Fleetwood Town ended their pre-season with a 1-0 home victory over League Two side Grimsby Town at Highbury Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
In Town's final pre-season match before the start of the 2023/24 Sky Bet League One season, it was Promise Omochere's goal in the first half that was the difference against the Mariners.
Despite Scott Brown's side winning, it was the visitors who started the brighter, as forward Danny Rose put Town keeper Jay Lynch to the test with a volley from the edge of the box inside the opening minute.
Soon after, Harry Clifton struck a low effort from inside the 18-yard box, which saw Lynch also get a strong hand to it following some excellent trickery from Abo Eisa.
But, the Cod Army took the lead around the quarter-hour mark. After some excellent build-up play on the right-hand side, Omochere arrived in the penalty box to turn home an excellent Josh Vela cross.
Ten minutes later Grimsby nearly found an equaliser as a wicked delivery from Anthony Glennon was cleared through a crowded penalty area before he struck the far post and saw it bounce wide.
Just after the half-hour mark, Jack Marriott showed superb feet to cut inside onto his left foot before firing a shot over the bar. Minutes later Jay Lynch had to get down low to deny a close-range header at the other end.
Lynch got down low once again to produce an excellent save. A shot poked towards him from point-blank range, but the keeper was able to push it away and preserve Town’s 1-0 lead going into half time.
With both teams making plenty of changes in the second half, it seemed to disrupt the patterns of play from either side, but it was all about getting minutes into the legs before next week's opener.
There was some excellent work from Vela on 75 minutes as he managed to snatch the ball on the edge of the box, before clipping in a cross into the danger area that Omochere headed narrowly over.
Just before full-time, substitute Cian Hayes drilled a cross across the penalty area that deflected towards goal, forcing Cartwright into an excellent save. Town's young winger followed in with a header but was denied again.
There were a number of half chances near the end, but the scoreline remained the same and Town bowed out of pre-season with a 1-0 victory.
Town XI: Lynch (GK), Johnston (Rooney 64’) Wiredu, Robertson (Glenfield 87’) Vela, Mayor, Marriott (Graydon 46’) Omochere (Asamoah 79’) Nsiala, Earl, Patterson (Hayes 64’).
Subs not used: Holgate, Teale.
Grimsby Town: Eastwood (GK) (Cartwright 58’), Efete, Glennon, Rodgers (Maher 58’) Waterfall, Eisa (Braithwaite 74’) Rose (Amos 69’) Clifton (Vernam 46’) Conteh (Green 69’) Khouri, Hunt (Holohan 46’).
Subs not used: Bramwell.