Max Wright’s goal in the first half gave Town the lead after an amazing first forty-five minutes, but Aldershot rallied to win it as The Shaymen were unable to repeat their performance in a terrible second half.
Millington told the Courier, “I’m just angry really, it was a game we were comfortable in, we had the lead, we created chances.”
“It shows a soft underbelly that we couldn’t see it out, really frustrating.
“We looked like a team who didn’t have a plan in the second-half and why the lads couldn’t stick to what had worked so well for them in the first-half, I don’t know, but I’ll get to the bottom of it and I’ll find out who’s able to see a plan through from the first minute to the final minute.”
Town deservedly led and played well in the first half, but they were unable to duplicate that effort in the second half.
Similarly, Millington added, Aldershot did not either. “They’ve had two second-half opportunities, but Sam’s goal hasn’t really been peppered, and they haven’t really needed to put in a lot of effort to score.”
“Going long off a goal kick and booming it long onto our front four—not one over five feet ten—against a back three that is six feet four and above is a poor decision. When you do that, the ball obviously comes back very quickly, and when it does, they receive a throw-in, it goes in, and they score during the subsequent play.
It is the outcome of bad choices.
The second goal comes from not being able to escape our box far enough. The boy is making the conversion from what appears to be seven or eight yards out, which is not acceptable because we are much too deep.
“It’s a situation that’s avoidable, should have been avoidable and a team with a bit more clarity in terms of their ability to implement, maintain and see through a game plan would have won that game, and that’s clearly not been us today.”
Millington responded, “Well, we’ve changed shape today and there was always going to be a stage in the season when we changed shape,” when asked what concerns that raised about his side.
“But more importantly, I want to know who’s willing to participate in that shape. While it’s true that they are all capable, the question is whether or not they are all willing to take on that role.
“A special mention should go to Luke Summerfield, who, in my opinion, was excellent considering his absence and limited playing time. He truly motivated us and made an effort to stick to the game plan.
“I felt that the first four players put in a lot of effort and were very active in the first half, but one or two of them lost steam too soon in the second half.
“But at all times, we need to have 11 men on the pitch who are prepared to play the way we were meant to play.
“We take it personally if we play that way and lose, but we definitely played well in the first half and had the advantage. We left it in the second half, and we were indigent.”
“We’ve asked them to improve certain areas of their game, and there wasn’t enough of that today,” Millington continued. “They need to work on controlling possession, passing the ball well, and getting us up the pitch.”
“We did it in the first half, keeping possession, breaking lines, making some excellent passes forward, and creating opportunities.
The few times we used Sam’s back four in the second half, we actually found ourselves in the opposition box, proving that the strategy is effective.
The mind boggles as to why you’d choose to play that way, especially when you’re winning. But all too often, we just boomed it long and expected Jamie Cooke and Adan George to go to war with three very big, very capable National League center-halves.
At that point, you should undoubtedly stick to the strategy and maintain possession to win the game rather than playing a style of play that invites frequent transitions and gives the opposition a chance to gain the upper hand.
“So clearly we require people who are going to follow the plan and have the courage to stick to it.”
After receiving mixed results against Fylde and Aldershot, Millington was asked if Town could only play halves of football at the moment. “I think there are a lot of teams in this division who struggle to put together a really solid 90-minute performance but all we needed to do today was stick to a game plan second-half and I’m very confident we’d have seen the game out and either won it 1-0 or more,” Millington replied.
“But when you’ve got some lads trying to stick to a plan and some lads playing their own game, then it starts to become very difficult.”
The Town manager responded, “Some will get the chance to put it right, some will get the chance to tell me they’re happy to commit to what we want to do,” when asked if those at fault would be left out of Tuesday’s match against Solihull.
“I’m sure there will be adjustments by Tuesday, so there will be a combination of approaches, but we won’t wait around for everyone to agree.
“We move on if they are unwilling or unable to complete the task quickly. There are many players on the team, and we have
“We have been coaching and teaching players for the first part of the season in an effort to help them understand how we want to play.
“Now’s the time they’ve got to deliver, and if they can’t or they’re not willing to then clearly they’re not going to be in our thoughts.”
Millington believed that, at least in the first half, the move to a back four was effective.
“We changed it because we felt we could control possession against their front three,” he stated.
“We thought that playing in a back four would help us because we felt they didn’t press particularly effectively and clearly, as evidenced by the goals they’ve conceded in the last few games. When they decide to drop off, they’re vulnerable to direct play over the top.
“And it did, because on the few times we played that way in the second half, we ended up in their penalty area or winning set pieces in the attacking third. We created a lot of good chances when we played that way in the first half.
In that regard, it was successful. We’ll see if that’s the best strategy for going after Solihull, but part of that is having Luke Summerfield in the team, so we need to find out if
The Halifax manager commented on Rob Harker and Kane Thomson-Sommers’ absences, saying, “Thomson-Sommers has a dead leg.”
Given that he was among the less impressive players against Wealdstone, it’s unclear if he would have made the cut.
“We need that energy up top that maybe meant Rob wasn’t going to be the option for us today but it doesn’t mean he won’t be involved on Tuesday.”
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