Manager Graham Westley feels the result at Morecambe could provide the warning needed in preparation for the League One campaign.
Speaking to PNE Player after the fiery clash at the Globe Arena, the North End gaffer said his side could learn plenty from the defeat and that the time of the game could provide the educational curve necessary to be ready come the opening competitive fixture.
“There was a lot to learn today,” he told the Club’s online video channel. “They are a squad that has been together playing League Two football and started well last year.
“You can see why they start well, because they have a lot of speed and brightness and you can see that as a team and as an understanding of their organisation they are ahead of us.
“It was good to come up against a league side today. It was good to get the result that we got because it gives us all a big warning as to the progress we have to make.
“We weren’t under any illusions; we weren’t going to be the finished article inside two and a half weeks of training, but we know where we are at.
“We were a bit off the mark against a League Two club but we want to be at the mark in winning League One games, so we all know we have a lot of work to do.”
The game was a fiery one, with Lee Trundle having to leave the game after only 18 minutes, and for precautionary reasons, leaving the stadium on crutches ahead of a scan next week.
“Everyone will point at the [Kevin] Ellison incident where he left one in at Stucks early on, with I thought was naughty. And when you see things like that go unpunished it can often lead to frustration.
“There is no excuse for moments in indiscipline. There were one or two challenges that were unfortunate and unnecessary and it is an issue where games are being referee’d loosely and lightly during pre-season, you can get that sort of thing.”