"We've had inconsistency in the players who supply the bullets and the players who fire them" - Millington convinced that Town's attack will come good

Hitting the back of the net remains FC Halifax Town's biggest problem, one that threatens to prove the difference between trying to get into the top seven and being able to stay there.

Town are the joint-fifth lowest scorers in the National League this season and the joint-second lowest scorers at home in the division, drawing four blanks in their last six games at The Shay.

Halifax have scored four more goals and won three more games on the road this season, a worrying trend when you consider that back-to-back home matches against Kidderminster and Hartlepool are next up.

"Still a challenge," said manager Chris Millington when asked for his assessment of his team's attack, "but the one unit of the team where we've had consistently available players is the back-line, where we've had Tylor Golden, Ryan Galvin, Jamie Stott, Adam Senior, Jordan Keane, and for a period Jo Cummings, all regularly available.

"And because of that consistency, we've got the second best defensive record in the National League.

"If we get that kind of consistency in our midfield and in our attacking line, then I've no doubt that those units will also show that they can be amongst the best in the division.

"But we've not had that luxury so far this season. We've suffered an awful lot of unpredictable, impact injuries. Serious ones as well.

"Angelo Cappello has been a big loss because he's been such an important player for us.

"These are facts, they're not things I'm making up to excuse not scoring against Marine.

"We scored a decent number of goals in the games running up to that, but the lack of goals at home we can definitely put down to the fact we've had inconsistency in the players who supply the bullets, the midfield, and the players who fire them, the attackers.

"Hence we've got Adam Senior as joint-top goalscorer because he's played more games than most midfielders and any attackers this season."

Some fans have argued that the money used on younger, unproven players like Justin Iwobi, Jimiel Chikukwa and Tom Wilson should have instead been used on a good senior striker.

"They are players who, in time to come, will be fantastic assets for the club," Millington said.

"If we took their current wages and added it together, it would not get us a National League striker.

"That money is incredibly wisely invested because those players will turn out to be fantastic investments for the future.

"And as we stand today, that wouldn't buy us half of a 15-goal-a-season National League striker.

"The fans can rest assured that's incredibly well-invested money and couldn't have been spent any better."

Millington says Town aren't able to compete financially for the premiums placed on a goalscoring striker and therefore have to be proactive rather than reactive.

"Every player that comes into our club comes in because we give them something that they're not going to get elsewhere," Millington said.

"They could all earn more money elsewhere but what we give them is coaching, we give them opportunity, we give them support, we give them a platform to fulfil their potential.

"And hopefully what we can do is enjoy some of the benefit of that when they reach their full potential, but safe in the knowledge that if they don't help us get into the Football League, then they will go onto the Football League and enjoy successful careers beyond Halifax Town.

"We don't look at budget and use it as any kind of excuse. We believe we're hard-working enough, we're wise enough and we're patient enough to make sure the budget we've got helps us be successful in this league."

Millington says Halifax have to plan over a longer period because the club doesn't have the same fanbase or income of the league's big-spenders.

"We've got to plan for the future, we've got to identify talent, we've got to work with them and progress them and what we'll see in 12, 18, 24 months' time is players who other clubs would pay double for what we're paying for them," said the Town manager.

"That's the way we've got to do it, we don't have the privilege of going out and being able to cherry-pick ready-made National League players, we've got to find people who we know, with a little bit of time and investment and attention, will become very good National League or Football League players.

"We aren't going to be able to compete with 90 per cent of the teams in this league on a financial playing field, that's not where we compete.

"We compete by being better on the training ground, better in our long-term planning and better in our planning around recruiting for the future.

"That's where this club is at in terms of being successful, and we will be successful because we are better in those respects than any other team in the division.

"But sometimes it requires a bit of patience, there will be a few bumps in the road and we have to endure those and persevere through them."

On whether there had been any progress on adding to his squad, Millington said: “The search is still ongoing but what we've got to do is find a way to get a consistent team out of the current squad, a consistent midfield and a consistent front-line and I've no concern over the goals coming.

"I know they will do, but we need that consistency of team selection in midfield and attack that we've enjoyed across the defence so far this season."

Youngster Jimiel Chikukwa could be brought back into the first-team fold following his loan spell at Hyde United.

"His loan was up this week so with the absence of Angelo Cappello until mid-January we're going to look at bringing him back and having him available for selection for the first-team,” said Millington, who also confirmed there was no update on a potential deal for attacker Lee Tuck.