Woking manager Neal Ardley admitted his side have plenty to work on after they lost 2-0 against Championship outfit Portsmouth in a pre-season friendly.

“I think the levels showed,” said Ardley.

“Portsmouth are three levels above us for a reason, but it's always good in pre-season to highlight the things you're short on.

“We knew about their press – we did a bit of work on it. It was about trying to beat the press and play round the press.

“We couldn't cope with the intensity Portsmouth worked at – and that's what levels are.

“They're smarter with their the way they press, they're better on the ball when you try to rush them, and they keep it better. They stretched us.

“In a competitive game we might have come up with a different gameplan without the ball, but we wanted to get the legwork out of it so we tried to press high.

“We got exposed at times, particularly for the goals, but that's part of pre-season.

“I'm not despondent – there's loads to learn from it.

“We wanted to put a better account in than we did, but it shows us where we are.

“There's loads to work on. We got loads wrong with the quality of our play and the quality of our decision making.

“It was a game where we were rushed to play a lot quicker than we've been used to, and it showed.

“The levels are there for a reason from the Premier League to the Championship and down to where we are.

“We got exposed by a very good Championship team but we'll learn from that and try to be better in our upcoming friendlies.”

Woking suffered a blow in the first half when goalkeeper Will Jaaskelainen went off injured and was replaced by the returning Craig Ross, but Ardley hopes Jaaskelainen’s injury isn’t too serious.

“We don't think it's too bad,” said Ardley.

“It was precautionary to take Will off.

“The physio didn't want to take any risks, so they made the call.

“I hope the initial prognosis is correct and it's not too bad.

“Everyone else came through the game okay.”

Ardley stressed he has happy with the business he has done so far this summer, but is looking to add to his squad.

“We're happy with the progress we're making but we're looking to bring more players in to bolster the squad,” said Ardley.

“We’ll keep trying to add one or two bits of quality where we can.

“Hopefully that will happen – we're working at that.”

Woking will host Carlisle United on the opening day of the season on August 9, and Ardley is confident his side will be ready.

“We’re regulating everyone's minutes and will keep building that up,” said Ardley.

“Pre-season is not just about minutes – we want to get good habits that win games of football.

“We’re trying to build some partnerships in the team so we go into the season with the players knowing how each other play.

“No one quite knows how tough the league is going to be and who the best teams are going to be.

“We're all feeling it out and trying to build momentum. It's exciting.”