Manager Steve Newton, hit by a double blow after UniBond clubs poached two of his best players, was heartened by the performance of his side in their opening friendly.

Young centre back Matt Sparkes has been tempted away by Wakefield while attacking midfielder and dead-ball specialist Nicky Boshell has departed to join Harrogate Railway.

However, the rest of the regulars from last term have been swelled by some intuitive signings by Newton and they showed potential against Guiseley on Tuesday, despite slipping to a 3-1 defeat.

“Losing young Matthew and Nicky will have an impact and they were phone calls I didn’t want to have to take to be fair,” said Newton.

“But they have acted appropriately and left on the right terms. I won’t begrudge anyone stepping up to a higher division. You can’t blame them for going to a higher level and I wish them all the best.

“I don’t think they would have left if we had the ground grading last season and could have pushed for promotion. But the fact is we didn’t and couldn’t get to the UniBond ourselves last season. Let’s hope that is the last time that will happen.”

Newton was left to reflect that as one door closes, another opens and he was pleased to also be able to add players to his squad.

He said: “We have one or two coming in; Steve Hollingworth for example. He had a tremendous game against Guiseley in our first friendly.

“We matched Steve’s side (Guiseley boss Kittrick, a friend of Newton’s) for a bit but they were much stronger as a squad. He brought a former Premiership player on (Lee Crooks) and we brought a 17-year-old on in the second half.

“That is the difference between the two clubs at this time but I’m very happy about our overall performance. It was their first game as well as ours and fitness levels were about even, which is all I can ask from our lads.”

A Liversedge XI won 3-2 against Aberford last night. Sedge were also due to visit Marsden tomorrow but the Huddersfield outfit have had a lot of work done on their pitch and it needs more time to bed in.

Newton said: “The game has been cancelled because their pitch is not ready. Ours wasn’t quite right on Tuesday and if it hadn’t been Guiseley who were coming we would have put that off. Clubs have to look at the wider picture regarding the coming season.”