Eric Kinder gave us his thoughts on the 0-0 draw with Motherwell as, yet again, he did battle with a sat-nav system that seems determined to take him on a back street tour of every town and city that he visits this season (that's his excuse anyway):

"When I arranged the game a few months ago I asked them if it would be alright if we went up against their U19 side, and they kindly agreed to do that for us.

I know what it can be like with young Scottish lads making their way in the game. It can be very tough, and they play a very aggressive style, and that's exactly what they gave us.

It was further education in a different type of football for our first year players. Lads like Steve Swinglehurst and Simon Lakeland were giving away nearly three years, so it was never going to be easy for them. This kind of thing can toughen them up a bit, so I'm all for it. Don't get me wrong, the Motherwell lads can play a bit as well, so it's been a good test for us all round.

We've structured the pre-season to test the lads at all levels. We play Academy sides for the way that they approach the football, and we play sides like Motherwell and Barrow to give us an education against older players.

This game against Motherwell turned in to a really good one. Both sides had two clear cut chances each, and both sides had four well created half chances. It could have gone either way, so I'm pleased overall.

We were a bit tentative in the first half, and we weren't really coping, but we got there with that in the end. If I'm honest, we were ruffled, and we weren't putting up much of a challenge, but we slowly started to deal with it and we got more confident with standing up for ourselves as the game went on.

We possibly could have nicked it on the basis of our second half performance, but I know that Motherwell would have felt aggrieved if we had with the way that they played in the first half.

Yet again we had a couple of players who deserve a mention. Steve Swinglehurst was marking an 18-year-old centre forward, who is on the brink of the first team, and he has come out of it with a huge amount of credit. Tom Aldred was strong beside him, and they kept most of what Motherwell had to offer at arms length.

We played Mark Gillespie for a full 90 minutes, and he did really well for such a young keeper. He made two very good saves that will have done his confidence a power of good.

As a group they will have learned from this game. They now know first hand the difference that upper body strength can make. If you are getting knocked around, you can't play your game, so they can now see why we are getting at them to bulk up as much as they can.

I mentioned Andy Cook last time we spoke, and I am pleased to say that he did really well with the physical side of things in this game. He was feeling sorry for himself for 45 minutes, because they were pushing him around, and I was worried about how he was going to deal with it. He was claiming a foul every time they touched him, and the Ref wasn't interested, and rightly so, because it's a part of the game that he will have to get to grips with. He sorted that out in the second half, and he looked much better for it.

Today's star performer was Jonny Blake. He was probably the best player on the pitch, to be fair to the lad. Their coaches singled him out after the game, so he is one that is progressing nicely. If he does that consistently, then it will be an exciting time for him. However, what I will say is that he is another who needs to get more in terms of upper body strength. If he wants to be the all-round player that he could be, then that aspect will have to develop.

We're top heavy with second years this season, so there is plenty of competition. The good thing about that, from my point of view, is that there are less young lads who have to go through that settling in process. That was the main reason that it took us so long last season to see the team gel, because of the young ages involved. We shouldn't have that problem to the same extent this season.

We had a first year trial player in from Aberdeen, called Matt Henderson, and he did well. He can play right-midfield or right back, and he showed some decent touches, but he felt his groin tighten after about 20 minutes so we had to rest him. I'm going to keep him for another week though, because I think he has a bit more to show us. I'll get him involved in the Barrow and Carlisle City games, and we can take it from there.

It's been a hard few weeks for these lads lately. It's all necessary though, and they can look forward to things settling in to a normal routine once the season kicks off. That's when they get their rest and recovery days, and that's when they really do start to enjoy their football. At the moment I am pushing them with double sessions every day, and they have games coming thick and fast, so this in itself is a steep learning curve. They are feeling a bit tired as we get towards 90 minutes, but they have to cope with that."

United - Gillespie, Lakeland (Wood 60), Aldred, Swinglehurst, Duffy, Henderson (Seaton 30), Davison (Law 60), Blake, Tinnion, Bowman (Davison 70), Cook. Subs - Mitchell, Sloan.

Note - Adam Jukes did not feature due to illness.