Scott Hellewell was pleased with the performance of his Lincoln United side but was keen to stress that they still have things to work on after they drew 2-2 with Lincoln City at the Sun-Hat Villa’s and resorts stadium.
The fixture marked the first game of pre-season for the two sides but also a long-standing partnership that will see them face off against each other on an annual basis.
Lincoln United featured five of their six new signings in a starting 11 that also saw a change to a back five. Captain Elliot Dye and experienced striker Scott Fenwick were both unavailable on the night with Dye expected to return for Tuesday’s trip to Grantham Town.
Despite that, the Whites took an early two goal lead as two new signings were keen to make an impression on the home fan base.
Stefan Galinski headed in the first from a corner just six minutes in before midfielder Ethan Bojang added the second just two minutes later as Jack Varley crossed in from the left.
United then had a great chance to add a third on the ten-minute mark but Jamie Pardington got down well in the City goal to save a penalty from Varley.
On the new signings Lincoln United manager Scott Hellewell said: “All the lads that made their debuts played really well, it’s always nice to get on the scoresheet but Stef (Galinksi) was non-stop talking.”
City then bounced back from the two-goal deficit just after the break as former Lincoln United loanee Gbolahan Okewoye smashed in from close range after the Whites failed to clear on 56 minutes.
The equaliser then came late as Will Cowin headed in from a corner whipped in at pace from the right and Scott Hellewell described the goal as “really disappointing.”
He said: “They’re quite a small team and shouldn’t be scoring from a corner against us, the lad was unmarked, and we just needed someone to lead us in there.”
Overall, on the performance Lincoln United manager Scott Hellewell said: “You’re never going to be the finished article after the first game of pre-season, we’ve seen areas of issue, but we’ve played a different formation, and I was impressed with individual performances.
“Nobody individually had a bad game but those moments of lapses in concentration and making the wrong decisions are the issues, but that will come.”
On the other hand, Lincoln City under 18’s manager Sam Tillen said: “We had three days coming into this, so for them to put in the output they did gives us a good platform for Tuesday.”
“We have to learn from the physicality of tonight, you’ve got to make sure that you’re very conscientious when it comes to setns pieces. We didn’t do enough in the first half, but we started getting closer to people and it means that we have to learn from that and make sure it doesn’t happen at our own level.”