PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY

BARROW AFC 5 (Own-goal 17; Hindle 38, 47, 52; Kay 42) LANCASTER CITY 0

JACK Hindle continued his impressive pre-season form for Barrow AFC with another three goals to add to his tally.

The new recruit has been in fine fettle since joining the Bluebirds from Colwyn Bay and was at it again against Lancaster.

He scored three times inside 15 minutes either side of the break – and also had another effort turned in for an own-goal – to further cement his place in manager Ian Evatt’s starting line-up come the start of the National League campaign.

Evatt chose to start an XI almost entirely of his own players, with just the one trialist in the centre of defence alongside Josh Granite.

City featured two former Barrow men in the shape of Steve Williams and Richie Baker, and both had early chances for the visitors.

Williams headed over from a corner, while Baker let rip with a low effort from 20 yards that Andy Firth had to be alert to as he turned the effort round the base of the post.

In between times, Nathan Waterston fired over after being played in down the left by the trialist, with John Rooney subsequently trying his luck from a similar distance with a dipping shot that cleared both the City keeper and the goal.

AFC went ahead on the back of Jason Taylor winning the ball in typically determined fashion in the centre of the park and playing in Hindle down the right. He ran into the area and fired a shot that was heading wide of the far post before a trialist defender intervened and put it into his own net.

Raul Correia had the ball in the net again minutes later, but was offside, Rooney had a free-kick saved by the keeper diving to his left, and Josh Granite hit the bar with a header, but was also offside.

Two goals followed in quick succession before the break, firstly as Connor Brown and Hindle combined well by the corner flag, and then Hindle and Waterston played a one-two, with the former played in behind the defence and sliding the ball underneath the keeper into the net.

After an audacious Rooney effort from 30 yards flew wide, a fast counter-attack, starting with Firth punching clear, ended with Josh Kay firing in Brown’s cross at the far post.

There was time before the break for both Taylor and Simon Willis to be asked to leave the field by the referee after an explosion of tempers in midfield.

The tally was added to early in the second half as Waterston squared to Hindle in the area and he calmly picked out the bottom corner with a precision effort.

And Hindle had his hat-trick less than seven minutes after the interval as half-time substitute Jack Barthram ran into the area on the right and picked him out. There was no missing as he fired into the opposite bottom corner this time around.

Kay had an effort from 18 yards saved by the City keeper after a short corner, and trialist Callum Saunders was then played through on goal and lifted his shot over the keeper but wide of the far post.

Saunders had another chance when Barthram ran into the area and the ball found the forward, who could not fire through a crowd of players and saw his shot hit a defender and be cleared.

Hindle flashed a whip-cracker of an effort wide of the near post from 20 yards midway through the second half as the game lost much of its impetus, with City creating very little.

That was Hindle’s day done, as soon afterwards he went off with a slight limp, leaving Barrow to see out the final 15 minutes with 10 men.

That gave Lancaster a little more space, and one of their trialists at least forced a save from the AFC substitute keeper with a shot straight down his throat.

Barrow AFC First Half: Andrew Firth, Connor Brown, Dan Jones, Jason Taylor, Josh Granite, Trialist, Jack Hindle, John Rooney, Raul Correia, Josh Kay, Nathan Waterston.

Substitutes: Jack Barthram, Lee Molyneux, Matty Elsdon, plus Trialists.

Lancaster City First Half: Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Simon Willis, Steve Williams, Craig Stanley, Ryan Winder, Rob Wilson, Matty Blinkhorn, Richie Baker, Sam Bailey.

Substitutes: Charlie Bailey, Ben Hudson, Tom Kilfin, Charlie Russell, plus Trialists.

Referee: Paul Kettlewell.

Attendance: 511.