Avro assistant manager Phil Edghill refused to be too downhearted by his side’s first defeat of their pre-season campaign in their final friendly before the big kick off this weekend.

A superb strike by Liam Tongue late in the first half gave visitors Guiseley the lead on Monday night at the Vestacare Stadium, and substitute Miguel Valsau added a second near the end as the side from West Yorkshire secured a 2-0 success in a game played at times in torrential rain.

“I thought it was a decent performance overall,” said Edghill. “I felt we lacked a bit of a cutting edge up front, but they fielded a strong side and let’s not forget that they were two divisions above us last season

“The first goal is unstoppable and the second comes when we are pushing forward looking for an equaliser in the last few minutes. Other than that, we stopped them from creating much by way of goalscoring opportunities, so perhaps my only disappointment is that we didn’t hurt them enough when we were in possession. But it was a decent workout in what were very difficult conditions, and to lose to a NPL Premier Division team on a night when we also had a few key players missing is no disgrace. I feel a lot of our lads will have gained from the experience.”

The club’s first ever step-four fixture is now less than a fortnight away, with Nantwich Town the visitors on Saturday, August 12. However, the competitive season kicks off with an FA Cup extra preliminary round tie at Emley on Sunday, who emerged victorious after a penalty shootout last time the two sides met in an FA Vase encounter last August.

“It’s a tough start to the season,” admitted Edghill. “They have a lot of quality and are ambitious to progress as a club. I have no doubt they will also have gained confidence from the knowledge they beat us last year in the Vase. However, this is a very different scenario - that night there were a lot of weary legs as we had played extra time less than 48 hours earlier, so I feel as if physically we will be in a lot better shape on Sunday.

“We got further than we have ever managed to do before in the FA Cup last year, and we are hungry to do even better this time around. We are really looking forward to the challenge.”