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Lincoln 2 Darlington 2
31st December 2005
It was a tale of two halves, as Lincoln City conspired to
throw away a two-goal lead to drew 2-2 against
Darlington, who had been reduced to ten men while the
score was at 2-0.
Imps' boss Keith Alexander made several alterations to
his side, as he sought to rectify a 3-0 mid-week defeat
at Grimsby. Defender Lee Beevers missed this match
through injury, which saw Alexander opt for a 4-3-3
formation. Dean Keates, who was returning from
suspension, was recalled to the side. Derek Asamoah and
Nat Brown were both dropped from the team, in favour of
Jeff Hughes and Marvin Robinson.
Within a minute of play commencing, Gareth McAuley and
Akpo Sodje clashed heads, with The Imps' defender coming
off worse. After lengthy treatment, he shakily decided to
continue.
Lincoln began the game in determined mood, as they easily
overpowered Darlington. Their first real chance arose in
the 8th minute, when Dean Keates set-up Richard Logan,
who was unlucky to see his shot blocked. The ball fell to
Hughes, whose curling shot went into the side netting.
Next to try his luck was Jamie McCombe, but his 11th
minute shot was blocked. Lincoln's next attacking move
was superbly carved out by Logan, who beat the defence
before passing to Robinson. Alas, Robinson's shot was
kept out by the legs of Darlington goalkeeper David
Knight.
Lincoln won a corner in the 18th minute, which Scott Kerr
delivered into area for McAuley to head the ball past
Knight for 1-0. It was a brave header from McAuley
following his earlier incident, in a match that could
well be his last for Lincoln City.
It took just two further minutes for Lincoln to extend
their lead, when Robinson scored for 2-0. This time, Kerr
and Keates combined to create a good passing move that
ended with a pass to Robinson. However, Robinson's
initial shot was saved by Knight but the ball came
straight back to Robinson, who scored at the second
attempt.
It appeared that Lincoln were heading for their biggest
victory of the season, as Darlington were completely
outclassed. Further shots from Logan, which went just
wide, and from Luke Foster, which was saved by Knight,
seemingly demonstrated that a third goal was imminent.
Unfortunately, things began to go amiss for Lincoln just
as the half-hour mark approached. This was signalled by
Sodje heading Neil Wrainwright's cross wide of the
Lincoln goal in the 28th minute. Two minutes later,
Robinson's foul on Clark Keltie earnt Darlington a
free-kick. Brian Close took the free-kick, with the ball
falling to Shelton Martis,
who headed over the crossbar.
Both sides won corners, as the first half drew to a
close, but the attacking play was lacking from either
side.
Darlington were reduced to ten men in first half stoppage
time when Sodje was sent off for a foul on Foster. The
visitors were incensed by the harshness of the decision.
Their response was to make a double substitution at half time, as
Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu and Carlos Logan replaced Simon
Johnson and Joe Kendrick respectively.
Those
substitutions almost brought immediate rewards, as
Darlington won a corner that was met by the head of Matthew Clarke, but
the ball went wide.
Two minutes later, Tresor
Kandol sent a shot wide for Darlington, as the warning
signs continued to sound for Lincoln.
Richard Logan fired wide for Lincoln in the 52nd minute,
while two minutes later, Wrainwright did likewise for
Darlington. The turning point of the match came in the
55th minute when the ball was played high towards the
Darlington goal. Knight opted to try and catch the ball
but then changed his mind, which allowed Robinson a free
header at goal. Shamefully, Robinson's header was too
weak and Knight was able to easily catch the ball. This
was a huge let off for Darlington.
Ndumbu-Nsungu twice tried shots that wide,
which were interspaced by Lincoln's Foster seeing a
header well saved by Knight. However, Lincoln's players
were badly lacking direction, and they paid the price in
the 63rd minute when Tresor
Kandol scored for Darlington, after the Lincoln defence
had gone awol.
Lincoln's supporters could sense that their side were now
in trouble, and it was no surprise when Darlington
claimed a second goal. It came in the 68th minute via
some more poor defending that allowed Ndumbu-Nsungu to volley past Alan
Marriott for 2-2.
Alexander's response was to take off the creative Kerr
for Brown, who played as an extra defender.
Unsurprisingly, that failed to re-ignite Lincoln's
attack, so Alexander then made a double substitution in
the 75th minute. Hughes and Robinson were replaced by
Asamoah and Gary Birch, who shamefully was not given a
very warm reception by a small number of home fans. Just
prior to the substitutions, Robinson and Jonjo Dickman had received cautions for
two separate incidents.
Lincoln switched to a 5-2-3 formation but they created
very few attacking chances. In fact, ten man Darlington
seemed the most likely to score the next goal. However,
there was one brief moment when Lincoln could have
avoided embarrassment and this came in the 86th minute,
Keates' shot was blocked but the ball came to Richard
Logan, whose shot was blocked by Knight. A minute later,
Brown collected a needless caution when he was booked for
kicking the ball away in his anger at conceding a
free-kick.
Right at the death, Darlington could have capped an
unlikely comeback by snatching all three points. Ndumbu-Nsungu caught out the again awol
Lincoln defence, before laying the ball to Carlos Logan. The Darlington striker was
extremely unlucky to see his shot hit a backtracking Paul
Mayo, to deflect the ball for a corner.
Overall, a waste of two points for Lincoln in a game that
they should have won comfortably.
Lincoln
City: A
Marriott, C Cryan, G McAuley, J McCombe, P Mayo, S Kerr
(72 N Brown), L Foster, D Keates, J Hughes (76 D
Asamoah), M Robinson (77 G Birch), R Logan
Unused subs: O Ryan, L Frecklington
Darlington: D Knight, B Close (85 M
Appleby), M Clarke, S Martis, J Kendrick (45 C Logan), N
Wainwright, J Dickman, C Keltie, S Johnson (45 G
Ndumbu-Nsungu), T Kandol, A Sodje
Unused subs: R Valentine, A Peacock
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