Grimsby Town 0 Bradford City 2

Results may not count for anything in pre-season but strikers will always value goals.

So the sight of James Hanson getting off the mark at Blundell Park will go down well – and not just because it gave the travelling City fans a chance to dust off the “Co-op” song.

Nahki Wells has been banging them in for fun in the warm-up games – though he did draw a blank from the second-half outing last night.

But it will do Hanson’s confidence no harm to score his first goal at the fourth time of asking.

And Mark Yeates made sure of another victory with an exquisite free-kick bent over the Grimsby wall in the closing minutes.

With the clock ticking towards the league opener at Bristol City, City’s starting line-up was their strongest yet in pre-season.

Only Wells and Garry Thompson were missing from the 11 that kicked off at Wembley.

Yeates played at right midfield while Alan Connell partnered Hanson.

There were no trialists on show – Raffaele De Vita did not travel because of a tight thigh and there was no sign of keeper Gary Woods. Young defender Niall Heaton also missed out – after dropping a kettle on his foot!

City soon warmed up after an early warning header by home defender Shaun Pearson. Yeates sent a curler beyond the far post and Nathan Doyle was only just over with a thumping half-volley.

Both sides were getting the ball down to play and a neat Grimsby interchange saw centre forward Andy Cook thwarted by Jon McLaughlin’s quick-thinking, the keeper coming out smartly to block off his angle.

Following last week’s games in Ireland, Phil Parkinson anticipated a step-up in quality against opponents who narrowly missed out on a return to the Football League after losing in the play-offs.

A section of the crowd were certainly trying to generate a proper match atmosphere – and dished out some stick as the City subs warmed up beneath them.

Grimsby old boy Alan Connell, who netted 29 goals in his one prolific year on Humberside, was also strangely getting booed and sung about at the same time.

There was a brief moment of concern as Reid stayed down after getting his legs clipped but he was soon up and able to continue. City could not afford to lose anyone this close to the big kick-off.

Grimsby employed a fluid 4-3-3 formation to keep the visitors on their toes but there was nothing subtle as Aswad Thomas caught Yeates as he tried to win a pass from Gary Jones.

Parkinson was unhappy with the left back’s challenge and made a loud complaint to referee Ross Joyce.

Yeates was okay to take the free-kick quickly and Grimsby were almost caught out, Hanson’s flick header looping over keeper James McKeown but also clearing the bar.

Wells and Thompson replaced Connell and Reid for the second half. But Grimsby did not reappear until a few minutes after City – a delay that did not amuse Parkinson as his players were forced to hang about.

When the game did restart, Yeates moved over to the left – but got his radar wrong with a shot that sailed into the empty stand beside the corner of the travelling support.

Grimsby defender Paul Bignot had only signed for the club yesterday morning and almost celebrated his arrival with a goal, Andrew Davies sliding across to put him off fractionally after Alex Rodman had created the opening.

James Meredith orchestrated City’s best move of the match with a forceful run upfield. Yeates and Wells exchanged passes but the Watford man’s cross had just too much on it for Thompson.

Yeates played the corner in low for Doyle, who drove past the near post. But the goal was coming and arrived on the hour from City’s next attack as Thompson’s low cross was bundled in by Hanson.

The familiar serenade to the striker struck up among the 141 City fans as their side began to dominate and Hanson had another chance set up by Meredith.

The left back, who had been a doubt to play, made way after 69 minutes. Davies’s second pre-season outing also came to an end at the same stage.

Grimsby brought on Ross Hannah, who had said before the game how eager he was to show the City fans “what they hadn’t seen enough of” during his spell at Valley Parade.

The self-proclaimed “goal machine” immediately had two half-chances to make his mark, stabbing wide of the post as the hosts pushed for an equaliser.

But City applied a quality full stop to proceedings with four minutes left. Jason Kennedy was brought down 20 yards out and Yeates stepped up with a superb free-kick into the bottom corner.

CITY: McLaughlin, Darby, McArdle, Davies (Nelson 69), Meredith (Kennedy 69), Yeates, Jones, Doyle, Reid (Thompson 46), Connell (Wells 46), Hanson (Swain 79). Subs (not used): Hepworth, Bentley.