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Grimsby
Gain A Slight Advantage
Lincoln City 0 Grimsby Town 1
13th May 2006
Grimsby Town took a slight advantage in the League Two
play-off semi-final, by winning 1-0 in this first leg
match.
Lincoln will reflect on a defensive lapse, disallowed
goals and missed chances but there remains everything to
play for in the second leg, which takes place on Tuesday.
Imps' boss Keith Alexander kept faith with the same set
of players as last week, which meant that Simon Yeo had
to settle for the substitutes' bench.
Grimsby were eager to score the early goal, and they won
a corner after just seconds of play. That came to nothing
but a minute later, a foul by Lee Beevers directly led to
a second Grimsby corner. This was played short, but had
the same outcome as the first.
A foul by former Imp Ben Futcher on Franny Green gave
Lincoln a free-kick. This led to a corner but a Lincoln
infringement ended the threat.
Lincoln began to settle and a 10th minute throw-in
resulted in Marvin Robinson seeing his header caught by
Town goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall.
The first moment of controversy came in the 16th minute
when Lincoln won a corner. As the ball was played into
the area, Jamie McCombe climbed to send a header goal
wards. The ball slipped under Mildenhall's legs and into
the net. However, as Lincoln celebrated, the referee
disallowed the goal for a push by McCombe - a dubious
decision.
Four minutes later, another passing move saw Lincoln
carve up the Grimsby defence. Unfortunately, Jamie
Forrester elected to play the ball thorough to Robinson
without realising that Robinson was offside. It was a
good intelligent ball and the move ended with Robinson
hooking the ball past Mildenhall and into the goal.
However, it was clearly offside and the referee was
correct in disallowing this goal.
Credit goes to the Grimsby defence for holding the line,
which is a tactic that Lincoln's defence lacked in the
21st minute. Andy Parkinson's skill bamboozled The Imps'
defence, which allowed him to slip the ball to Curtis
Woodhouse. Under pressure, Woodhouse squeezed the cross
towards the 6-yard box where Gary Jones
stuck out his leg to divert the ball past Alan Marriott
for 1-0 to Grimsby.
It was a poor goal to give away because a simple step-in
by Paul Morgan, when Parkinson was in possession, would
have resulted in Grimsby's players being offside.
Lincoln tried to hit back immediately when they won a
corner, which was delivered into the area by Jeff Hughes.
Rising highest was Nat Brown, but his header went a
couple of feet wide of the post.
The first caution of the match was given in the 29th
minute when Woodhouse was booked for pushing Scott Kerr
in the chest. Lincoln won a second free-kick, which was
punched clear by Mildenhall, who was having an excellent
game.
Three minutes later, Robinson's arm caught Mildenhall as
the goalkeeper caught a cross. Although Robinson
protested his innocence, he was booked for a foul.
A 38th minute foul by Woodhouse on Green conceded a
free-kick for Lincoln. Kerr's delivery was half cleared
but only to Beevers, who let fly with a terrific drive.
Alas, Mildenhall made an instinctive save to push the
ball over the crossbar.
Lincoln finished the first half the stronger side. A
couple of corners failed to create the breakthrough but
they continued to attack. A lovely turn by Forrester saw
him break free of the defence, only for Gary Cohen to
trip him. Despite the home crowd baying for a red card,
Cohen was merely booked.
Grimsby came with an inch of doubling their lead just two
minutes after the second half commenced. Phil Bolland was
in acres of space, so from 30-yards, he blasted a shot at
goal which rebounded to safety off the Imps' crossbar.
Lincoln were lively in attack, with Forrester in
particular working very hard. His skill freed Green but
his 55th minute shot was blocked for corner.
Despite having plenty of possession, Lincoln were being
thwarted by Grimsby's well organised defence. A couple of
long range shots from Jeff Hughes and Forrester failed to
trouble Grimsby, so Alexander to make a double
substitution in the 60th minute. Green and Beevers were
replaced by Yeo and Lee Frecklington respectively.
A 63rd minute Grimsby free-kick was headed into the arms
of Marriott by Justin Whittle. Seven minutes later,
Grimsby won two consecutive corners, with the second
going straight out of play. Just prior to this, Michael
Reddy had replaced Cohen in Grimsby's second substitution
of the match. Their first had seen the injured John
McDermott replaced in the 15th minute by Gary Croft.
Alexander made his final team alteration when he replaced
Robinson with Gary Birch in the 75th minute. A minute
later, Grimsby's Junior Mendes was replaced by disgraced
former Imp Ciaran Toner.
Futcher received a caution in the 85th minute for
blocking off Birch, as the latter tried to run down the
wing.
As the game entered stoppage time, Lincoln were extremely
unlucky not to snatch a last gasp goal. Having won a
corner, Futcher headed behind to concede a second. This
time, Hughes' delivery was met by Brown, whose header was
somehow cleared off the line by Woodhouse. Gareth McAuley
was quickest to react but his over head kick rebound off
the top of the goal.
Even though Lincoln are behind in this tie legged tie,
there remains everything to play for because the away
goals rule is not used.
Lincoln
City: A
Marriott, G McAuley, P Morgan, J McCombe, J Hughes, L
Beevers (60 L Frecklington), S Kerr, N Brown, M Robinson
(76 G Birch), J Forrester, F Green (60 S Yeo)
Unused subs: P Mayo, C Cryan
Grimsby: S Mildenhall, J McDermott (18 G Croft), B
Futcher, J Whittle, T Newey, G Cohen (68 M Reddy), P
Bolland, C Woodhouse, A Parkinson, G Jones, J Mendes (78
C Toner)
Unused subs: J Kamudimba, M Goodfellow.
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Orient, Lincoln
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