Gainsborough Trinity see off young Lincoln City side in friendly
Gainsborough Trinity made it four wins from five in pre-season with a 4-2 home victory over a youthful Lincoln City side on Saturday with goals from Javelle Clarke, Frank Mulhern (2) and Ashley Jackson.
Shuffling his squad, Wilcox started Crookes, Beeden and Lancaster together with Tuntulwana and Butroid offering the width.
The trio in the middle was made up of Preston, Helliwell and Johnson, with Clarke supporting Margetts up top.
An early reshuffle saw Simpson added to the fray, and that saw Tuntulwana thrust further forward, although it was the visitors who had the first meaningful attempt, young Imp Okewoye seeing his effort deflected behind.
Winning the ball back, Clarke played a clever ball into the path of Tuntulwana - but Sisa ruffled the sidenetting.
On 10 minutes, a cleverly improvised flick by Margetts from Butroid’s near post cross almost saw Trinity break the deadlock before five minutes later Robson was called into action, making a smart double save to deny Aldridge.
The game was starting to open up and just past the midway point of the half, Trinity opened the scoring. Margetts slid in Clarke and Javelle made no mistake.
A slick move then saw the Holy Blues attack with purpose and Tuntulwana's effort was blocked, the rebound falling for Butroid in the centre of the goal and a last ditch block taking Butty's effort up and over the bar.
Clarke tested Pardington at his near post, before Butroid grazed the outside of the post after good battling play from Bobby Johnson on the edge of the box.
Defensively, Aaron Simpson had to be alert to danger, using the greasy surface to time his sliding challenge to perfection.
On the stroke of half-time, though, the visitors were clinical.
An intense press saw the young Imps win the ball back in midfield, and Kennealey finished with a crisp low strike into David Robson’s bottom left hand corner.
At half-time, Frank Mulhern replaced Tuntulwana and Simpson stung the palms of the keeper as Trinity started the second half brightly.
Ten minutes into the half Mulhern put the Holy Blues back in front.
Clarke saw his initial effort well saved by the keeper, but following in, Mulhern was there to lash home.
Only a minute later, Harrison Beeden went close to extending the lead, swivelling to fire Preston’s corner back across goal.
Gainsborough did make it three when Ashley Jackson fired home the loose ball following pinball in the box.
However, it wasn’t all one-way traffic as Robson had to be alert to make a smart stop low down to his left.
Trinity then netted again and Preston was again the provider, teeing up Mulhern with a ball in from the right. The former Farsley striker took the ball under his spell, with his back to goal and deceived Partingdon with a clever finish.
Just three minutes later, Mulhern looked to complete his hat-trick. His near post finish deflected behind for a corner.
Nine minutes from time, the young Imps pulled another one back. Simmons out on the left looked to stretch things for Lincoln. And his whipped in ball was cleverly looped up and over substitute goalkeeper Ollie Sykes.