'Emotional' Corby Town boss Gary Mills is now focused on Dunstable

Gary Mills admitted he felt “emotional” after seeing Corby Town produced an incredible fightback at the weekend.

The Steelmen looked to be heading to defeat to Halesowen Town at Steel Park as the visitors raced into a 3-0 half-time lead in the clash between two of the highly-fancied teams in the Pitching In Southern League Division One Central.

But, after delivering his half-time team talk and tweaking things tactically, Mills watched his team complete an incredible turnaround as two goals from Jordon Crawford and one each for Charlie Wise and Connor Furey saw Corby secure a remarkable 4-3 success.

Experienced manager Mills has struck as a calm and collected figure since arriving at Steel Park but he was understandably delighted at the final whistle, punching the air with delight as he and his players lapped up the applause.

And he made no apologies for his reaction.

“I know what it means to everyone and I know what it means to me,” he said.

“I had to do a massive team talk at half-time and when it comes off, it’s emotional.

“I am in the game because I love it and after we came back like that, I don’t think I was over the top but I just wanted to show the fans what it means.

“When we have fightbacks like that, we are showing we have a chance of achieving what we want to achieve here.

“It’s me, that’s who I am. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I just want to show the fans that I am here for the right reasons.

“They were probably looking for a new manager at half-time! But at the end, I was still in a job and now I am looking forward to the next game.”

That next game is at AFC Dunstable tomorrow (Tuesday) night with Corby hunting a fifth win in a row in all competitions.

And, if they can win by two clear goals, they will jump to the top of the early standings ahead of another collision with Halesowen in the second qualifying round of the Buildbase FA Trophy at the weekend.

The Steelmen are set to be without Curtis Hartley after the right-back suffered a hamstring injury during Saturday’s success.

And Mills said: “It’s a game in hand we have got and it’s an opportunity to put a few more points on the board, whether that be one or three.

“That’s what we want to do. The players will have to rest up but the mental side of it is if you tell a player he is tired he will believe it and if you tell them they can run all day they’ll believe that as well.

“It helps when you have had some wins, of course, because it doesn’t matter how tired you are, you will be full of yourself. And my players, at this time, have no reason not to be full of themselves. But now they must not get complacent.”