Vale Juniors boss Brian Brown was staying upbeat, as the Millburn side returned to action with a 6-0 friendly defeat to Greenock.
In their first game in front of supporters since February 2020, early strikes from Adam Houlihan and Craig Brown had Greenock 2-0 up at half-time - with Dylan McLaughlin’s second-half hat-trick and John Mitchell’s goal ensuring the visitors left with a comfortable victory.
However Brown was pleased with aspects of his team’s play.
He said: “I thought we had large spells of the game where we played well but we gave away six bad goals.
“There is a lot to be worked on.
“Overall though I’m still feeling pretty positive.
“It was definitely a bit of a lesson in taking our chances. We missed a couple of good chances before half-time, so there’s plenty there to get worked on. But we have enough good players.
“Taking the seven games over pre-season was part of getting everyone up to speed so that we’re ready to go for when the league kicks off. I think by the time the league games start they’ll be good to be ready to go.”
Brown also reserved praise for young keeper Nathan Wylie, who impressed on his first top-team start.
He added: “Nathan was excellent, I thought he made some excellent saves and his kicking was exceptional. I think we have a really good goalkeeper there, and he’s another young boy who we can work on. There are a lot of young boys here, so there’s a lot of work getting done, but we will get there.
“Giving young guys the chance to make an impression is why we are here. They are the future of the club and we’ll always give them their chance.
“If they are good enough then they’re old enough.”
And Brown was pleased to have the Millburn faithful behind his side once again.
He added: "It was definitely good to have the fans back. It was great to have that feeling of having people at the back of you again and hear the banter flying.
"It’s nice to see things getting back to normal again after such a long time."
