Horncastle Town boss happy after opening pre-season game

The Grimsby-based side were only recently formed but the Wongers looked in good shape as they eased to victory.

And Rawdon said it was good to get off to such a strong start.

He said: “It was a really good run out. The lads got really good and valuable minutes into their legs and we had a lot of young lads make their debuts and come into the squad for the first time. They all gave a really good account of themselves which was really encouraging.

"The first three weeks of pre-season have been great. The lads have worked really hard and we’ve really pushed them, but they’ve listened to Will and myself and the rest of the coaching staff and what we’re trying to implement, which is a really good foundation as we move on to the next phase which is three or four really tough games of football.”

Those games begin this Wednesday (17th) with the visit of United Counties League side Boston Town, then Louth Town are the visitors on Saturday.

Rawdon said: “Wednesday will be a really tough game and we’ll be up against it, but that’s exactly what we want as we really want to test our team and see what they’ve got, but also to show them the levels that they need to be getting to in order to play higher and where this club ultimately wants to end up, playing at that level week in, week out and not just in pre-season friendlies.

"Then we bounce straight into the game with Louth Town on Saturday who again are a really good side from the league above and they’ll really test us.

"They’ll expose us and punish us for any mistakes we make, which again is exactly what we want.

"Pre-season has been physically demanding and now the games are going to be physically tough as well in order to prepare us for the Lincs League campaign.”

Following the Louth game, Horncastle will host Collingham on July 27, Boston United U19s on August 2 and a Lincoln City XI on August 7.