Although the scoreline was a heavy one in Cannock ' s favour, the tempo the game was played at and the quality of opposition Barton matched themselves up against meant that the run - out stands them in very good stead going into next week's first league fixture.

With Mark Moore and Jamie Foster unavailable, youngster Louis Bloomfield once again started in the Barton back line and George Wills came into the squad.

With Cannock 1st team playing in the National Premier League and many of the 2nd team players being part of the 1st team squad Barton knew they would be in for a tough afternoon but wanted to test themselves and have as hard a workout as possible going into the league opener next weekend.

The game started a very even affair with both sides enjoying even amounts of possession and chances were created and squandered at either end. Adam Foster and Ashley Parr both had chances well saved by the superb Cannock goalkeeper and at the other end good scrambling defence from Roger Craig, Jacob Foster and Louis Bloomfield meant that the scoreline remained level. However, after 15 minutes Cannock started to enjoy more possession and create more chances and this eventually saw them win the first penalty corner. The ball was dragged to the right battery which wrong-footed Barton keeper Mike Parr and the drag - flick found its way into the bottom corner. The scoreline was soon doubled in similar fashion.

Barton were by no means the inferior side and were breaking forward on numerous occasions. Craig Tilke saw an effort saved and Ali Gardiner was a constant threat in the first half, always posing the Cannock defence a problem. Cannock though had class all over the pitch though and soon extended their lead to 3-0 with a forward finishing from close range before another penalty corner saw lead go to 4-0. The scoreline was perhaps somewhat harsh on Barton and they clawed their way back in the 5 minutes before half - time scoring 2 penalty corners of their own through Jacob Foster.

Barton's message at the interval from coach Nigel Taylor was to maintain structure in defence and take better care of possession in attack.

The first 15 minutes of the 2nd half was a tale of Cannock enjoying possession but Barton maintaining their structure and frustrating their hosts. However in the last 20 minutes the class of Cannock showed through and they scored 4 further goals all on the break. Although finding it tough in the 2nd half, Barton's younger players, Bloomfield, Jacob Buxton, Wills and Mark Latham turned in fine performances and did themselves proud.

Next Saturday sees Barton open their Midlands 1 league account hosting Loughborough Town at Shobnall. 2:30pm push-back.