Tranmere Rovers came away with a 4-1 victory over Fleetwood Town on Saturday afternoon behind closed doors at The Campus.
Josh Hawkes was a livewire on the left wing all afternoon, and caused immediate danger when he won a free kick just outside the box four minutes into the contest.
Regan Hendry sent the ball in, Kieron Morris got his head to it but Stephen McMullan in the Fleetwood goal dutifully caught.
Hawkes opened the scoring after 11 minutes, cutting inside from the left before swiping the ball past McMullan and into the bottom corner.
The visitors responded with an attack immediately after, but Chris Merrie defended it well on his return from injury.
Luke McGee was then called into action from a Maleace Asamoah free kick from just outside the box, producing a solid save to tip the ball over the bar.
Hawkes and Hendry combined on the left wing 16 minutes into the contest for the latter to send a ball across goal which was cleared for a corner, which Hawkes headed in for his second goal.
Hawkes almost had his hat-trick within half an hour when his cross-shot had McMullan back-pedalling, but the keeper got there just in time to tip the ball over the bar.
The winger was causing trouble once again to win a corner for his side on the half-hour mark which Hendry sent in. Tom Davies rose highest to head in and hand Rovers a 3-0 advantage.
McGee produced a fantastic save shortly after the third goal, turning the ball around for a corner from a close-range effort.
Fleetwood pulled one back on 35 minutes, bringing the half-time score to 3-1.
Joe Murphy replaced McGee in the second period to get some minutes under his belt, and came up with some smart second-half saves to protect his side’s lead.
Rhys Hughes produced a beautiful ball over the away defence on the hour mark for Hawkes to run onto, but the Fleetwood defender got there first to knock the ball behind for a corner.
Rovers had the ball in the back of the net again on 70 minutes after a trialist scored from a Charlie Jolley cross, but play was called back for an offside against Jolley.
The fourth goal came soon after on 75 minutes, Fleetwood turning the ball into their own net after a threatening ball across goal from Jolley.
Mikey Davies then came off the bench to make another pre-season appearance at left-back, and produced a perfectly-timed sliding challenge to prevent his man pulling the trigger at the last.
Rovers saw out an authoritative victory as many of the team got valuable minutes under their belt.
Join us as we face an Everton XI next Saturday 22nd July (2pm kick-off) at Prenton Park.
Tranmere Rovers: Luke McGee, Reece McAlear, Chris Merrie, Trialist 1, Tom Davies (C), Paul Lewis, Kieron Morris, Regan Hendry, Connor Jennings, Charlie Jolley, Josh Hawkes.
Subs: Joe Murphy, Rhys Hughes, Sam Taylor, Trialist 2, Ben Hockenhull, Mikey Davies, Trialist 3, Trialist 4, Trialist 5.