Our women’s team make the short trip to Lincoln on Thursday night for their first pre-season fixture when they face FA Women’s National League team Lincoln City Development.

Speaking about the fixture Dale Houlston told us: “It will be a very small squad tomorrow night as we have a few out because of things like birthdays and summer season work commitments.

“We also have a couple of players that are isolating. But we need to get some pre-season games up and running, and it needs to be against tough competition. Lincoln City Development posed us a tough challenge last season, and I am sure they will again as they are Women’s National League club with some great young players.

“Then we have a fixture scheduled back in Lincoln again on Thursday 5th August, when we play Premier League opponents Lincoln United, which will be another very tough run out for us. But it’s tough competition we need, especially for the new young players that we have brought in. No disrespect to others, but we need to give our young players a taste of what it’s going to be like playing against teams in our league and above, so we are being quite selective with respect of who we play in pre-season.

“If these youngsters played in games where they were just going to roll teams over, whilst that builds their fitness, it isn’t any sort of preparation for the season in terms of the level of competition. It’s been a long while since we played, and I am sure that the players’ are ready for it”.

The game kicks off at 7pm at Yarborough Leisure Centre in Lincoln.