WINTERTON RANGERS 0 GRIMSBY TOWN 3 (Mulready 8, 25, 87)

A YOUTHFUL Grimsby Town side eased to a 3-0 victory in their latest pre-season outing at Winterton Rangers thanks to a stunning hat-trick from Sam Mulready.

The Youth Team starlet netted in the eighth, 25th and 87th minute - the latter a splendid solo effort - and will have impressed watching Town manager Neil Woods.

Head of Youth Robbie Stockdale took charge of the side for the afternoon and he was able to add young pros Bradley Wood, Mark Gray, Drew Rhoades, Josh Fuller and Tom Corner to his Youth charges, as well as trialists Scott Brown and Luke Nightingale.

Brown is a right winger, who came through the ranks at Everton and last played for Cheltenham, whilst Nightingale is a central midfielder from Huddersfield.

The Mariners started the game in fine form and should have been in front before they took the lead. Brown forced a corner from their first attack and  Fuller fired a low ball across the penalty area from a quickly taken set-piece and it was begging for a Town player to latch onto it.

Fuller was at it again just moments later when he linked up with Wood on the left, burst past his marker and dinked a cross into the area for Mulready who could only steer his header wide of the upright.

In the eighth minute the Mariners did make their superiority count. Another corner was floated in from the left by Fuller and Mulready was left unmarked to plant his header beyond home stopper Jack Ward.

The visitors should have doubled their advantage just a minute later when Corner latched onto a long ball from Gray but dragged his right-foot effort wide of the target. Mulreadty was then unfortunate not to add a second midway through the half. The Rangers defence was hesitant in dealing with a Brown through ball and this allowed Fuller to nip in. He nodded the ball into the path of Mulready but his spectacular effort found the midriff of the relieved Ward.

A second goal did arrive on 25 minutes and it was another headed effort from the teenageTown striker. Rangers failed to deal with a corner and when the ball fell to Brown, he clipped a long ball to the far post where Mulready was on hand to head home his second of the afternoon.

Still the Mariners pressed as they looked for more goals. Nightingale jinked inside two challenges before firing a left-foot effort which Ward gathered at the second attempt. Fellow trialist Brown then tried his luck with a 25-yard shot that sailed inches over the crossbar.

The home side then began to get more of a foothold in the game and enjoyed a long spell of possession. They rarely troubled Town goalkeeper Rob Peet though and their only meaningful effort of the half came on the stroke of half time when Liam Wilkin's acrobatic effort drifted harmlessly over.

Rangers made some changes at the break and improved their game. Wilkin should have halved the deficit on 54 minutes. The Winterton forward got the wrong side of Gray and outmuscled Wood but was denied by the feet of Peet from close range.

Town made their first change on 56 minutes when Lawrence Heward replaced the impressive Wood, who had shown his versatility with a run-out on the left-hand side of the defence.

Wilkin was then guilty of wasting another chance when he wriggled free of the attention of Charlie I'Anson but skewed his shot well over with just Peet to beat.

The hardworking Corner then saw his powerful effort from distance blocked by Rangers' defender Micah Bleau. That was Corner's last action of the afternoon before he was replaced by Ross Gardner with 24 minutes remaining.

The Mariners' third change of the afternoon followed on 74 minutes when Andi Thanoj replaced Fuller. It was Mulready's afternoon though and he completed his hat-trick with an impressive third on 87 minutes.

The 17-year-old picked up a loose ball on the right wing and proceeded to run at the home defence, evading challenges left and right, beating four men and then poking his effort beyond the advancing Ward and into the bottom right-hand corner.

Trialists Brown and Nightingale more then played their part on the afternoon and impressed with a solid 90-minute performance each.

RANGERS: Ward; Robinson, Smith, Walkden, Sanderson; Pickles, Stannard, Longbone, Craig; Wilkin, Wilburn. Subs: Wilkinson, O'Neill, Frost, Severn, Slack, Bleau, McDonagh, Lycett.

TOWN: Peet; Marshall, Wood (Heward 56), I'Anson, Gray; Brown, Nightingale, Rhoades, Fuller (Thanoj 74); Corner (Gardner 66), Mulready. Subs not used: O'Loughlin, Dickens, Ashdown

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