Town boss Millington wants to add centre-back and central midfielder to his squad

The Shaymen have signed defenders Adam Senior and Ryan Galvin, midfielder Kane Thomson-Sommers and attackers Max Wright, Andrew Olumabori and Aaron Cosgrave to their squad so far this summer.

But Millington says his squad isn't complete yet.

"We definitely need another two, and then beyond that we'll see what players are available," the Town boss told the Courier.

"I'd expect us to add a central midfielder and a centre-half.

"There's an offer out there for a central midfielder but I know he's also talking to a League Two club.

"We've got a couple of players in (on trial) who we could add in central midfield or the back line who are very interesting."

Millington says there would still be some of his playing budget left over after those two new signings

"What we've also got is the thought-process of maybe looking to secure some players who maybe won't contribute a great deal this season to the first-team, but who we can build-up and work with over a longer period and who maybe become first-team players next season," Millington said.

"We want to keep some of the budget aside for that purpose as well."

Striker Cosgrave's arrival was announced over the weekend following the forward's release from AFC Wimbledon.

"One of the benefits of coming to Halifax Town is that everybody is going to be utilised, so everybody's going to play and everybody's going to get an opportunity," Millington said.

"Aaron has got some really outstanding attributes that make him an attractive prospect for us.

"There are certain aspects of his game he'll be looking to improve and we'll be working to help him with that.

"He's an exciting addition and I've absolutely no doubt he'll be a success at The Shay and when his time comes to move on, he'll hopefully be moving on to bigger things."

Cosgrave caught Millington's eye when he played against Town for Dover.

"He's been utilised in different ways at different clubs, often he's been in environments where he's been having to prove himself and having to try and stand-out from the crowd and climb over other, more established players," said the Town boss.

"What he's got here is time, security, people who believe in him and people who've got a long-term plan for his development and getting him opportunities.

"It might not happen overnight but we're very confident that over time, he'll become a really important player for us."

When asked if there would be any further additions for the three forward positions in Halifax's system, Millington said: "We wouldn't rule out bringing in more if we felt they were going to fit into what we're trying to do and make us stronger.

"But I think the players we've got in place are incredibly capable and incredibly exciting.

"I look at Rob Harker and it's only this time last year he was a little inexperienced in terms of his play, he maybe didn't quite understand what it took to be a striker who leads the line in the lower leagues, and he's learned that over the season and finished with some fantastic stats.

"He starts in a really strong position, Milli Alli similarly grew into the season.

"There's some fantastic players to watch this season but we'd never rule out strengthening."

Cosgrave's signing was announced shortly before the departure of last season's top-scorer Mani Dieseruvwe was confirmed, with the striker joining fellow National League side Hartlepool United.

"It's always a loss when you lose good players," Millington said, "but you look at the professionalism with which we approached the FA Trophy final and that was a team that some would consider inexperienced.

"But the professionalism with which they approached that game and the way they implemented the game-plan shows how good we can be.

"You look at the run-in and some of the games in the closing stages of the season, it was often the Rob Harker's of the world and the Milli Alli's of the world who played a significant part in those games, like Wrexham, a game which Milli was the outstanding player in, or Woking away, who were on a fantastic run but Rob led the line and dealt with two of the most aggressive centre-halves in the league incredibly well.

"We've got players who can step-up and lead that forward line this season."

Halifax only scored 49 goals in 46 league games last season, but Millington, who confirmed there had been no offers from elsewhere for any of his squad, is confident there will be enough goals in his squad this term.

"Most definitely," he said. "Clearly we've lost Mani, who was very important for us in the goalscoring charts last season.

"But what we've seen develop over the course of last season is Rob Harker, who has scored eight goals in 11 starts.

"Milli Alli topped the scoring charts for us in terms of minutes per goals, he was by far and away the leading player in that and again, somebody who developed and got better over the season.

"We've got Angelo Cappello, who, as he starts to play narrower and higher up the pitch, we expect to weigh in with goals.

"There's Max Wright, Andrew Olumabori and Jamie Cooke, who does so many different jobs for the team.

