"We've got to show the fans we've got what it takes," says Town boss Millington ahead of Woking clash

The Shaymen have collected just eight points from the first 30 available and are third from bottom in the National League.

They have lost six of their first ten games, including their last two at Aldershot and Eastleigh, and now face back-to-back home matches, against Woking on Saturday and then York on Tuesday.

"We're in a moment where we've got to show the fans that we've got what it takes and we're doing everything we can to turn the situation around," Millington said.

"I can say publicly that everybody within the club, from the chairman, through the commercial department, the media team, the first-team staff and the first-team players, is working as hard as they possibly can to turn the situation around.

"But I don't expect the fans to just believe that, we have to show them that in the way we play on the pitch.

"That's what we'll be looking to do on Saturday, is to go out there and demonstrate to them the hunger and desire we've got to go and win football matches for the club."

When asked if Saturday's game was a must-win for Town, against a Woking team who are seventh in the table and who won against last season’s beaten play-off finalists Solihull last weekend, Millington said: "We go into Woking looking to win, it's a home game.

"The last time we played at home I was really pleased with the performance.

"I know some people don't recognise the things we did well in that game but we effected a game-plan absolutely to the letter in the first-half to nullify Gateshead and take the sting out of a really good possession-based team.

"And then we started to exert our control in the second-half. For me that was a really thorough, professional performance.

"Our objective is to build on that against Woking and do everything we can to get the three points.

"We'll approach every game in that vein and worry about the games after that once that's out of the way.

"All our focus and energy is on trying to earn three points against Woking.

"I'm looking forward to it, it's a good challenge, Woking are doing well, they've started the season well.

"Darren Sarll will have had time to mould the team into his image and I think he's done that in the way he's recruited and the way they're playing.

"We're looking forward to welcoming them to The Shay."

Millington admits there is an air of frustration among the Town squad but says his belief in their ability remains undiminished.

"Nobody enjoys losing, we've lost the last two games so nobody's happy about that," he said.

"There's a lot of frustration at the situation we're in in the league because we know we should be better than that.

"But there's an air of confidence around the ability in the group and that our league position can be changed through everybody pulling together, working hard and pulling in the same direction.

"We believe, to a man, we've got the quality within the squad and the dressing room to start to carry us up the table.

"It might be necessary to go outside the squad to draw on more resources but we've certainly got enough in the building at the moment to carry us forward."

The Town boss believes there are positives to build on going into Saturday's game, but vital areas where his side must do better.

"The positives are that we restricted Eastleigh to only a couple of chances and we created a couple of chances ourselves," he said.

"But the thing we've got to do more of is be more threatening in and around the opposition box.

"We want to dominate possession, we are doing, we want to play a certain brand of football that we're starting to see more and more.

"But that's got to be converted into clear cut chances which, at the moment, isn't happening.

"We're creating half chances, shots from the edge of the box, opportunities that need to be better, more clear cut, and then we've got to have the numbers and the desire to go and finish those moves off so that we're not the team trying to get back in a game, we're the team in the ascendancy taking early leads."

Town have switched between formations this season, starting with a 4-2-3-1 before deploying a 3-5-2, which coincided with a run of two wins and a draw.

Millington reverted to 4-2-3-1 at Eastleigh following the 5-1 thrashing against Aldershot.

"As a defensive unit we're probably slightly more solid in one, as an attacking unit we're probably slightly more threatening in another," said the Town boss.

"It's finding that right balance which gives us the security at the back but also gives us the opportunity to get bodies in and around the box when we attack.

"We always said we'd have two or three different shapes within us and we've seen that, we've started games in one formation and seamlessly moved into another in-game, and we've done the reverse of that.

"So we know we've got the flexibility within the squad to change, we've got the flexibility within the starting 11 often to switch between systems.

"But the thing we've got to get right is that balance between being hard to beat and restricting opposition chances, to then being a threat at the other end.

"Teams aren't creating loads and loads of clear-cut chances against us and yet they are still managing to score goals, which means we've got to work even harder to try and restrict the chances at the moment, so that's got to be part of the planning.

"But also, clearly we have to be scoring more so we've got to be figuring out how we improve our attacking threat, whilst restricting the opposition to less chances because they're not having to work particularly hard to convert the limited number of chances they are getting."

Millington feels he is close to finding a winning formula.

"The squad's settling down now, as a squad we know them much better now," he said.

"I think it's taken us a little bit longer than I would have anticipated for us to get to know the players in the detail we need to in order to utilise them to their full potential.

"I thought I'd be able to grasp that much quicker but for various reasons it's taken longer than I anticipated.

"So now as a staff we know how to bring the best out of this group of players and that puts us in a much better position to go on and win games.

"We have faced an awful lot of challenge in that sense, with niggling injuries, players trying to get back to fitness who need minutes to be able to do that.

"In some cases you've got to endure a short, poor run of form while they sharpen up their match fitness.

"We've got to consider the right balance between youth and experience, but ultimately, at the moment, the situation we're in, it comes down to who's fittest and who's hungriest really.

"They're the two criteria we've got to look at first and foremost, and then beyond that, we build on who's going to bring us the experience and who's going to bring us the coolness in the moments of adversity we might face in games.

"But fit and hungry are the two standout criteria at the moment."

Attacking midfielders Milli Alli, Sam Smart and Jamie Cooke have all had limited first-team chances this season.

On their chances of being involved on Saturday, Millington said: "Everything's up for grabs and it would be dishonest of me to say that I believe in the whole squad and then not give lads opportunities when we're not getting the results we're striving to get.

"So lads are up for consideration who've not made the squad in the last couple of games, and that will remain the case whether we're winning, drawing or losing, we'll always look at the whole squad when we're picking a team, not just the lads who played in the most recent matches."

Millington said it's not just on-the-pitch where all options are being assessed.

"These situations are the times when you review absolutely every aspect of your work, you look at everything from the bottom upwards and make sure everything is fit for purpose and every minute, we're using the right tools to try and get the right outcome," he said.

"Everything is under review, but what I would say is that as a manager I've probably learned more in ten weeks than most managers learn in five years.

"Some of the adversity I've had to face, some of it the fans will know about, some of if they won't know about, but we've had situations that managers go their whole careers without having to deal with.

"So it's been a real good, steep learning curve for me, and one that, albeit very challenging and stressful, I know stands me in good stead to make the right decisions for the club going forward."

Millington was unable to publicise details of Town's behind-closed-doors game on Tuesday, but had good news regarding injured duo Luke Summerfield and Tom Clarke.

"Summers has taken part in training sessions this week," Millington said. "He's not back up to full contact yet but he's taken part in much larger portions of training sessions.

"Clarkey's taken part in everything we've done this week so he's fully fit and will be up for consideration for selection."

And on Osayamen Osawe, Millington said: "He's fully fit and ready for selection.

"He's still lacing a bit of match sharpness but the only way he's going to get that now is by playing so we'll look to try and get him involved at some point on Saturday."