A goal either side of the break knocked the Anchors down, despite a fantastic performance from emergency goalkeeper Harry Christy.

Michael Dunwell named the former Leeds prospect into his starting lineup, with Nathan Harker picking up a slight knock on Saturday. Arjun Purewal also returned to the starting squad as he returned from a hamstring injury.

Gainsborough nearly took the lead within the opening minute, when Frank Mulhern fired a dangerous looking strike over the crossbar.

Mulhern really should have had a goal in the 9th minute, when he rounded Christy, and as he went to tap into the empty net, the striker lost his footing, kicking the ball away from himself.

But after 26 minutes, the Holy Blues did open the scoring, when Harry Christy made a strong save from inside the box, but slow defensive reactions led to Lewis Butroid picking it up and lifting it into the top of the net.

Christy did unbelievably well to keep the scores down moments later, getting low to deny a strike along the ground, before reacting very quickly to get up and stop a follow up effort.

Josh Scott missed on a couple of half-chances, before Harry Christy again showed brilliant work to deny two more chances from Jonathon Margetts before the break.

Half-time: Gainsborough Trinity 1-0 Stockton Town

Kevin Hayes nearly bundled home an equaliser just after the restart, but his chested effort bounced down off the crossbar before being cleared.

Then in the 55th minute, Gainsborough doubled their lead when Jonathon Margetts finished wonderfully under Harry Christy from the edge of the area.

David Robson stood firm in the Gainsborough goal throughout the second-half, but Stockton struggled to properly test the Trinity number one, besides a few strikes from Kevin Hayes aimed towards the goalkeeper.

A positive of the evening saw Under-18 captain Seb Waller make his senior debut, as he entered the action alongside Jaedon Faulkner, Jack Spears and Thomas Birtles.

But the game ended in favour of Gainsborough, with the Anchors suffering their first defeat of the new season.

Full-time: Gainsborough Trinity 2-0 Stockton Town