Horncastle Town 0 Imps U18 0

Sam Tillen

Sam Tillen has assessed pre-season as positive after his side wrapped up preparations against Horncastle Town.

The young Imps brought their 24/25 pre-season to a close on Wednesday with a tightly contested 0-0 draw against Horncastle, with minutes being shared around the squad.

Tillen said: “I thought it was good game - Horncastle were well organised and kept going right to the end. From our perspective it gave us an opportunity for the lads that haven’t played as much to get 90 minutes before the season starts."

City have faced tough tests against the likes of Bottesford Town and Lincoln United over the course of pre-season, and Tillen believes the last few weeks have prepared his side well for the start of the season.

He continued: “The most important thing is to prepare for the season, we feel like we’ve done a lot of work with the boys and they’re fit. We’ve worked on some more things throughout pre-season, the fundamentals were there before.

“The boys who were here for the last six months, the ones that worked with me, know what I expect from them and the standards that we have. Hopefully we can kick on as pre-season has been positive. They’ve worked hard, and taken onboard what we’ve been doing in training.“

City begin the season with a trip to Wrexham on Tuesday, and Tillen is expecting a tough test against the Red Dragons.

He added: “It’s a good test for us, the start to the season is good for us. Going to Wrexham will be a good experience, one that I’m looking forward to and I think now the lads are really looking forward to the season starting after a tough few weeks of hard work.”

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