"We're pleased with the outcome in both games" - Town boss Millington on today's friendlies, injuries and new signings

The Shaymen started the day with a 2-2 draw at Ashton United.

"I thought we controlled the first-half and Ashton shaded the second-half," Millington told the Courier.

"It was relatively entertaining, some really good passages of play, good chances for both teams and the score was probably fair.

"But given the group we had, very young, a real mixed bag with some signed lads, a couple of youth-team players and a host of triallists, I thought they did really well.

"They implemented a lot of what we wanted them to, whether it was the front three working really hard and in such an organised fashion, to press and regain possession for us, or the triallists, two of who weighed in with good finishes.

"All in all there were a lot of positives out of it."

Town then won 1-0 at Curzon Ashton thanks to Jamie Stott's first-half header.

"The first-half was very good. We know the way Curzon play and that you have to weather a bit of a storm early on," Millington said.

"But once we got to grips with that and the press becomes more effective, we started to assert some control.

"There were some very good passages of play with the ball, some good work and organisation without it.

"And a number of chances we're pleased to have but clearly want to do better with."

When asked what he had learned from both games, Millington said: "The things that are really pleasing is we've got a fantastic, exciting, athletic group of players who are willing to work.

"The front three in particular in the Ashton United game showed some real athleticism and their work rate hardly changed from the first minute to the last.

"The effort and application was very impressive.

"What we've shown in the Curzon game is that we can dominate a team who'll do well in the National League North, who did exceptionally well against Oldham Athletic, who came here with a very strong team, an all-star attacking line-up and only managed to score off a goalkeeper error and a second goal that was better worked.

"So we're not a million miles off, and we're pleased with the outcome in both games."

On the way his squad was split over both matches, Millington said: "We've got to weigh up what we want to do against Bromley.

"We know how they play, we know the system they play and what the quality of the individuals they've got is, and their versatility.

"So we've got to approach it in such a way as to be able to go after them and high press aggressively, which Andrew (Oluwabori), Aaron (Cosgrave) and Angelo (Cappello) can clearly do.

"But then we've also got to have that balanced approach where sometimes we need to make sure we've got the quality to be able to stay on the ball high up the pitch, which other players might give us in those positions.

"So the make-up of our front three this season, depending on who it is for whatever games, is going to be crucial to how successful we are, so finding the right partnerships and the right balance within those front threes will be very important to what we do without the ball but crucially, what we do when we've got it."

Looking ahead to the Bromley game next Saturday, the Town boss said: "There are certain positions that are more obvious than others.

"The things I'd say is it's the toss of a coin for the front three.

"You've got the traditional play of Rob Harker, who's more of a traditional number nine, and you've got the athleticism of Aaron Cosgrave, which on the Shay, will absolutely murder teams because they won't be able to live with him, especially when you look at the back three Bromley are likely to play, Aaron will cause them all kinds of problems.

"There are question marks over that. Cookie, Milli, Angelo, Andrew and Max all provide different qualities, so there's any number of combinations we could play with that, but we've got to pick the right one for the game.

"Then as you drop deeper, it becomes a bit simpler because of the lack of bodies.

"We've got Jo Cummings coming available and hopefully fit and ready to play next Saturday, and Luke Summerfield's not a million miles off, so there are different combinations deeper on the pitch, but the real challenge we've got is getting the front three right."

Millington says Luke Summerfield and Jo Cummings probably won't be risked at Radcliffe Borough on Tuesday.

"He was out running this week," the Town boss said on Summerfield..

"It might be a stretch to get him starting but there's a hope we might be able to have him in and around it for next Saturday."

Cummings missed out due to a groin injury.

"Just felt something in training," Millington said, "so he was here doing the warm-up and the running but we were never going to involve him because we don't want to risk him at this stage."

Midfielder Florent Hoti is set to be out for over a month with a hamstring injury.

"He's done his hammy in the latter stages of training on Monday so it's looking like it could be about six weeks," Millington confirmed.

The Town boss said there will definitely be one more signing before the start of the season, but possibly two.

Both would be triallists currently at the club, and both would be central midfielders.

"There's two or three of them who've done really well and can really contribute to how we want to play and what we want to do," Millington said of the triallists on show in both games.

"So there will be conversations over the next couple of days about what sort of offers we can make to certain players and how we can approach it.

"We've got one player who played today in central midfield who's versatile, so he can play any number of positions in midfield and defence, so he could give us some versatility.

"And two of the midfielders scored against Ashton United, so there's three midfielders who aren't a million miles off being able to play at this level."

Millington doesn't expect any departures, but says the club will look at setting up some loan deals for "players who need it for an experience point of view".

On the possible line-up for Tuesday's friendly at Radcliffe, the Town boss said: "Yet to be decided, we've got to figure out now whether there's any value in using it as more of a dress rehearsal for Bromley or we use it to top up minutes for other players, which was the initial intention."