Following this evening's victory over South Shields in pre-season, we spoke to Mark Hughes.
Speaking to CUTV, he said: "It was very similar really [to the AFC Fylde game] in terms of the makeup of the game. 60-30 [minutes], we just flipped the sides. 60 minutes was good, 30 minutes less good, probably the same as the weekend.
"It was a little bit bitty in that 30 minutes. I think that's a consequence of not having the same warm-up as you do normally. So yeah, you can cut them a bit of slack on that. But overall, certainly first 60 minutes, I thought it was some good stuff played, should have won more comfortably clearly. But overall, pleased with where they're getting to.
"This is more about fitness once again, but at the weekend it would be more like where we're going to shape up."
Cedywn Scott netted his first of pre-season tonight on 12 minutes. Speaking on the importance of forwards finding the net at this early stage, Mark explained: "It's always important for strikers to get onto the scoresheet and we could have scored more.
"It's a good habitat as I well know. So we hope that continues. We probably need just to be a little bit more clinical. I think there was good opportunities where we just needed to find the final pass and we were just a bit loose. But that's really because of where we are in the pre-season period.
"Come the game time, I expect us to be sharper."
In the second-half, Regan Linney scored his second for the club, one minute after entering the action on the hour-mark.
"Good for Regan. He's come in and looks like he's got goals in him. That's the reason we brought him to the club and he's showing really good attributes that we know we'll use. He had another opportunity where he came in off the left. He likes that left-hand side cutting in onto his right foot and could have scored another one."
Speaking on the goal United conceded this evening, Hughes said: "We're mixing and matching back fours and full-back areas and it's not a settled defensive line-up as yet. That will come in the coming weeks.
"I'm not too concerned about that. It's just individual errors sometimes and that can happen at this time of the season."
Assessing the progression of the squad during pre-season so far, he said: "I think there's good signs. There's elements of our play that need to be a little bit tighter and a little bit more accurate. But overall, we've had some good games. Games that have tested us and games where we've got what we needed out of them - certainly the last two games have been like that.
Looking ahead to this weekend's game against Harrogate Town, Hughes said: "We're more likely to go and try and get a lot of the lads 90 minutes. So there won't be as many changes. It'll be more a shape of a normal game, as you would expect.
"Substitutions when I feel necessary. God forbid any injuries, but it won't be wholesale changes. We're going to try and get some good work and good minutes into the vast majority of them.
"We've got to get up to speed. The season is going to start sooner than we think probably. So we've got to be ready and we've got to be in good shape. So we need to just start getting an understanding [of how the squad looks]. Obviously, the nearer we get to the first game of the season, the clearer our team will be, I'm sure."
