Two first half penalties by Marc Newsham allied to a brace of tidy finishes after the break by Mark Jones took the Pilgrims’ goals tally to 13 in three matches. In addition, there was a third successive clean sheet — and a place in the last four of the competition, which now means Monday’s trip to Stamford will be switched from a friendly into the semi-final of the Shield.

Boss Lee said: “At Lincoln, the fact that there was something at stake made it a better quality pre-season match.

“It all started off at 100mph and they were very enthusiastic. But once we got a hectic first 20 minutes or so out of the way, I thought we started to play the ball around really well.

“It the end, it was good to see us get among the goals and keep another clean sheet. On one hand we are not reading too much into the form we have shown so far. But things are going well. I am sure, though, if we were shipping goals at one end and not scoring any, some people might read something into that.

“But we are keeping level heads and just want to concentrate on making sure our build-up plans progress as we want them to.

“All the players have great attitudes and obviously want to press their claims for places in the starting XI when August 18 gets here. And, as far as I am concerned, they will all get a chance to show what they can do in the matches that lie ahead.”