​Trinity progress in the FA Cup as Grantham are beaten

For only the second time in five years, Trinity made it to the third qualifying round thanks to a first-half brace from Declan Howe.

Gainsborough have been handed an away tie at Vanarama National League North side Darlington in the third qualifying round.

The tie is to be played over the weekend of September 27/ 28/29. The full match details as yet are still to be confirmed, due to The Quakers’ groundshare with their local rugby club.

The draw pits Trinity top scorer, Howe, against one of his former clubs. Howe has scored eight goals so far this season, three of those coming in the FA Cup.

Boss, Russ Wilcox reflected on his side’s FA Cup win, and said: “It was a difficult game, I thought Grantham were excellent to be fair, they turned up to the party on Saturday. It’s the FA Cup, it just shows you players raise their game.”

He described his team’s first-half performance as ‘very dominant’, after the somewhat surprising early onslaught from the visitors.

Wilcox did lament the disappointing aspects of the victory, as Trinity conceded early in the second-half to leave the game on a knife edge, adding: “It’s frustrating because you want the next goal, 2-0 is always a funny scoreline.”

But the Blues saw out the game with a resolute defensive display, building on the midweek result from four days earlier, a 2-0 win over Matlock.

The Holy Blues' hectic fixture schedule shows no sign of abating.

Stockton Town visit the Kal Group Stadium on Saturday, Gainsborough's seventh home game in eight, before Trinity take to the road on Tuesday 24th September to take on Robbie Savage’s Macclesfield in a rearranged league fixture.

*You can submit your sports stories, match reports and good quality photographs to us at the Standard by utilising the ‘Submit Your Story’ function on our website at www.lincolnshireworld.com.