Newport County Interim Manager Chris Todd was upbeat after his side defeated Bristol Manor Farm 3-0 on Saturday.
Three second-half goals gave Newport a win in their first pre-season match, with many players making their first-team debuts for The Exiles.
"It's been good to be back. Obviously, when you're on off-season, the lads get time to chill out with their families and recover from the season before.
"There's been a lot of change in the football club for various seasons. I took the reign of manager, and I've enjoyed working with the boys."
A double from Lewis Jamieson was the highlight of the afternoon, with Matt Smith also adding a third to complete an effective tuning session for County.
Todd said of pre-season: "The results don't matter, but they also do.
"You want to win games of football and get that winning feeling in the group, but it's more about the minutes and the usual cliché stuff.
"Today was an early fixture, and sometimes you wonder if it's too early, but the lads had a great first week, and worked really hard.
"It was really positive overall, and finishing at the back end of the week with a win was nice for the changing room."
A full complement of County players were at The Creek, with three different teams across 30-minute intervals.
"I didn't want to play the lads for more than 30 minutes, though some of them had to.
"It was good, overall, to get a good performance from them, and a couple of goals for the fans."
Many of those on the pitch were from the Academy set-up.
Todd said: "It's great, as a culture and as a football club, we want to try and create players coming through the youth system.
"There's some really great young lads, and there is nothing better for them - I remember myself, back in the day at Swansea, coming in as a young boy.
"It's a great feeling to be around the pros. The pros always enjoy having the youngsters around because they want to nurture them, and it is also good for the club."
There were some players who were not started, with the likes of James Crole and Cameron Norman travelling but remaining on the sidelines.
Todd was firm in his response: "I've got to manage it.
"There's quite a few fixtures in pre-season, and we've got another close game on Wednesday, and hopefully they will be involved for that one."
County's next pre-season match is a local clash with Cymru South side Newport City on Wednesday (04 Jul).
As a former Exile during Newport's time there, Todd was relishing the prospect of returning to Spytty Park.
"They were good times. We got promoted, and set the club on what it is now in the Football League.
"It will be nice to go back in a different role! We're in Rodney [Parade] now, which is a terrific ground, and Newport football has developed massively since our time there."
