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THREE goals in the last 25 minutes mean Town will go into Saturday’s eagerly-awaited League I opener at home to Bury on the back of six wins in as many senior friendlies.

Donal McDermott, Lee Novak and Jordan Rhodes netted as Lee Clark’s side came from behind following Chris Holroyd’s 52nd-minute opener in their final public work-out.

This was not the perfect performance by any means, and Lee Clark still has work to do in private, both on the training ground and in tomorrow’s behind-closed-doors game against Doncaster.

But pre-season as a whole has been pretty positive, with both old familiars and new faces catching the eye while shaking off the rust.

Town started with the 4-2-3-1 system which worked so well at Fleetwood, but had success after switching to 4-4-2 following Novak’s introduction for Danny Ward.

After struggling to establish himself as a regular starter last time around, Novak has been keen to make his mark since the countdown to 2011-12 began.

And having netted three times before the trip to the Don Valley Stadium, he continued the good work with his fourth goal and two assists.

His neat diagonal pass set up the busy McDermott to cut in from the right and score for the second game running in the 65th minute.

The former Manchester City man, always ready to go for goal, could have squared the ball to Rhodes but shot himself and put a low drive between keeper Conrad Logan’s legs.

Tommy Miller, who put in a solid 90 minutes in midfield, had a good effort blocked soon after before McDermott set up Novak in the 72nd minute.

The Geordie frontman had two bites of the cherry, and after his first shot was blocked, made no mistake when the rebound fell nicely.

Substitute Scott Arfield and Gary Roberts, who also played the full game, were both thwarted in the 77th minute after neat approach play by Rhodes.

But the two-goal cushion finally came in the 83rd, when Rhodes, having had an earlier headed effort disallowed for offside, ran onto Novak’s pass and left Logan flailing for his fourth goal of the build-up.

Novak would have made it four late on had Logan not climbed to tip his header from Rhodes’ cross onto the top of the bar.

It marked the culmination of a dominant phase for Town, but it was a different story in the first half, when Rotherham were the team exerting the pressure.

Town made a lively enough start, with Rhodes lifting and 18th-minute shot over after neat interplay with Miller on the edge of the area.

But Rotherham’s Lewis Grabban had already tested Alex Smithies with a well-struck shot which was parried to safety, then right-back Dale Tonge cut in and put a rising left-foot effort just over.

Home favourite Adam Le Fondre tested Smithies with an overhead kick from Tonge’s delivery, then Danny Harrison’s 22nd-minute strike was ruled out because a teammate was offside.

Skipper Peter Clarke, back after a back niggle, was alert to foil Jason Taylor and Grabban as they both drilled in shots.

Then Gary Naysmith’s covering skills were in evidence as he cleared off the line to deny Le Fondre from 10 yards out.

Ward and McDermott both had shots deflected as Town came back into things towards the end of the first half.

But it was Rotherham who drew first blood when Le Fondre flicked on Grabban’s cross from the right for Holroyd to turn the ball home at the far post.

The home side’s opener was followed by the appearance of Novak, and while the manager made seven further changes, it didn’t stop his side taking control.

Rotherham: Logan, Tonge, Newey, Harrison, Cresswell, Brown, Pringle (Smith, 79mins), Taylor, Le Fondre (Evans, 69), Grabban (Marshall, 69), Holroyd.

Town: Smithies, Woods (Hunt, 77mins), Naysmith (Ridehalgh, 66), P Clarke (Clarke, 64), Cooper (McCombe, 64), Miller, Johnson (Arfield, 60), McDermott (Cadamarteri, 85), Ward (Novak, 53), Roberts, Rhodes (Lee, 83).

Referee: Jock Waugh (South Yorkshire).

Att: 1,012 (368 away).