A goal from Ryan Lockett two minutes from time sealed a 3-2 win for Daisy Hill in their pre-season challenge match against a Radcliffe XI at the Plumb Factory Stadium on Monday night.
Two goals down after 22 minutes, Daisy were level 10 minutes into the second half thanks to a double from striker Krisel Prifti.
And after dominating the latter stages, Daisy were rewarded when Lockett struck the late winner.
Afterwards Daisy manager Lee Hill was happy with his new-look side’s performance
“We made a slow start but that’s to be expected,” said Hill.
“It’s a new team, still earning their positions on the pitch as we have certain players playing in what aren’t their natural positions, and we are asking people to do jobs that are slightly alien to them.
“We probably stood off Radcliffe a bit too much early on. They are a good footballing side, they play the right way and play some really good football. There were some little passages of play when I was really impressed with them.
“In the first 20 minutes or so, they were good for their two goals, but we grew into the game as it went on.
“We made a slight tactical change and that made a difference, it made us look a bit more solid defensively, and we scored soon afterwards.
“That won’t work in every game, but it was a good learning point to know we can make small changes that will make a difference.
“It’s good to get the first win under our belts, and we had to come from behind to get ahead, and then manage the game in the last couple of minutes.
“These are all little things that you can cross off the tick list, and know that when it comes to the season we’ve got experience of that.
“It’s all about learning as a group, and we learnt a lot in that 90 minutes.”
It was Radcliffe who dominated the possession in the early stages and took a hold on the game with two goals in the space of five minutes.
Luke Parkinson opened the scoring on 17 minutes when he picked up a pass on the edge of the box, jinked past a challenge and buried a low shot past Morgan Newns in the Daisy goal.
Kyle Campbell doubled Radcliffe’s advantage five minutes later, when he beat Newns with a well-struck shot from 20 yards.
But Daisy gradually grew into the game, and new striker Prifti pulled a goal back on 33 minutes, when a move down the left set up a shooting chance on the edge of the box, and he curled a delightfully-placed shot just inside the far post.
Ten minutes into second half, Prifti bagged his and his side’s second goal of the evening, when he collected a through ball before beating the keeper with a cool finish.
Daisy began to pile on the pressure, and six minutes from time Lockett was denied by a great block from the keeper after he beat the offside trap to race through on goal.
But two minutes from time, he was on hand to side-foot home the winner for Daisy, when he stole in at the far post to score from Luke Roscoe’s cross.
Daisy’s next game is on Saturday at the Plumb Factory Stadium when they host Welsh side Ruthin Town, who play in Cymru North - the second tier of the Welsh football league system.
Kick off is an hour earlier than normal at 2pm.
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