YORK City boss Jackie McNamara declared his team’s opening pre-season outing “a good exercise” despite going down 6-0 to strong Middlesbrough side.

Jordan Rhodes (two), David Nugent, Albert Adomah and Adam Reach all found the net after an unfortunate Scott Flinders own goal had given the promoted Premier League visitors a 19th-minute lead at Bootham Crescent.

But City had earlier enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges and Matty Dixon also rattled the crossbar late on with McNamara reasoning: “It was the first time our team has played together and that showed at times, but it was a good exercise for us.

“The scoreline wasn’t great, but we had some good chances early on and should have scored a few. If you make mistakes against teams of Middlesbrough’s standards, though, they punish you.

“They are a Premier League team and they are there for a reason. There’s a lot of stuff for us to work on with fitness and defensive organisation and communication and everything’s never going to be perfect on your first day back but, while there’s a lot to work on, I was pleased with a lot of things and feel the signs are good.”

McNamara went on to praise his midfield axis of Clovis Kamdjo and Simon Heslop, who lined up together for the first hour, adding: “I thought Clovis was excellent, along with Simon in midfield.

“Richard Brodie also did OK, before he tired a little bit, but we’ve only been back a week. Aidan (Connolly) looked sharp too and it was good experience in the second half for the likes of Dan Nti and Kaine Felix, who was unlucky not to score.”

Former Stalybridge centre-back Jack Higgins was named captain for the contest with McNamara admitting he is a candidate for the job come the club’s National League curtain raiser at Maidstone on August 6.

“He’s a good talker and leader, who organises well at the back,” the City chief declared.

Trialist goalkeeper Ed Wilczynski, meanwhile, replaced Flinders at the break against Boro.

He went on to concede three times, but McNamara will let goalkeeper coach Craig Hinchliffe judge whether the ex-Huddersfield reserve is worthy of a contract, saying: “It was a good chance to see how he handled the game and it’s up to Craig to decide.

“He has been working with him day to day and he’s also got other keepers in mind, so we are keeping our options open.”

City came through the match with just minor concerns for full-backs Shaun Rooney (hamstring) and Alex Whittle (groin).

McNamara also experimented with different systems, starting with a 4-4-1-1 line-up that saw Yan Klukowski supporting lone striker Richard Brodie.

He went on to switch briefly to a three-man defence and revealed that all tactical approaches remain under consideration as he looks ahead to the start of the new campaign.

“We will be trying different formations in all the games and I was contemplating starting with a 3-4-3, but you sometimes have to think about how much possession the opposition will have when you’re playing somebody like Middlesbrough,” McNamara pointed out.