Manager Darren Ferguson was pleased with his side's workout against David Moyes' classy Everton. The Lilywhites held their Premier League opponents in the first period and created some good openings and the gaffer was happy with his side's efforts.
"I thought this would always be a different test to Tuesday night, against a very good Premier League team," he told the press. "I said on Tuesday that I wouldn't get too carried away with that result and the same applied today. It was an important test and we have to learn from it.
"In the first half we did really well and after losing a poor first goal it changed the game a little bit, but it was a really important game for us.
"The lads worked really hard today, because they kept the ball well, but I was pleased with a lot of our stuff. The back four in the first half were excellent; we had had good discipline and we restricted them to long range shots. We got a little bit sloppy with one or two of our passes, but I was pleased with the lads."
Ferguson was pleased with the performances of both Danny Mayor and Adam Barton, but having been without Parkin, Davidson, Wayne Brown and Matt James from his outfield players, he acknowledged that he was short on bodies.
"I thought him and Danny Mayor were real pluses for us. They are going to be very good players and are the future of the Club, but we need some help now.
"We have 16 players and I need to get four players in before the start of the season. It's no disrespect to the young lads who were on the bench, but they are not ready yet and I think it is only fair that they go out and get experience elsewhere. Negotiations are still going on with players and we need bodies in the building.
"I am very hopeful of getting things done. I know finances are tight, but we can't go into the season with 16 players. The chairman is working away and negotiations are quite far down the road with one midfield player - a different type of midfield player - and I am after another striker as well and another wide player, and I am hopeful of getting three, if not four in before the start of the season.
"We have to be patient and behind the scenes we are working very hard to do it, but these things take a while. We are all hopeful, the chairman included, that we get the three or four players that are needed."
One of the absentees, skipper Callum Davidson, missed the game more through precaution than anything: "Callum felt a little bit of a tight calf and he has had injuries before and he knows his body really well, so there is point risking anyone at the moment."
