Lancaster City claim pre-season win at Widnes

The striker came off the bench to net twice late on ahead of City’s pre-season outing against Preston North End’s youngsters on Tuesday evening.

Having made the journey to the DCBL Stadium, City saw the home team find the net inside the first five minutes but it was ruled out for a foul on loanee keeper Jordan Eastham.

The Blackburn Rovers youngster had returned to Giant Axe on a short-term loan prior to the game, following the facial injury sustained by Curtis Anderson against AFC Fylde.

Mark Fell’s players had been unable to capitalise on free-kicks and corners inside the first 20 minutes before another set piece ended with Dale Whitham seeing an effort saved by Widnes keeper Owen Wheeler.

Brad Carroll also tried his luck before half-time arrived with the game goalless, after which both teams took the chance to refresh their line-ups.

Tom Ruffer fired over from distance for the home team before Andy Teague headed off target at the other end.

City eventually opened the scoring when Widnes skipper Mike Burke was deemed to have bodychecked another City substitute, David Norris.

Evangelinos did the rest, scoring from the spot, though City were grateful to Eastham when he tipped away a late effort to preserve their advantage.

His efforts were rewarded when Evangelinos capitalised on a defensive error to make the score 2-0 late on.

There was still time for Jake Connelly to have a shot blocked and for an offside flag to thwart Brad Hubbold but two goals proved enough.