"A marker of our progress will be the result" - Millington looking for Town to build on good start to the season against Oxford

Halifax produced a superb performance to win 2-1 at Oldham Athletic on Tuesday night, continuing their impressive run of results under Millington against some of the big boys in the National League.

They host a newly-promoted Oxford team on Saturday who have lost their first three games of the season and are expected to be fighting for survival.

Millington's side was dogged by poor results against lowly teams last season, and the Halifax boss is out to avoid a similar scenario this campaign.

"These games (Oldham) are less of a challenge for us in some respects," he told the Courier, "as they were last season, when we performed really well against the teams who were expected to be at the top of the division.

"Then when we came up against the so-called weaker teams who sat in and worked to play out a draw, we struggled to break them down, often got sucker-punched and came out on the wrong end of the result.

"So the real test of the mentality of the group is how they lift themselves for the visit of Oxford on Saturday.

"It's easy to get yourselves up for a game like Tuesday night with nearly eight thousand in the stadium, the question is now can they get themselves up for the visit of Oxford?

"It seems like a good opportunity to really encourage as many Halifax Town fans as possible to get in the ground and try and create an atmosphere to encourage the lads on to go and build on a really impressive win.

"It's incumbent on all of us - staff, players and, very importantly, the fans - to do their bit.

"We want them there in number and in good voice, getting behind the lads and encouraging them.

"The lads are working really hard from the first minute to the very last, and the fans can match that and keep encouraging them."

Town have won two of their first three games of the season, beating Bromley and Oldham either side of defeat at Boreham Wood last Saturday.

"The one blot on the copy book's Boreham Wood but we can't dwell on that because there'll be a lot of teams that go to Boreham Wood and get beat off a set-piece or two," Millington said.

"We've just got to look at the next game now and do everything we can to try and win it.

"We said at the outset we want to maintain the form we had against the so-called bigger teams and better teams and we want to build on that by defeating the teams that people expect us to go out and beat.

"Oxford have clearly had a challenging start to life in the National League so everyone will be looking for us to go out and make that start even tougher, and we'll be doing everything we can to do that.

"But a marker of our progress will be the result."

Millington is pleased from what he's seen so far from his side, and praised their attitude and approach.

"Over the three games so far we've played three very difficult teams and I'd say two of those were in very difficult environments - one, Boreham Wood, was a tight space and they know how to work that really well, and then Oldham, who've got some fantastic individuals and have an excellent following," he said.

"To see the lads approach all three games in a really professional, calm way and go about their business in a really thorough manner has been great.

"Even at Boreham Wood, where the manner of the goals we conceded was highly frustrating, but anyone was there will have seen a team in Halifax Town working really hard right up to the final whistle to try and get themselves back in the game.

"Not for one moment did anyone's head drop or was there any negative body language, all the lads to a man have really contributed to us trying to get a win in each of the three games."