Rotherham Hit Promotion Hopes!

23rd February 2008

Lincoln City FC's promotion hopes were hit this afternoon as they lost 2-3 to Rotherham United at Rotherham.

We say "promotion hopes" as Lincoln City have spent the week looking upwards towards achieving a League Two play-off place. This has mainly been the talk of Imps' boss Peter Jackson - who is probably one of the most optimistic people around! While we are reluctant to knock Jacko - based on what he has achieved for Lincoln City so far - it does seem an unlikely aim especially as Lincoln have played several more games than their promotion rivals.

There is a danger in this talk though, and that is one of complacency regarding Lincoln City's fight against relegation. A few defeats could see Lincoln sink back into the battle; again, most of teams below The Imps have games in hand. However, based on today's performance, this should not happen.

Lincoln took the lead in the 24th minute when Paul Green's cross was half cleared to Louis Dodds, who fired home from 25-yards. Sadly, Lincoln's lead lasted just eight minutes when Imps' midfielder Shane Clarke committed a foul. From the free-kick, the ball reached Marc Joseph, who scored from close range for 1-1.

Rotherham probably finished the first half the stronger side but Lincoln would enjoy some spells of possession as the game wore on. Unfortunately, the turning point came in the 63rd minute when Imps' striker Mark Stallard was dismissed for kicking out. Within three minutes, Rotherham had taken the lead when a corner was only partially defended leaving Mark Hudson to score. Ten minutes later, it became 3-1 when Marc Newsham converted Graham Coughlan's pass.

Lincoln to their credit, kept battling hard and were eventually rewarded in the 86th minute when substitutes Dany N'Guessan and Ben Wright combined with the latter scoring from N'Guessan's pass. Alas, Lincoln could not find the equaliser, and indeed, it would have been 4-2 late into stoppage time had it not been for an excellent block by Lee Beevers.

Overall, a disappointing result as it ends Lincoln's five match winning run but performance-wise, Lincoln showed that should have enough quality to avoid being dragged back into the relegation dogfight. A fight that was helped by the majority of other results going in Lincoln's favour.

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