Worksop Town kept their excellent pre-season form running on Friday night with a 2-1 win over Huddersfield Town Academy at Sandy Lane.

Manager Craig Parry was “pleased” by what he saw from the Tigers, stating, “it was probably our best all-round performance of pre-season. A lot of things came together well, but the performance off the ball was particularly good.

“As a team, we did well to handle a very good, talented Academy side. We combatted them well and worked very hard together off the ball. Our hard work and constant pressing helped us get a foothold in the game and that allowed us then to play our own game.”

The Tigers fell behind to an early goal from 19-year-old Kian Harratt, who rounded off a sumptuous move from the visitors with a venomous strike into the top-left corner.

“We have gone behind a few times in pre-season,” Parry said. “I thought last night we deserved it across the 90 minutes. We started well but it was just a moment of magic from Huddersfield and an extremely good finish from a talented boy.

“I was pleased with how we started. We took an early hit with the goal but we stayed positive and we kept the same philosophy and game plan. We got our goals in the end and we could even have had a few more.

“Last night was a real test, and, looking at it, could be our hardest test in pre-season. We were up against League footballers. On our pitch, opposition want to come and play their football but struggle.”

Parry sees a number of positives in the pre-season preparations that has Tigers have undertaken, saying, “I’ve been impressed with every player so far. Everyone has faced their own challenges and they’ve done extremely well to get themselves fit.

“At the moment, each player is ahead of the curve. We must keep pushing ourselves to get better, but, overall, I am pleased.”

Looking ahead to Tuesday’s match against Retford United and the remainder of pre-season, Parry made his intentions clear: “We will go out there, out-score each team and play good, attractive, quick football at a high tempo. We will take that into Tuesday, carry it into Saturday and carry it into the following Saturday.

“The philosophy will stay the same all through the season: score goals.”