BENDIGO City FC showed plenty of resilience, courage and conviction to overcome a vigorous challenge from State League 4 club Gisborne in Saturday's practice match hit-out at Epsom Huntly Recreation Reserve.
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A late goal to Luke Burns with the final kick of the game delivered Bendigo City an impressive and staunch 2-1 victory.
The win continued the encouraging signs being showed by coach Greg Thomas' squad ahead of their return to senior competition in the Men's State League 5 West.
City's round one home clash against Maidstone United on March 19 will mark the club's first game back in the senior ranks since 2017.
However, a stirring win over Gisborne came at a cost with injuries to star captain Aidan Lane and impressive young midfielder Sam Pitson.
City will sweat on the results of scans taken early this week on Lane's knee following his departure from the field at the 35-minute mark of the first half.
Thomas said the club was hopeful it was not an ACL injury.
"We don't want to lose Aidan, he's been absolutely brilliant for us," he said.
"We lost him (with a head injury) in the Australia Cup clash, which we threw away a bit.
"Although, when we lost him (against Gisborne), we changed things around a bit and the boys really lifted and grew another leg and pretty much decided they weren't going to be thrown around.
"Sam just copped a bit of a bad corky, so he should have no worries getting back out there."
Thomas praised his squad's composure and ability to stay focused throughout a tough encounter.
"They were fairly aggressive and with the very young side we have they came out very physical and our boys just weathered the storm for the first 25 to 30 minutes to keep it nil-all," he said.
"Then we copped those couple of injuries, with Sam Pitson having to go off after about 20 minutes, which hurt, and then Aidan Lane did his knee and had to go off after 35 minutes.
"We were really stretched but managed to get through to half time on level terms.
"We changed things up a bit and were fortunate to score about halfway through the second half.
"Unfortunately they scored with a couple of minutes before we scored with the last kick of the game.
"I was super-proud of our boys for the way they conducted themselves in the face of some aggressive opposition. It was a credit to the players and the club.
"To come out and win the game, even though it's only a pre-season match, is going to hold our boys in good stead."
Daniel Purdy kept the Gisborne defenders on their toes and was rewarded with a first half goal.
The win continued City's bright pre-season form, which has included a 1-nil win over State League 2 club Mooroolbark and a 2-all draw in their Australia Cup fixture against Watsonia Heights, before going down 4-2 in extra time, and now a win over State League 4 club Gisborne.
"We are really happy with how we are going and where we are going," Thomas said.
"We're just sweating on those couple of injuries and Aidan's scan.
"We are just praying it's not an ACL or anything serious."
Bendigo City made it a clean sweep of Saturday's games by winning the reserves clash against Gisborne 3-0.
City will continue their pre-season campaign this weekend against another State League 4 team Somerville Eagles in Bendigo.
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