Phil Marsh was delighted to open his account for the season with a brace against Huddersfield Town on Wednesday night.

Marsh, who joined the Lions midway through last season from Forest Green Rovers, helped his side to a 2-2 draw against the Terriers at Nethermoor and he believes there are plenty of positives to take, both for the team and himself personally.

“I’m happy to score, I didn’t have a great season last time in terms of goals so hopefully this year I can turn that round,” he told Francis Grainger.

“It was a very pleasing result. It was always going to be a hard game against a youthful Huddersfield side but I think the lads played really well tonight and made it a good game for them (Huddersfield) too.

“We’re just really trying to get our match fitness up at the minute and it’s good to play teams like that, even if we’re not going to come up against that much quality in the league. We can only learn from that kind of opposition.”

By his own admission, Marsh’s time at Nethermoor last season could have gone better, but he believes scoring goals in pre-season, a change in formation and the arrival of friend and former Stalybridge teammate Craig Hobson will help in the coming campaign.

“Scoring against quality opposition like that is obviously going to give me a bit of confidence so hopefully I can take that on and carry it into the season,” he continued.

“Last season was a bit stop-start for me, I wasn’t getting enough first team football and my fitness wasn’t really up there. I came to Guiseley and played in a front three, which I’d been in at Forest Green, but I don’t think that out wide is my best position.

“We’ve been working it out in pre-season so far and hopefully we might try a different formation this year which has worked quite well so far.”

Hobson is one of three new arrivals at Nethermoor this summer, along with defender Jameel Ible and Michael Burns, with Marsh saying that both will prove to be good additions.

“I’ve known Hobbo for a while from my time at Stalybridge and I’ve played with him before so I’m looking forward to linking with him again. Jameel’s a good young prospect too who’s keen to learn so hopefully he will get his chance as well.”

The Lions’ pre-season preparations continue on Saturday with a trip to Ossett Albion.