"We've got to get miles better and I fully believe we can," says Town boss Millington

The Shaymen host Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday on the back of two wins and a draw from their last three games - their joint best run of the season.

Halifax are just one place above the National League drop zone after a poor start to the season in which they've won just three of their first 13 league matches.

Millington admits his team is a long way from the finished article but believes they are going in the right direction.

"I'm not sure there was really ever a genuine lack of confidence," said Millington when asked whether Town's last three games had helped restore a feel-good factor among the squad.

"The confidence gets dented, gets bruised and damaged by poor defeats, and clearly Woking was one of those.

"That certainly damaged it to some degree, but I think it was about making sure we had that understanding within the group of players who were starting of how we wanted to play and what their different roles and responsibilities were.

"I think at times earlier in the season we've looked like it's not quite been everybody understanding their roles and responsibilities fully, whether it's understanding or whether or not it's having the ability to fulfil them.

"But I think we've started to find a blend now where players fully understand what we need from them, what their roles and responsibilities are and that's transferring into some improved performances.

"We've got loads of work to do, we've got to get miles better and I fully believe we can.

"I fully believe we can be the team we all want to be but it's going to take more hard work.

"We know how to get there, we've just got to grit our teeth, get our heads down and make sure we do."

Millington has only been able to named an unchanged team once this season due to injuries and poor form, but feels he is closer now to knowing his strongest 11.

"It's taken a little bit longer than we'd hoped, to learn about the players we've brought in and learn about the wider group," he said.

"At the end of the season we lost some players who would have been natural leaders going into this season, and even though we retained some really good players, we still had a bit of a vacuum left by some of the leaders who moved on.

"It's taken a bit of time to learn about the technical and tactical abilities of new lads coming in, but also to start to understand who's going to drive the culture of the group and how we develop that culture.

"We clearly lost some characters and it takes time for new characters to bed in and find their feet.

"We're learning about them all the time, I think it has taken a bit longer than I'd have hoped but it certainly feels like we're getting there now."

With a tough game at Wrexham lying ahead on Tuesday night, a win on Saturday would be very welcome for Town and give them some breathing space away from the bottom four.

"We talked about the York City result being important and making sure we got the result, as that game went on at 1-0 it became more and more important from a confidence perspective that the lads hung onto it," said Millington.

"So in certain circumstances the result does override the performance.

"But it's got to be hand-in-hand and we've got to be playing well because you can't just keeping up picking results with poor performances because players aren't stupid and they realise that sooner or later your luck runs out.

"So we've got to make sure the performances are good and deserving of a win."

When asked what he wants to see from his team on Saturday, Millington said: "The performances that have most pleased me this season have been Gateshead and York City, where we've been really controlled and disciplined out of possession and then when we've had the ball, we've been forward-thinking and we've used it well.

"In both cases, we've controlled most of both of those games and won them deservedly.

"They're the types of performances we want to repeat, we want those to be our identity, we want the fans to go away understanding that we're really controlled, disciplined and hard-working out of possession and then when we've got it, we've got a cutting edge and we've got a goal threat.

"That's the type of team we want to be and we've got to produce more performances like those to really convince the fans that that's the direction we're moving in."

Three of Halifax's next four league games are at home, starting on Saturday.

"You look back to last season, we were a better team at home than away and I think that's starting to bleed into this season now," Millington said.

"I think some of our performances at home, you can reference even Torquay and Southend in that as well as Gateshead and York, where we've moved the ball really well, we've used the size of the pitch well and put in some good performances.

"So I see us being the same again, having a much more attractive style at home and maybe away from home, just having to be a bit more pragmatic and understand that not every pitch is the same as The Shay."

Millington is hopeful a bout of illness in the Town squad has now cleared up.

"I know there were certain aspects of the second-half on Saturday which were tough for us, but I put that largely down to an awful of illness in the camp which drains players and causes fatigue," he said.

"I said to the lads after the game that there were shades of previous games in previous years where you can see the fatigue, and it's more than just general fatigue, there was an underlying illness among a number of the boys.

"Hopefully that's gone right the way through the squad now and we can go into Saturday re-energised and ready to continue that good run."

On Saturday's opponents Dagenham and Redbridge, who are 11th in the table having won five and lost five this season, Millington said: "It'll be another tough game, every one's a tough game in this league, but we know Dagenham are a good side.

"They've had a few years of stability with the manager and their squad, they're in the fortunate position of having a really good foundation of quality National League players, and are able to bring in players to complement that.

"I'm expecting a really tough game."

Town's Supporters Club is hosting a race night at Belgrave Social Club, on Claremount Road, later this month.

It is in partnership with the RAOB and takes place on Friday, October 28, with the first race commencing at 8pm.

Entry is free, and everyone is welcome.