PAUL Hurst was satisfied with last night's comfortable victory over a Sunderland line-up – but the Grimsby Town boss certainly won't be getting carried away.
The Mariners eased to a 2-0 win over a youthful Black Cats side, whose only recognisable face was that of former Swansea striker Danny Graham.
Lenell John-Lewis opened the scoring when he tapped home from Paul Walker's superb cross before Paddy McLaughlin served up a real moment of quality for Town's second, two minutes from time.
But despite watching his side outplay the Premier League youngsters for much of the evening, Hurst wasn't prepared to read too much into the result.
"I'll certainly not be going home shouting about us going on to win the league after that one – that's for sure!" he said.
"With the side they had out, it was a different sort of test with the way that they play.
"They are encouraged to play the right way – you could see that.
"But there was a passage of play in the first-half where they kept the ball for a bit, made one misplaced pass and suddenly we were straight through the middle of them – and should have perhaps made more of the opportunity.
"We're not going to encounter those kinds of teams in our league campaign and we know that, but it was pleasing to get the win nonetheless."
He added: "I thought we kept a decent shape to us throughout the game, certainly early on before the substitutions and we looked at a different system in the second half, so there were definitely positives.
"All-in-all it was a positive night but to be honest I'm itching to get into the league games where it really, really matters."
Despite getting back to winning ways following three straight pre-season defeats, Hurst wasn't entirely happy with the result, saying he wished his side had made more of the opportunities they created.
"We carved out quite a few chances and that was certainly positive," he continued.
"Their keeper has had to make a couple of saves, but it would have been nice for the lads' confidence to score one or two more to be honest.
"In saying that, it was a good move for the opener and then a fantastic finish from Paddy at the end, so we can't complain."
