've had Jordan Keane come in and sure things up at the back, and looked a really commanding presence and voice.

"I'm really pleased with how we've gone about our business, to get the three points, and the opportunity now is to try and continue the run and back it up on Tuesday night and make sure we can get the crowd behind us here.

"We know there's going to be adversity and suffering in games, and there'll be difficult moments, but we've got to back it up and get the fans on our side.

"Performances like today, although it might not be a classic, you take the three points and move on."

Alli came back into the side after being benched last week following a disciplinary issue, and produced the perfect response.

"Alongside many others who under-performed last week, they stepped up, trained really well - it's only ever a good training week if you get a performance at the end of it, because that's how you're judged," Cooper said.

"Milli's contributed not just in possession, obviously with the goals, but his work rate, his hold-up play when we needed it to stick, helping us get a breather and get us higher up the pitch, and being a nuisance, which he can do.

"You want him to have the continuity with it, have the consistency of performance and it starts on and off the pitch in his application, but we can't fault his reaction this week."

Cooper and Town boss Chris Millington caused a few grumbles among the home fans when midfielder Florent Hoti was substituted during the second-half.

"Tactical more than anything," said Cooper when asked about the decision. "We needed to regain more second balls from the knockdowns and the direct play, we wanted somebody who would then be able to regain possession for us and drive forward.

"Flo is on that period where minutes have been increasing and he's not had the same journey as everyone else in starting from a full pre-season, he's had to go again, so we're mindful that we know the signs of fatigue and we know that, with another game on Tuesday, we wanted to make sure we could keep people fresh while also giving an opportunity to someone like Jack Evans, who's more than worthy of coming in and making a contribution.

"We also thought they'd change shape, which they did twice, and someone like Jack is so versatile, playing as a ten, a centre midfielder, or a wing-back, that we might need someone who is flexible like him, who could slot in if we needed to tweak things, which came to fruition with Max Wright tightening up a bit and being able to put Jack right wing-back for the last few minutes."

Cooper also praised groundsman Graham Osbourne for his work in getting the game on after heavy rainfall in Halifax had put it in doubt.

"A big credit on behalf of the players and staff to Ozzy the groundsman for getting the game on today," Cooper added.

"A superb effort from his team to make sure it wasn't just playable but a really decent surface.

"They've worked tirelessly over the last few days to get the game on, where I'm assuming many people thought it wasn't possible, so big credit to them for delivering an absolutely outstanding surface for us to play on."