COLWYN BAY players got a rocket from manager Gary Finley, despite scoring a late equaliser to draw 1-1 in their final pre-season friendly against Unibond Premier Division side Marine.
He kept the players in the dressing room for a lengthy post mortem and said afterwards: "It would be easy to pat ourselves on the back and say a draw against Premier Division opposition was a good result, but we all know we can play a lot better than that and will have to if we are to get a result at Belper next Saturday.
"We lacked quality at times and played in the wrong areas."
But the manager added: "It shows how far we have progressed that we can be that critical of ourselves after what on paper was an acceptable result.
"The important thing was that we stuck at it and were rewarded with a goal right at the end.
"Overall, apart from Formby, in our pre-season programme we have played five games against teams in higher divisions than us and have only lost once, so that is encouraging going into the new season."
John Lawless hit the bar in the first half before Marine took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Kevin Towey lobbed the ball over keeper Jamie Speare.
Speare made a couple of good saves against a strong looking Marine side in that first half, but was only tested once in the second half when Colwyn Bay had the better of things and equalised on 87 minutes when Robbie Williams lifted the ball over keeper Andy Banks for the late equaliser.
Colwyn Bay are expecting to complete the signing of an experienced central defender before Saturday's opening league game at Belper - see Thursday's Weekly News for more details.

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