"So we've got an awful lot of forwards there, including Aaron, who we expect to weigh in with goals this season.

"Although it's a shame we don't have Mani here, there's no shortage of players who we expect to be contributing and getting into double-figures."

On his signings so far this summer, Millington said: "For the most part, they've all been pros at Football League clubs, some of them haven't made appearances for those clubs but they have made appearances for senior teams either at this level or National League North.

"They've got a very clear athletic profile and they've also got an ambition to play at the highest possible level, so hopefully that's something that transfers in terms of moving Halifax Town up the pyramid, or it at least sees them progress from us in time to come and move up the pyramid themselves.

"There is a clear strategy around what we're trying to recruit now and how we're trying to build the squad over a longer-term so that we're secure over the next two to three seasons."

When asked if he felt Town would have a stronger squad than last season, Millington replied: "It's always difficult because what I'm comparing is what I project to be the case with the current players and what I know was the case with the group who started last season.

"We know we didn't start well last season but there were one or two players who came in who were able to do what we expected of them.

"I think the good thing we've got going into this season is we start with a real solid body of players we already know well because they contributed so much last season.

"What that allowed us to do was, over the second half of last season, really start to look thoroughly at what type of players and who might be available to us to bring in.

"So I think we've just got a little bit more knowledge of the current group and the new players coming in than we did of the players we brought in last year.

"So in that sense, I feel we're in a better position but that doesn't change the fact we've got to go out and do it, and start better than we did last season."

Two players who look set to remain part of the squad are Tom Clarke and Jordan Keane.

"I think they've both got a lot to contribute to what we want to try and achieve," Millington said.

"This time last year we'd have expected them both to have played a lot more minutes than they did.

"But the fact we didn't manage to get them out on the pitch as often as we'd have liked just means that other players became stronger and more capable.

"I've no doubt they can both contribute to what we want to do this season and the others around them, the likes of Jamie Stott and Adam Senior, will also have a significant part to play."

Thomson-Sommers missed training on Tuesday due to a knee injury, which is being examined this week, while Jordan Keane was absent due to illness.

"It's great to be back and everyone's really applied themselves really well and come back in good shape," Millington said on the start of pre-season training.

"The first week is about getting that fitness base in place, a lot of hard work, a lot of which will be done with the ball.

"The real focus is making sure the lads finish the week having covered a significant distance and hit certain targets we set.

"Then next week is starts to progress a bit but it's still largely around building the fitness.

"We will start to introduce some technical and tactical objectives but for the most part it'll still be largely fitness based."

Millington added: "The benefit we've got this season is we've come back in with the vast majority of the squad signed and ready to go.

"We know what they've been doing in the off season so we know where their fitness levels should be at, we've got a very clear age and experience demographic that gives us more clarity around our planning and what we're going to implement.

"So it feels a lot better starting pre-season this year than it did last.

"We're in a good place because we've got that solid base of the squad in place and if we had to start the season tomorrow, we know we'd have enough players to compete and a group of players who finished 11th last season in the National League, and we'd argue we're a year better, a year more experienced, a year stronger, a year more equipped.

"Some of the players we've lost did contributed to that, but there's an awful lot still here who've had a really valuable experience last season and will be stronger for it."

The Town boss will decide who will be the team's captain this season in the week of the first game of the campaign, which starts on August 5.

Halifax's first friendly is at Glossop North End on Tuesday, July 11, the first of six warm-up matches this summer.

"It's not all about the performance but the performance is the key indicator of where we're up to and how we're progressing," Millington said.

"It's about getting our fitness levels right as well but we go into those games this season largely with the first-team squad.

"Last season we had triallists around it an awful lot so there was a lot of chopping and changing but there'll be less of that this year.

"So we go into the games with a strong group and we'll be looking to win the games."

Millington says he is pleased with how his squad is shaping up, adding: "I'm excited so far, there's still two key positions to fill but I think we've assembled, so far, a really energetic, exciting, attacking team and I think we've got players who can cause problems for any team in the National League.

"We've now got to make sure we're solid enough behind it to give those attackers the freedom to do that."