DANNY Scopes says there were plenty of positives to take from Concord Rangers’ opening pre-season friendly of the summer.

The Beach Boys were condemned to a 4-0 defeat by a strong Millwall side preparing for a third consecutive season in the second tier of English football.

Shaun Williams, Ben Thompson, Reuben Duncan and Fred Onyedinma grabbed the Lions’ goals at the Aspect Arena and Scopes believes his side will benefit from the encounter against the Championship club, who are managed by former Southend United striker Neil Harris.

“Millwall had eight first team players in the first half and seven in the second half, so Neil didn’t take it lightly and he came to have a go at us,” said Scopes.

“They have some really good players and that was the kind of game we needed.

“It’s no good playing against an under-23 team or a half-hearted side and then dominating them.

“We needed that challenge because I’m not going to learn anything about my players if we’re not put under pressure.

“You are put under lots of pressure in the National League South, so there were plenty of positives to take from the game.”

Despite the final scoreline, Concord enjoyed promising spells in the friendly.

And Scopes was pleased to see his charges perform well having seen a large turnover of players during the summer.

Scopes, who succeeded Sammy Moore as boss in May, added: “We set out at the start to use it as a fitness exercise.

“We got that out of it and I’m pleased because our shape, style and passing was quite good.

“I probably didn’t expect that because we hadn’t worked on that.

“Getting that was a bonus but the main aim was to get some energy in, get around the pitch and see what the players can do.

“I’m particularly pleased because we played quite well at times in both halves.”

Only Tosin Olufemi, Danny Hurford and Quba Gordon featured either side of the interval as both sides made wholesale changes.

And Scopes felt the way his side defended showed promise.

“It’s always going to be a bit disjointed when you use 20 or more players in a game,” admitted Scopes.

“But our shape was good. I asked the boys to keep compact and tight, which they did.

“In the first half, Chris (Haigh) made two saves and they hit the bar.

“They scored three goals in the second half and they were all from crosses, so it was positive that we didn’t get opened up and broken down easily.”