Boss Matt Henman admits Dereham Town will be Gone in 60 Seconds next season if they start as slowly as they did on Tuesday night.

The Magpies endured a torrid opening at higher-level King's Lynn Town with Shane Tolley putting the hosts in front inside a minute.

And although the Aldiss Park club eventually drew with Norfolk's Step Three new boys, Henman believes his players can take plenty on board from their latest friendly.

'I thought we started really sluggishly and that's a little bit of a lesson for us,' said Dereham's manager.

'When you move up levels, you can't take anything for granted and spend five or 10 minutes getting into the pace of the game like we did at Lynn – and we paid for it.

'But I thought we showed a lot of character in the first half to come back and as the first half went on I thought we became the better side. We deserved our equaliser and then I was really pleased to go into half-time on top.'

The visitors drew level through Shaun Bammant before Adam Gusterson gave the Ryman Division One North side the lead ahead of the break.

George Thomson equalised in the second half but Henman believes his troops gave another good account of themselves as they increase their preparations for their first tilt at Step Four of the non-league ladder.

Half-time sub Aaron Kay was taken off again as a precaution with a tight groin while Bammant was removed as Dereham continue to manage his niggling knee problem.

Luke Tuttle missed out after having wisdom teeth removed. He should return for next week's game against Gorleston. The striker is likely to miss tomorrow's trip to Great Yarmouth Town – as are a majority of the first team squad who will be enjoying a trip to Ibiza to celebrate their Thurlow Nunn Premier Division title success.

'There's 11 players going who were a big part of last year's squad. But it's come at a reasonable time as most of them have played good minutes,' said Henman.

'They can go away and relax for the weekend. It's a reward for their hard work, and last year, and going away builds a bit of togetherness in the squad. I did ban the word Ibiza on Tuesday from 7-9.30pm but now they can look forward to it and come back in next week and work hard.

'Friday night will be a first team, with a few of the lads who haven't played so much, and a couple of young lads thrown in. Then we'll have a full complement of players back for the Gorleston game.'