Two more Lincolnshire League outings last week saw an end to Horncastle Town's unbeaten start to the new campaign.

In midweek there was a 1-0 reversal away to Skegness but a decent team effort against very useful opposition.

It was a more sorry story on Saturday for the visit of Harvest FC of Grimsby.

Manager Paul Johnson's team went down 3-0 to another of the league's newcomers, as the lack of depth to the senior squad was exposed.

However, it was never going to be easy against unbeaten opposition, in fact this Grimsby outfit have now won all four league games and did more than enough to suggest they could well take some watching this season.

They have hit the net 12 times and conceded only two in their impressive start and sit second in the table.

As for this contest, only some excellent goalkeeping from Lee Edwards and at least two blatant misses by the visitors in front of goal, prevented an embarrassing scoreline.

Meanwhile, Town never looked like scoring and failed to make the opposing goalkeeper work once in the whole 90 minutes.

However, the side was without Terry Marshall who had played so well a few days earlier at Skegness. Also missing were full-back Andy Cooling and winger Tommy Chalk.

Johnson brought in Scott Spooner to replace Cooling while Jamie Lamming made another start with Michael Harness in attack.

Steve Brown played on the right of midfield, Luke Shelbourn (pictured) continued alongside skipper Chris Johnson in defence and Alec Enderby was at right-back.

It was a day when it simply would not work for Town.

Goalkeeper Edwards deserved credit for his display and there was a solid effort from Enderby, but little else of note from the hosts.

The side was hit by a goal inside the very first minute from which they never recovered, looking strangely out of sorts.

In complete contrast, the visitors were immediately lifted and performed throughout in the footballing style more familiar with Horncastle on a good day.

The early-season league table sees Horncastle in 11th place with five points from five outings.

This Saturday brings a trip to Lincoln Moorlands Railway Reserves in Lincoln, who have yet to win a league game and have conceded 10 from their four fixtures so far.