Daisy Hill picked their first win of the pre-season campaign with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Northern Premier League side Ashton United at New Sirs on Friday night.

A much-changed Daisy side with several trialists took an early lead through Jacob Ridings, and two goals either side of half time from skipper Connor Hughes put them in the driving seat.

Ashton’s trialist centre forward pulled a goal back midway through the second half, but Lee Grimshaw then restored Daisy’s three-goal lead 15 minutes from time.

Daisy manager Leighton Mills was delighted with his side’s display afterwards.

He said: “I thought the lads were brilliant tonight and a credit to themselves, and it was a breath of fresh air after Tuesday night (when Daisy lost at CMB in their previous game).

“All we wanted was a reaction from Tuesday. We had a meeting, had a chat, brought some new faces in, and it was a totally different side from Tuesday.

“The shape was good, and from back to front we showed togetherness, even though we had a lot of new lads.

“Everything was good tonight. We stopped crosses, got out to the ball quickly, and the new lads made a difference.

“Winning 4-1 is great, but it showed that if you work hard and perform well, then results will come on the back of that.

“I said afterwards in the dressing room, going forward, that type of performance is the bare minimum we expect.

“We are two weeks away from the start of the league season, and at the moment anyone can make my 16-man squad on a match day.

“These games are about proving to me that the players who put on a shirt want to be in that squad, and all 18 lads proved that to me tonight.”

Daisy’s next game is at home to Wythenshawe Town tomorrow night (7.45pm).