"We've dug in towards the end" - Town boss Millington on the win at Ebbsfleet, the signing of Billy Waters and the sale of Kane Thompson-Sommers

Angelo Cappello's early goal was enough to earn Town their second win of the season at the league's bottom side.

"Certainly for 75, 80 minutes it felt like a really comfortable away performance," Millington said.

"We had to defend a fair few set-pieces, we gave away too many sill fouls in our own half, but we dealt with them quite comfortably.

"And then if you don't put games to bed, you leave yourselves vulnerable to what we had to experience the last ten minutes, which was a barrage.

"So I think the lessons are clear - we've got to take our chances earlier in the game."

When asked if he thought it was an improvement on last Saturday's display in defeta to Solihull, Millington said: "No, I think we played better against Solihull, but very different types of games/.

"This was an away game for one, so it's always going to be slightly different.

"Solihull are a good team, but when you look at Ebbsfleet's squad, they're a fantastic group of players and it's only going to be a matter of time before they click because one to 18 are really fantastic footballers on the team sheet.

"And Danny Searle is someone I've got a lot of time for him, I know him well and I know he'll turn the results around given time.

"It was always going to be difficult but we had enough chances in the first-half to have the game won at half-time, but didn't take them."

Town scored the first goal in a game for the first time this season in the win.

"There was an element after we scored where it looked like a bit of nervousness," said Millington.

"People reading this will think I'm crazy, of course we want to be in the lead, but sometimes there's an added pressure to it and it gives you choices to make; do we go after the game, do we protect what we've got?

"And I think that showed in the players - we want to be a team who go after the second and third and fourth goal and that showed in the chances we created but sometimes there was an anxiety in our play that I don't think would have been there had it been 0-0."

The Town boss accepted the win will do wonders for his young team.

"Nothing galvanizes a group like a hard-fought away win," he said.

"We've dug in towards the end, we've gone down to ten men and we've had to scrap for every cross and every set-piece and every long ball to make sure we protect that lead and take the three points home.

"That's really good for a group, especially a young group who are learning on the job, learning how to grind it out when you need to.

"The fans were fantastic too, the way they got behihnd thet team was brilliant and the reception at the end, we're really grateful for that."

Jamie Cooke will miss Town's next game though after being sent-off for two bookings.

"It was very harsh yeah, there were far worse fouls in the game that went unpunished, but the referee had given a yellow card for a similar challenge earlier on and then, when the lad makes a meal of it and the crowd are up, the ref's already set his stall out a few minutes earlier so it's not surprising," Millington said.

"He hadn't had a bad game in general and I'd prefer to see a higher bar for contact and challenges, and he did that in the first-half.

"But then you can't have inconsistency where the bar's lowered in the second-half because it results in him having to make decisions like he did, which if he'd have stuck to his style of reffing from the first-half, he'd not have sent him off."

The win came less than 24 hours after star player Kane Thompson-Sommers' departure to MK Dons for an undisclosed fee.

"It's challenging, I'm really happy for Kane," Millington said.

"The club and the staff in particular really deserve a massive amount of credit because where Kane was just over 12 months ago, having been released by Hereford and not a great deal on the table, we'd seen him, we'd monitored him, we'd tracked him and we made him an early offer and got him signed very quickly.

"The intention was to develop certain aspects of his game throughout the season last season, which we did, and then the objective was, knowing it was likely we'd lose Summers and it was possible we'd lose Jack Hunter, he was then the heir apparent to take over in midfield.

"So to lose him at this stage of the window makes it really difficult because other lads who maybe have come in this year where we've got the same plan, we've spent a lot of time and effort making a succession plan for certain areas of the team, and some of those players aren't going to get the time to develop, they're going to get thrown in and have to do it very quickly to help us get where we want to go."

On the deal itself, the Town boss said: "There's two competing factors in every deal - what's best for the football side and what's best for the financial side.

"There was a real desire to keep Kane at the club and see our plan through for him, which was to get another year with him before we lost him.

"But sometimes the outside forces make it really difficult to stick to that plan and the financial benefits overtake the football benefits.

"All things considered, it's the right decision and we've also got to remember the lad's wants and desires to some degree in the process, and he was very clear it was a move he wanted, so that also plays a part.

"But he goes with our best wishes and he'll always be welcome back at The Shay."

Millington says he may look to bolster his squad with another midfielder.

"Possibly, yeah. We've got good players to develop in that role," he said.

"Jack Evans is already an established player in that position, we've got Pughy, Jenks and Owen Bray, who are all in contention for that position along with other positions in the team and we have a plan for their development.

"We may well need to bring someone in for two or three months, just to support and give them time to develop into the longer-term replacements for Kane.

"But as we always say, we'll only bring the right one in. We're not going to undermine the togetherness and quality of the group by just having a scattergun approach to our recruitment."

On the same day Thompson-Sommers left, striker Billy Waters returned to the club on loan from Wrexham.

"Fantastic, yeah. There were conversations going on all week and it looked like it was dead on Thursday," said Millington.

"We've got to send a big thank you to Wrexham for resurrecting it yesterday and making it possible.

"And also Billy because when he knew he was going to be going out, there was only one place he wanted to come.

"Between Billy and Wrexham's contribution, we're absolutely delighted that it's come together."

On his absence at Ebbsfleet, the Halifax boss said: "We'd loved to have had him involved, the shirt's printed, ready to go but obviouisly we're awaiting international clearance and hopefully that'll come through at some point this week and he'll be available for selection next week."

Asked whether the move could be extended beyond January, Millington said: "We've got to see how it goes.

"It won't just be up to us, it'll be up to Billy and Wrexham will have a significant say over whether that's possible.

"But just for now we're really grateful to have him and looking forward to his contribution over the next few months."

And on the possibility of extending midfielder Owen Bray's three-month deal, Millington said: "He fits the muod, along the lines of Kane Thompson-Sommers, Jamie Cooke, Adam Senior - the lads coming in and wanting to establish a career in the game and get themselves going.

"There's many things about Owen that are really attractive to us, so we'll see how we go in the next week or two and maybe there'll be a conversation to be had."