Moore wants further improvement from Hebburn Town after Darlington defeat

Manager Daniel Moore has called on Hebburn Town to show further improvement as their pre-season schedule continues with a visit to Northern Premier League East newcomers Garforth Town on Saturday.

The Hornets kicked off their preparations for their first ever season in step three of the non-league pyramid with heavy home defeats against Dumbarton and Gateshead over the last fortnight - but showed some serious signs of improvement in midweek despite falling to a 3-1 loss against National League North club Darlington.

After falling behind to an own goal inside the opening two minutes and a goal from former Sunderland striker Andrew Nelson, the Hornets got back into the game when captain Amar Purewal netted against his old club on the hour-mark. The Quakers secured the win with a late goal from youngster Kenzie Harker - but Moore saw enough to be enthused over his side’s improvement as they turn their focus towards their next pre-season test.

He told The Gazette: “It was really good and for large spells of the game we looked the better side with and without the ball. Their first came from an own goal, which was unfortunate and they had a spell just after half-time. Other than that I don’t think there was much between us and we had spells where we showed what we can do. It was progression from Gateshead and maybe if we had been a bit more ruthless we could have been a couple up at half-time and maybe won the game. Now it’s about continuing our improvement into Saturday.”

Tuesday’s meeting with Darlington also gave Moore an opportunity to look at a trialist striker who has experience of life in the Northern Premier League. The tall frontman partnered last season’s top goalscorer Purewal for the first 55 minutes of the game and the Hornets manager has admitted he will need to find competition and cover for his captain after he remained largely injury-free last season.

He said: “We would be naive to think we can run with just Amar once again this season because being honest we got away with it last year as he is such a fit lad. It’s an area we are looking to strengthen and we are looking at options that are available whether it’s a trialist of in the loan market.”