"We'll get there," says Millington as Shaymen aim to turn the corner at Ebbsfleet

Bank Holiday Monday's defeat to Solihull at The Shay means Town have won only once in their first five games.

But ahead of their visit to bottom side Ebbsfleet on Saturday, the Town manager is adamant that form will pick up.

"It's still very early stages," he said. "You tend to know where you're at in the National League by about the 15th game.

"In a lot of leagues, you know where you're at ten games in, but National League is so volatile, it tends to be by the 15th game you've got a feel for potentially how your season can pan out.

"The really important thing for us is to maintain the performance levels we saw on Monday.

"In recent games, we've been that plucky, hard-working Halifax Town who are well organised and don't see a lot of the ball.

"But on Monday, we were plucky, hard-working, well organised and very, very good on the ball up to the 18-yard box, when we struggled to create a clear opening and we got sucker-punched by a really poor mistake in our own box.

"We've got to look at the process, we've got to look at some of the mitigating circumstances around why we find ourselves five games in and just starting to build a team that can control possession and dominate oppositions.

"It's not all straightforward, there's circumstances that mean we're in the position we're in at the moment, and we will come out of it.

"We'll definitely hurt teams.

"We played a team on Monday who could and probably should have got promoted last season, could and probably should have won the FA Trophy last season, and for me, we've been by far the better team and we've just got undone by a poor error and an inability to then capitalise when we've put the ball in their box."

Town's failure to create a clear opening meant they were unable to hit back after Jordan Tunnicliffe gave Solihull a first-half lead.

But Millington saw enough in the performance to be encouraged.

"I think what we did on Monday was drop Solihull to defend the edge of their box because we've controlled possession so well in the first two thirds of the pitch," he said.

"We're probably the best team in the division at sitting deep and defending low, that's why year-on-year, we're so good at getting high tallies of clean sheets.

"On Monday, we were on the receiving end of that.

"It's frustrating, it's difficult and I'd argue if we hadn't given away a soft lead, then they'd have come out and had a bit more of a go and opened up spaces for us to get in behind and to work our way through them a bit more easily.

"But we give a team a lead at The Shay, they're going to bank up.

"But it was a really positive performance in many respects and what we've got to acknowledge is that we're an incredibly young team, not just in comparison to Solihull but in comparison to the rest of the league, and if we can perform at that level consistently, it's going to be a really positive season."

Asked when he thinks Town will start to show what they're capable of, Millington said: "I think we'll probably have spells of being very good and then we'll stub our toe on a performance and be poor occasionally because that's the nature of having a young, inexperienced team.

"They're fearless and really positive in moments and then lose their way a bit, that's the danger.

"But I think technically and athletically, we're one of the best teams in the division when we've got 90 per cent of the squad to pick from.

"If we can be technically and physically one of the best teams on a consistent basis, then we'll win an awful lot of football matches and it'll be exciting in the process.

"We'll get there, we've just got to accept that it's not an easy path and days like Monday make it feel like it's a real body blow."

Millington says it's possible that one or two of Town's injured players might make the bench at Ebbsfleet.

"Jo Cummings isn't far off," he said, "and Ryan Galvin is very keen to get back in and around it."