Garry Monk hailed United’s second-half reaction after seeing his side come back from three goals down to secure a 4-3 victory in Friday evening’s thrilling pre-season friendly away to local outfit Guiseley.

United trailed 3-0 with just 24 minutes on the clock at Nethemoor, but young forward Eoghan Stokes pulled one back on the stroke of half-time before second-half efforts from Jordan Botaka, Kalvin Phillips and Souleymane Doukara turned the game in the visitors’ favour.

“We were disappointed with the first half,” said Monk. “It wasn’t the performance we were looking for and the players are fully aware of that.

“It was quite uncharacteristic from the group from what I’ve seen in the last three-and-a-half weeks.

“I didn’t expect that, but in the second half we showed our character and what we’re capable of; what we’ve been working on. It was pleasing that we got that reaction at half-time and the most important part is winning the game.

“This is a very young group and they’ve still got a lot of experiences to go through. I told them at the end that it was a valuable lesson at any age.

“The younger you can learn that lesson, where, the moment you lose a little bit of focus or a little bit of intensity, even by small percentages, you can get hurt by any team. Guiseley totally deserved their goals.

“We can talk about the goals from individual perspectives but it’s not about that. It’s about the lesson that young players need to learn very quickly – and that came tonight.

“The positive is that it has come in pre-season – that’s when you try and get out any rustiness and any mistakes to make sure you’re ready for the season.

“I was very pleased with the reaction after half-time and that second-half performance to get themselves back into a winning position.”