FC Isle of Man warmed up for the new North West Counties Football League season with victory over Peel AFC at Castletown on Tuesday.

The Ravens rounded off their pre-season with a 5-0 success over the Canada Life Premier League champions at the Stadium ahead of kicking off the new campaign this weekend.

The Manx side will embark on their third season in the English football league system when they host Wythenshawe Town at the Bowl on Saturday evening.

In a quirk of the fixtures computer, the two sides met on the final day of the 2022-23 Premier Division season when the Ravens claimed a 3-1 win at the Bowl thanks to goals from Frank Jones, Stephen Whitley and Furo Davies.

In the reverse fixture last October, it ended in a 2-2 draw as strikes from Davies and Charlie Higgins cancelled out a Darius Palma double for the Manchester side.

There’s a new man at the helm of Wythenshawe for the new campaign, with Rory Fallon taking over the reins from James Kinsey who departed the club in the close season.

Fallon has been busy bringing in a raft of new faces - including former Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers youngster Marcus Wood - so they are something of an unknown quantity going into this match.

But FC Isle of Man have also brought a few new faces into the fold, including Manx player Dean Pinnington who has previously featured for Wigan Athletic and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Other new names include young Braddan goalkeeper Harry Callin who has been training with the Ravens for a while now, as well as Rushen United stalwart Ste Riding.

Both Pinnington and Callin caught the eye against Peel on Tuesday evening, with the former helping himself to two goals and having a hand in another.

The 20-year-old wasted little time in leaving his mark on the game by opening the scoring with a tidy finish inside the opening four minutes.

It was soon 2-0 as Sean Doyle showed his class when he chested the ball, swivelled and volleyed beyond the Peel goalkeeper to double the Ravens’ advantage.

With 18 minutes on the clock, they increased their lead when some neat build-up play released Dean Leece on the left flank and he crossed the ball in for Pinnington to add his second of the evening.

The same player very nearly completed his hat-trick on the half-hour mark when his shot was well saved by the keeper, but Doyle was on hand to head the rebound into the net and make it 4-0.

Peel very nearly pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time when the ball reached Lee Gale at the back post but the winger sent his volley narrowly off target.

With much-changed line-ups after the interval, the second half was a much tighter affair. Ste Whitley went close to increasing the lead further but his shot was cleared off the line by a western defender, before Tom Creer had a goal ruled out for offside.

Owen Dawson in the Peel goal enjoyed a fine game between the sticks and thwarted the Ravens on numerous occasions.

But FC Isle of Man managed to score another goal in the closing stages through Joe Walters who was the quickest to react and fire home after an initial effort had been saved by Dawson.

Attention now turns to the Ravens’ opening game of the NWCFL Premier Division season this weekend when they host Wythenshawe Town on Saturday evening.

The game is being played at the Bowl and kicks off at 6pm.