Town kicked off their pre-season campaign this afternoon being narrowly defeated 3-2 by League One side Huddersfield Town.
New signing Stephen Duke-McKenna put Town ahead early on, before Danny Ward and Rhys Healey struck back with a Town trialist levelling just before the break. The visitors regained the lead for the final time ten minutes into the second when substitute Lasse Sorensen fired home.
Simon Weaver named a starting line-up that included both of Town’s summer captures, Duke-McKenna and Zico Asare, as well as Academy graduate James Morby.
The visitors, under new manager Michael Duff also gave debuts to new signings Mickel Miller and Herbie Kane.
And it was Duke-McKenna who gave Town a flying start when he coolly netted just two minutes in, profiting from a neat through ball from Matty Daly.
It didn’t take long for Huddersfield to hit back, although there was a slice of fortune for the goal with a ricocheted cross deflecting off Ward past Mark Oxley.
Although it was an early pre-season encounter both sides looked lively in the opening stages, Ward going close again for Huddersfield whilst for Town Jack Muldoon almost sprung the offside trap to restore the lead.
As expected, half-time brought a raft of substitutions from both sides with Town making seven changes. Huddersfield, meanwhile,, switched out all but two of their starting line-up with one-time loanees Kian Harratt and Jaheim Headley introduced for the second-half.
Headley was immediately into the action when he raced down the left and squared for Josh Koroma who forced a smart save from Oxley, with the Town keeper up immediately to block the rebound effort from Lasse Sorensen.