"We need a bit more control and composure," says Millington ahead of Halifax's crunch clash with York City on Easter Monday

Town were below-par in their 1-0 defeat at Hartlepool United on Friday, with ex-Halifax striker Mani Dieseruvwe’s penalty prving decisive.

A win there would have seen them move back into the play-off places, although that is also the case for Monday's match against The Minstermen, who have beaten Bromley, Aldershot and Chesterfield in their last three games to move clear of the drop zone.

"I'm really pleased they beat Chesterfield because no team has beaten Chesterfield and then won the following game, so they've got a massive mountain to climb on Monday," joked Millington after Halifax failed to do the same thing.

"Listen, we've shown on Friday what a difficult thing it can be to back up a fantastic occasion like beating Chesterfield, but we've just got to be better.

"We need a bit more control and composure, we looked a little bit frantic and there were some periods in the first-half where we were turning over some very soft possession with little fancy flicks and touches that aren't characteristic of us.

"So we need to just bring some more of that composure back into our possession and control spells of the game much better."

When asked if the game against York was a must-win for his side, Millington said: "There's loads of points to play for and the last 10 or 15 games in the National League always throw up a lot of strange results.

"Hartlepool, you look at their team on paper and you don't expect them to go to Gateshead and get walloped 7-1, player for player they should be in the play-off positions and they're not.

"There's all kinds of things that are difficult to explain in the National League but one thing we'll do is just give everything we can to get three points against York."

Town are eighth in the table, two points off Aldershot having played a game less and five points off Altrincham and Solihull having played two fewer matches.

"We'll assess where we're at come the final whistle at Eastleigh, but all we've got to do now is prepare and give our best against York on Monday," said Millington.

The Town boss said Jamie Cooke was "very close" to being involved at Hartlepool and is "definitely" in contention for Monday's game.

Winger Angelo Cappello is expected back in around a week.

On defender Jo Cummings, Millington said: "He's in full training but he's got to build up his fitness because he's had a long lay-off."

And on the fitness of Jordan Keane, Millington said: "It's one where we've just got to take our time.

"There's a real outside chance his rehabilitation will see him available at some point but we've also got to prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario that it might go into the close season."