Lancaster City play Gainsborough Trinity in two players' Giant Axe farewell

Two Lancaster City icons and fan favourites will play the final home game of their careers when the Dollies face Gainsborough Trinity.

Paul Jarvis and David Norris have both announced in recent days that they will leave Lancaster City and retire at the end of the season.

They will say their goodbyes to the Giant Axe faithful in the Dolly Blues’ final home game of the season against Gainsborough Trinity.

Paul Jarvis has had four separate spells at Lancaster, the first of which started in 2009.

In his first season, Jarvis played 57 times for the Dolly Blues, bagging 15 goals.

This season, he scored both goals for Lancaster as they progressed to the second round of the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy in a 2-1 win over Fylde.

Norris, 43, has made almost 150 appearances for City since joining in December 2018, scoring 31 goals.

Like Jarvis, he also scored 15 times in his first full season at The Giant Axe.

He played for many clubs in the Championship during his career, including Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town, Portsmouth and Leeds United.

Given the flurry of transfer activity in non-league football, it is inevitable that it won’t just be Jarvis and Norris who will play their final home game at the Giant Axe on Saturday.

However, manager Chris Willcock and his side still have three games between now and the end of the season to prepare for before transfers become the focus.

Lancaster City’s final home encounter of the season sees ninth play tenth in the NPL Premier Division.

Two consecutive wins for Lancaster has seen them go within five points of the playoffs with three games left, so there is still a mathematical chance they can make that top five.

However, it must be said that, given that teams around them have games in hand, the chances of securing a playoff place on the final day are slim.

Gainsborough finished fourth last season and missed out on promotion due to defeat in the semi finals, so it came as a surprise to many that they endured a tough first half of the season.

However, they have been the league’s most in form side over the last couple of months, picking up eight wins from nine games.

Saturday’s game is set to be an intriguing clash between two sides who will be full of confidence, with the Dolly Blues and manager Chris Willcock looking to mark their final home match of the season with a win.

Lancaster City v Gainsborough Trinity kicks off at 3pm on Saturday at The Giant Axe.