Elias off to a flyer after Barrow brace

Sörensen, 18, entered the fray as a half time substitute in United’s friendly at the Furness Building Society Stadium with the score level at 1-1.

And it took him just a couple of minutes to make his mark, as he raced onto Ivan Toney’s flick before burying a shot past the Bluebirds’ goalkeeper.

It got even better for the Danish youngster when he collected Ollie Walters’ pass before clipping home his second to make it 3-1.

Though Barrow pulled one back late on, Sörensen’s strikes proved decisive as his side prevailed 3-2, and the forward told nufc.co.uk he was delighted to have kicked off the 2018/19 campaign in style.

“It was very important, just to show Ben (Dawson, coach) what I’m made of and what I can do for the team. It’s very important to make a good start,” he said.

“I feel like I’m improving every day. Ben’s a great coach and he teaches us every single day, so I feel like I’m going the right way.

“It’s a big season. It’s my last year of contract as well, so hopefully I can do well and get another one.”

Sörensen will make the step up to under-23s football this term, having netted 11 goals in 19 games for Dave Watson’s under-18 side last season.

And he reckons the victory over battle-hardened National League outfit Barrow will give his teammates a boost as they continue with their pre-season preparations.

“I think it went well. We played well as a team and we were happy with that performance. It’s always good to get two goals and boost your confidence at the start of the season, so that was good too,” he said.

“It does help confidence for our upcoming games – the next game we believe we can win because we’ve won this one, so it’s a big confidence boost for the boys and for the team as a whole.

“It’s always nice to score but when it’s that quick, it just makes it a bit better. You get more confident so the next chance, you score as well – if you score the first one, you’re more confident you’ll score the next one as well. It settled me down.

“When I got the chance (to score a second goal), I thought that the keeper always goes down, so I thought I’d give it a little chip above him. When you’re 2-1 up you’re always a bit nervous, so when I put it in for 3-1 we settled a bit.”

Sörensen formed a lively partnership up front with Toney for much of the second period – something he feels benefitted him.

“Ivan’s been on loan in the Championship and played for Newcastle’s first team so he’s a good player,” he added. “I can learn a lot from him, and it’s very good to for me to play up front with him.”