Radcliffe manager Jon Macken has called for his side’s standards to be challenged ahead of Saturday’s away clash to Basford United in the Northern Premier League.

The Boro achieved their first point of the new 2019/20 campaign with a 1-1 draw against FC United of Manchester last weekend at the Neuven Stadium.

Macken was pleased with the desire and reaction of his players after a previous FA Cup Preliminary round tie against Runcorn Town ended goalless, but wants the Boro to keep their foot on the pedal against Steve Chettle's side.

“I thought it was good (the performance against FC United). It was a lot better, and much improved from the last performance,” said the Boro boss. “Was it the reaction I wanted? Definitely.

“The work rate and the togetherness on the pitch, the desire and the belief to go and try to win the match. It was there to see. It was exactly what I was looking for, but we can’t just turn it on for the big games.

“We need to look at other games where they don’t feel as though they need to put in the levels of performance. We cannot do that in this division. Every single game we play, we’ve got to be there and challenging ourselves to raise our standards and our level.”

The affair against the Reds last weekend saw Matthew Wolfenden open his and Boro’s account for the league season, before the away side’s Regan Linney replied to ensure the points were shared.

Despite the result, the openings the home side had were a result of domination during the game, according to Macken, and feels they should have come away with all three points.

He said: “I thought second-half, especially, we were very good. We controlled the game with good possession and created good chances. I thought we should have won it.

“They (FC United) were always a danger because of the counter attack, they are a danger. We had them watched before-hand and we knew they battle for everything and have some good players in there who can create chances out of nothing.

“But I thought we controlled it and looked really good with great composure on the ball. We were compact and limiting them to chances. When we got it out wide we caused problems.”