Riece Bertram found the opener early in the second half, after a rather stale opening 45, then Tom Cursons and Tom Marshall were on hand to secure the Blues’ lead with goals late on.

In the opening 10 minutes of the match, it was the Blues that seemed the more likely to score, with Adam Clark showing his eagerness to get into a goal-scoring position.

The first came just 2 minutes after the whistle when Larell King lofted a neat pass over the top of the Khalsa defence and onto the run of Clark, although the Khalsa shot-stopper stood tall and dispossessed the forward.

Moments later Clark had another chance after beating the offside trap and attempting to capitalise on a goalkeeping mistake, however once again it was the Khalsa keeper quick off his line to deny Clark.

Khalsa had a chance to open the scoring themselves midway through the first half when the visitors’ midfielder struck from distance, but Ross Durrant did superbly to tip the fizzing strike over the bar.

Long Eaton looked to regain some confidence in the latter stages of the first half with some tempting efforts from range. Clark was the provider once again with a driven effort from 25 yards out, although his effort crept just over the crossbar.

With the first half coming to its stalemate conclusion, Deakin opted to make six changes at half-time, looking to test players ahead of the new season.

After a positive start to the second half, the Blues were in front after just three minutes. Keiran Walker was involved once again with his classic long throw, and this time it was Bertram that converted from just inside the 18-yard box.

United then gained some momentum from the opening goal and looked to double their advantage fairly quickly. Curtis Davies and L’Varn Brandy combined with instant impact, as the latter received a square pass inside the penalty area but could not quite find the target with a quick strike.

However, mid-way through the second half, Cursons applied enough pressure to move off his marker and gather a dinked through ball inside the Khalsa box, then with composure, the striker found the bottom left with a neat finish past the keeper.

With five minutes left on the clock, United made it three. Brandy exquisitely found Tom Marshall inside the box with a pin-point cross, and with a glancing header, Marshall was able to find the back of the net after a slight deflection off the Khalsa defender.

Long Eaton continued to pile on the pressure in the dying moments, although Khalsa put up the barricade and defended well to ensure the game finished three-goals-to-nil.