David Artell says he was satisfied with his team’s performance at Kidsgrove Athletic last night. The Alex had to come from behind to win the game 2-1 and Artell says it was a really useful run-out as we continue our pre-season preparations.

Goals from Ollie Finney and Shaun Miller provided the victory, but Artell was more pleased that we had to work hard for it against a well organised and drilled Kidsgrove side.

Following the 2-1 win, Artell told the club’s official website: “It was more about how we played than the result. The results are never that important in pre-season. There have been plenty of teams who have gone unbeaten in pre-season and lost the first three or four games.

“The reverse is true is as well. You might not win a game in pre-season but win the opening four or five. We are looking at performance and we looked like a team in development.

“We are getting there. We played some good stuff at times. We gave the ball too easily at time and could be better in the final third as well, but we will work on that. We know that work still needs to be done but I thought it was a really useful run out for us.

He added: “Kidsgrove made it difficult for us and it was hard to break them down and it was a really good test for us. I enjoyed it and Kidsgrove made it competitive. It was good practice for us to have the majority of the possession and try and break them down. We came back from a goal down, they all got 90 minutes under their belts and there were no injuries. It was a good night all round.”