Town boss Millington on Southend, injuries and building momentum

Halifax edged into the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy on Saturday by winning 5-4 on penalties at Maidenhead after a 0-0 draw.

That comes after improved performances in winning at Oldham and losing at home to Barnet.

Town are eight points off the play-off places in the National League, having played a game more than the teams from fourth to seventh, which include Southend.

"I think we're in a good place really," Millington told the Courier, "we're off the back of a number of positive performances and even when the result hasn't gone our way, there have been a lot of positive aspects to our performances.

"We've got certain players playing their way into form at the right time, we've got additions to the squad like Fidel, Adam Senior and Max Wright who are all either contributing or capable of contributing and making us stronger.

"So yeah, very positive, and with the injured players getting closer to being available, all of a sudden the future looks a lot brighter than it did just a couple of weeks ago."

When asked if he felt his side had built up some momentum going into the Southend game, he said: "I would say so, yeah.

"Listen, we can't let our standards drop at all because we know how quickly you can be set back.

"And because of some of our performances this season, we can quickly fall away from where we want to be, so we can't be complacent, we can't believe that because we might have a bit of momentum that we've cracked it.

"We've got to stick to the formula that's starting to build some more consistent performances."

Southend's lofty league position is despite facing a winding-up petition, with the case to be heard on 1 March.

The Shrimpers owe £1.4m in unpaid tax and are trying to obtain £5m of bridging finance to ease their situation, which has seen wages being paid late to staff and the St John's Ambulance refusing to staff any more home games because of outstanding fees.

"The first thing to mention is how well they've done, so it's credit to the players and the staff there under such difficult circumstances," Millington said.

"It must be incredibly hard to remain motivated and maintain that drive to succeed under such difficult circumstances with the wider club (issues), so from that perspective we've got to applaud what they're doing.

"Aside from that, in terms of performances, they're playing very well, one to 11 they've got a very good, cohesive team, they play a very specific type of system, they play a very specific type of way.

"But they've got good players in their regular starting 11 and they've also got players who can come in and deputise equally as effectively.

"So they're a team we've got to take very seriously, but a team that I believe we're capable of beating."

The game is Halifax's fourth of eight games in a packed month.

"We've got to look after certain people I think," said Millington when asked if there would be changes to his side, "but we've also done that a bit on Saturday, some enforced in terms of Adam Senior.

"But there were certain aspects of our play where we were off-key with, so we've got to consider how we retain control of possession better in games, how we tidy up and land on more second balls when it does become more direct, because when it became direct, we gave them the opportunity to counter from middle areas too often.

"So we need to be secure in possession in that middle area, which is probably our biggest consideration going into Southend, more than freshness physically because we looked after them this week and I think they should be fresh enough."

On Jamie Cooke's progress as he recovers from a medial cruciate ligament injury, Millington said: "Very well, incredibly well actually, he's surprised everybody and he's certainly ahead of schedule.

"He was out kicking a ball on Friday in training, so his progress is remarkable.

"But it's indicative of the type of lad we look to bring in and develop here, who are young and hungry, and will do everything they can to get themselves out on the pitch as often as they possibly can."

On Kian Spence's groin injury, Millington said: "Kian's still progressing with the programme he's been given, and is still on course for what the specialist predicted, which is somewhere between four to six weeks.

"So we've still got a little bit of that time to go."

On Matty Warburton, Millington said: "Again, slow progress, but moving in the right direction in the last couple of days.

"But it is slow and incremental, and we've got to make sure that what is a repeat injury doesn't become a persistent injury that hampers him long-term.

"So it is being done at the right pace to make sure it doesn't become a bigger issue going forward."

And on Luke Summerfield's progress, Millington said: "He's been out running at training and in true Luke Summerfield fashion, making it look easy.

"So he's progressing really nicely."