Notts County and Mansfield Town both won in pre-season friendly action last night but it wasn’t all good news as the Magpies lost striker Lewis Knight to injury.

As the Stags beat Championship opposition in Coventry City at Field Mill, Notts travelled to the modern new home of National League North outfit Boston United and got off to a flying start when trialist Andre Wright got on the scoresheet after 17 minutes.

County doubled their advantage on 27 minutes through the prolific Kyle Wootton after Wright’s assist and on 64 Elisha Sam made it three, a minute after the hosts had hit the crossbar up the other end.

The Pilgrims did pull one back late on through, Jake Wright to end the score line 3-1 in Notts favour, but losing Knight early in the first half was of concern ahead of the season start a week on Saturday.

At the One Call Stadium, no such injury worries for Mansfield who in front of a home crowd for the first time since February 2020, put on a show to beat second tier Coventry thanks to a George Lapslie goal four minutes into the second half.

Manager Nigel Clough was pleased with the performance, and a second scalp of Championship sides after beating Hull City on Saturday, the Stags boss stating “Physically, the lads worked very hard. Those who needed 90 minutes got it, and then it was a good performance as well.

“Like Saturday, it was encouraging. I think you can see the signs of how we’re trying to play and what we want to do.”

Next up for Mansfield is a behind closed doors match verses Forest U23’s at the RH Academy on Saturday before a week later they open up their league two campaign at home to Bristol Rovers.

Notts are in action next on Sunday, against Derby County at Pride Park before opening up their National League campaign at home to York City on Saturday 7^th August.

Nottingham Forest are in action this afternoon, at Premier League Aston Villa in a 1pm kick off.

*Main image @Official_NCFC Jim O’Brien & Kyle Wootton celebrate Notts scoring.