BOSS SENSES NEW ENERGY AT HALIFAX
Town boss Chris Millington has called on his side to maintain the unity and effort that has inspired their mini upturn in form.
Halifax host Yeovil on Saturday, who are three places and five points below them in the National League.
The Shaymen have won two and drawn two of their last four games, including Saturday's 2-0 win at Aldershot that sealed their place in the semi-finals of the FA Trophy.
That follows a run of just one win in 13 matches, excluding penalties.
When asked if he felt his side had turned a corner, Millington said: "I'm cautious of corners because if you keep turning corners you end up back where you started, and we don't want to do that. We're a different animal, there's a different energy about us, a different threat, there's a different type of resilience.
"We saw that against Aldershot, they played some fantastic football in the second-half but the way we defended and committed to keeping the ball out of the back of the net as a group, there's something a bit different going on amongst the players that we're deploying at the moment and we've got to recognise that.
"Although the league position hasn't changed dramatically, certainly what people are seeing on the pitch is very different.
"What's got us there is that togetherness, that work ethic, the hard work, the resilience, the organisation and clearly a real different energy about the players on the pitch is what we've got to maintain to keep getting these performances.
"It's not going to be without the odd negative result, but if we maintain those performances then we are going to get positive results more often than not."
Halifax are nine points above the drop zone, having played two games more than Gateshead in 21st place, but a win for Town on Saturday would be a big step towards safety.
"It's the 50 point mark that we've got to keep working towards, we've got to make sure that that is achieved as soon as possible," Millington said.
"The season's still got plenty more points to play for and we want to keep pushing on. Although 50 points is the target, on Saturday we can only achieve three of them, so we've got to do as much as we possibly can to achieve three points and that will be at the forefront of everyone's minds going into the game."
Continued on page 55