Despite a 2-0 home defeat to Guiseley last night, Hall Road Rangers boss Steve Richards was very pleased with the way his team had performed.

His side trailed 1-0 at half-time and, in fairness, this would have been a fair result against Terry Dolan's side.

But, for Richards, there were plenty of positives to take from the performance.

"It was our first game and this is always difficult because you have players trying things. You can do all the training in the world but you cannot beat game time to get you going," said Richards.

"We have to remember Guiseley are Unibond players and the squad they have assembled here tonight has cost a lot of money. I think it was a sloppy first goal to concede and we didn't create as many chances as we should have done.

"It was a tight first half and I made quite a few substitutions and we put on a lot of the young lads. The endeavour was very good but they are a bit na?ve in certain areas of their game.

"I thought it was a fluky second goal as it was a cross cum shot and it went in over Leon Sewell. 2-0 looks comfortable and it probably was but 1-0 would have been a fair result."

Richards is still without four of his key players and hasn't ruled out bringing in fresh faces prior to the start of the season.

"We still have Mark Dale, Paul Farley, Leon Rudd and Paul Woodhouse all not available.

"So, it wasn't a bad result and it's always nice to win games but when pre-season comes we are mainly playing teams who are above us.

"What you have to remember is you are not going to beat teams who are three leagues above you.

"This means you have to take the positives out maybe looking at fitness and this was okay but we have another three first team friendly games to go.

"On the back of this we will be looking to bring one or two others in just to freshen things up."

Richards was also pleased with the way his close season signings had performed against Guiseley.

He knows it will take time for them to gel but the more game time they get the better.

"Steve Wilson didn't have a lot to do plus Martin Thacker and Paul Palmer have played together a lot of years.

"It's just about getting a little bit of time for them to get used to playing alongside each other again.

"All in all I have been pleased with the way things have gone so far and I know we'll get better.

"Once we get everyone back then I can sit down and see were we go in terms of the season ahead."