Gainsborough Trinity manager Russ Wilcox and Lincoln United assistant Paul Grimes reviewed an entertaining friendly between the two sides.
The pre-season outing ended 1-1, with Declan Howe’s 15th minute penalty being cancelled out by Jack McMenemy’s deft touch header just before the interval.
Gainsborough Trinity’s Russ Wilcox:
Trinity’s boss gave his verdict on the game, and said: “It probably could’ve been six a piece today, they created too many chances for my liking. We created a fair few as well, which we didn’t take. But, it’s another workout.
“I said from day one, I’m not going to get too excited by pre-season, I’m not going to get too down about pre-season. It is what it is, it’s getting minutes into the legs, you could see today that we needed that.”
The former Scunthorpe United manager conceded that he was “disappointed” with some aspects of his team’s performance, but reflected that it was just a pre-season outing at the end of the day.
Wilcox said it was a “decent day at the office”, with his side adding more minutes into the legs ahead of their Northern Premier League season.
Gainsborough are in the middle of their preparations, with the campaign not kicking off until August, 10, while Lincoln are now less than a week away from a return to competitive action.
Lincoln United’s Paul Grimes:
Lincoln United player-assistant manager reviewed the draw after the full time whistle, at Ashby Avenue. He described the reaction to going 1-0 down as the most pleasing aspect of the performance.
Grimes said: “If we look at it step three, step five, you can sometimes give too much respect to the opposition and almost be waiting for them to take the game to us. So, we pointed out that we’ve got lads in our changing room that could play step three, and we’ve got lads in our changing room that will step three when they add a bit more consistency to their game.
“We don’t want to go in fearing anyone. We’ve got respect for teams, and they’re a very, very good team, but we’ve got confidence in our own ability that we can take anyone on.”
Gainsborough looked sharp in the early exchanges, before Lincoln employed a change of shape.
“We probably got caught a bit cold in the first 10, 15 minutes, they turned us around a couple of times, and gave us an early warning,” Grimes said.
Lincoln United conclude their pre-season schedule with the visit of Lincoln City under-21s on Wednesday, July 24. Meanwhile, Gainsborough Trinity continue their preparations by hosting League One Barnsley on Tuesday night.
Feature Image Credit: Bryan Pye and Ed Mayes Photography