City Pass Shrewsbury Test
Shrewsbury Town 0 Lincoln City 1

9th September 2006

This excellent away victory saw Lincoln City move into second place in the League Two table.

Lincoln City's Head Coach John Schofield opted to make a change to the side that defeated Accrington a week last Friday. Returning to the starting line-up was Jeff Hughes, who replaced Martin Gritton as City switched to a 4-4-2 formation.

Seven minutes into the match and Lincoln won the game's first corner. Alas, the referee spotted an infringement and awarded a free-kick as the corner was delivered.

Shrewsbury almost scored two minutes later when Andy Cooke headed Ben Herd's cross at goal. Fortunately, Imps' goalkeeper Alan Marriott made a fine save to prevent Cooke from scoring. Marriott was called into action again, when Derek Asamoah broke free in the 13th minute. Again, Marriott made another fine save, as Asamoah's shot was on target!

Free-kicks and throw-ins then dominated the pattern of the game, as neither side could settle into an attack. Shrewsbury were creating a few chances at goal but on each occasion, they were thwarted by Marriott. Stuart Drummond was next to curse his luck, when Marriott caught Drummond's 23rd minute volley.

Another Shrewsbury break saw Sagi Burton pass to Herd, who saw his shot go wide of the post in the 25th minute. Then, against the run of play, Lincoln City scored. Jamie Forrester was the creator when he passed to Lee Frecklington, who drilled a right-foot shot into the net for 1-0 to Lincoln City.

Shrewsbury immediately responded via a good spell of pressure that saw them win a 29th corner. That corner was partially cleared to Neil Ashton, who let fly with a 25-yard shot, which was deflected behind for another corner.

Asamoah was set free in the 34th minute, only to curl his shot over The Imps' crossbar. He then missed a great chance in the 40th minute when he shot wide from close range.

The half ended in exciting circumstances when Marriott was deemed to have fouled Ben Davies inside the penalty area. The referee awarded a penalty, although Marriott escaped any further action. Luckily, Davies' penalty was blasted too high and the ball rebounded off the crossbar!

An injury to Burton meant that Shrewsbury were forced into a half-time substitute with David Edwards replacing Burton. However, the second half began like the first, with throw-ins and free-kicks continually interrupting play.

A 53rd minute cross was drilled wide by Cooke, in a rare attack. Two minutes later, Frecklington fired a long range shot over the crossbar.

Lincoln were happy to soak up any pressure and hope that they could snatch a second on the break. This almost happened in the 74th minute when Mark Stallard headed Forrester's cross over the crossbar. A minute later, Lincoln won a corner but were unable to capitalise on it.

The 77th minute saw two substitutions take place - one for each side. Lincoln opted to take off Forrester for Ollie Ryan. Meanwhile, Shrewsbury's Herd departed then field to be replaced by Chris Humphrey. Lincoln made another change in the 88th minute when Ryan Amoo replaced Eaden.

Shortly before this change, Lincoln had to rely on Marriott to make another fine save, this time denying Kevin Langmead. Lincoln's fragile lead almost gave way deep into stoppage time as Shrewsbury won a corner. The ball was delivered by Davies, but thankfully, Langmead headed over the crossbar.