Lincoln Ladies 3-3 Liverpool

Programme from the match damaged by the rain

Another game that had almost everything. Six goals, two penalties, a sending off, an own goal, and missed chances. The only thing it didn't have was the three points that Lincoln, on the balance of play, deserved and in truth needed if they were to push on and climb the table. Before the game in the local press the point was made that Lincoln had to get the three points if they were to achieve this season's target league position. Where it leaves them after this result i am not too sure.

The weather has been dreadful in the East Midlands and i must admit i was concerned as to whether the game would go ahead. Thanks to a tweet from the club however it became apparent that a pitch inspection was due to take place at 9.00am so everybody would know in good time whether or not the game was to go ahead. This was in stark contrast to the match earlier in the season at Liverpool when the Lady Imps got all the way to Liverpool before finding out on Twitter that the game was off due to a water logged pitch. The good news was that the sun was out and the pitch was playable so a big pat on the back to the groundstaff for getting the match on. As always in life good news often goes hand in hand with bad news and this was true today as the club confirmed that the BBQ/tea hut was out of action today which was a bit of a disappointment seeing how the food is always spot on. And its always nice to have a cuppa when watching the beautiful game.

The famous Lady Imp tea hut. Sadly missed today.

The sides met at Ashby Avenue about a month ago in the Continental cup and it was an entertaining game in which the Imps won 3-2. That doesnt tell the full story though as Liverpool did take the lead twice (one being a freak own goal) and Lincoln's winner arrived 5 minutes from the end of the match. Since the sides met Liverpool have changed manager with Ronnie Johnson stepping down and Andy Williams taking over in a caretaker role. Since the sides last met. Liverpool have won 2-0 at rock bottom Doncaster and had a 0-2 home defeat to Chelsea. In their last two matches Lincoln have had a good 2-0 win over Chelsea and a dreadful 1-3 home defeat to Bristol last time out. Those last two results for Lincoln were pretty much an overview into the Imps' season so far. Consistently inconsistent, hot and cold, Jekyll and Hyde etc. Whichever one you chose it can be used to describe today's Lincoln performance.

Again Lincoln fielded an unchanged line up from the one that started the last match. And again it started in similar fashion when the Imps took the lead through Precious Hamilton. Casey Stoney brought the ball out of  defence and hit a long ball that caught out the Liverpool defence and allowed Precious to control it before placing it past Nicola Davies in the Liverpool goal. The Imps had started really brightly and it was evident that they had had their collective arses kicked in training because this side was unrecognisable from the one that had played so poorly just seven days ago.
The Cantrell/Hamilton partnership has been a tad hit and miss since Jess Clarke got injured but it seemed to be working today. Cantrell was causing problems and had a couple of decent efforts but also failed to read the offside trap on a couple of occasions. Lincoln were winning quite a few free kicks and it was from these that Lincoln started most of their good work. Staniforth took the ones in the danger zone with Stoney launching the ones from deep.
Lincoln doubled the lead on 14 minutes when a Collette McCallum corner was flicked on and the ball found its way to Cantrell. Although her effort was blocked by a defender the ball fell to Hamilton who made no mistake and notched her third goal in two games. After going so long without a goal she is now the Imp in form, firing on all cylinders and looking like the player she was at the start of the season.
Now Lincoln sensed blood and went for the knock out blow, but by hook or by crook Liverpool held out and slowly got a foot hold in the game. Had Lincoln got the third then the flood gates would have opened up. Alas the Imps did what they have done all season and switched off.
A free kick was conceded on the right hand side of the pitch about 30 yards inside the Lincoln half near the touchline. It wasn't in a particularly dangerous position and one that you felt would and should have been pretty straight forward to defend. It wasn't whipped in flat instead it was just lumped into the box in more of a hit and hope style. Alas neither of the centre backs dealt with it, Nic in goal stayed on her line, Emily Gielnik of Liverpool said thank you very much and headed unchallenged into the net to get the visitors back into the game. You can't fault the finish but it was a sickener to let in a soft goal like this.
A few minutes later Liverpool got another free kick in a similar area. This time Lincoln marked up much more tightly. Noticing this the Liverpool players went straight for goal as Nic had positioned herself a couple of feet off her line but she got back to make a top class save from her top right hand corner. Lincoln then went on to clear the corner in convincing fashion.
Lincoln nearly had a third when Hamilton skipped past Charlton on the left before blasting into the side netting. She may have been better off squaring it back across the goal but when you are on a hatrick and bang in form why shouldn't you have a go? Sport is all about confidence and its great to see Precious playing with bags of it.
She had another good chance soon after but Davis did well to save when she was one on one with the Lincoln striker. The rebound then fell to Lucy Staniforth who managed to send the golden chance high and wide. As they old say in football goes i am sure she will "Be disappointed with that" But to be fair to her, although the keeper was on the ground she was quickly closed down by a group of Liverpool players so she had to hit it first time as it came to her.
That was the last real chance of the first half and it was a strange half because for all of Lincoln's dominance, good football, and chances they had created, they only lead by a goal and we all know how dodgy a one goal lead can be in football.

Liverpool perhaps sensing that they were still in a game that by rights they had no right to still be in, started much better than Lincoln and started to take the game to Lincoln who looked much more nervous in the second half. Casey Stoney had to be alert to clear the danger just in front of the line after a couple of failed clearances from the Lincoln defence. During this period at the start of the second half when Liverpool had the upper hand, Sophie Bradley was a real rock at the back. Her pace and reading of the game are second to none and its easy to see why she is so highly regarded in the England set up. Down the left hand side Rachel Daly was her normal dependable self and made a couple of her trademark forward surging runs.
The chances seemed to dry up for both sides in the second half but you are always nervous when you are protecting a one goal lead because anything can happen and in the 71st minute it did.

Liverpool hit a long range shot which didn't look particularly threatening. Then however it took a wicked deflection off Sophie Bradley and looped in over Nic and nestled in the back of the net to draw Liverpool level. I was stood pretty much in line with it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Like the first goal this was a real kick in the teeth but unlike the first one no amount of work on the training ground can prepare you or prevent this sort of thing from happening.
This wasn't the first own goal that Lincoln had conceded this season. As they had also conceded one against..Liverpool in the cup game here. And the unfortunate lady who was credited with the own goal that day? Yep it was Sophie Bradley. Which prat said that lightening doesn't strike twice?
This seemed to spark the Imps back into life however and they again took the game to the Reds and they took the lead a couple of minutes later when Hamilton was brought down in the box and after consulting with her assistant the ref pointed to the spot. Remi Allen is the Lady Imp's penalty taking queen and is damn good at it as well. She has so far converted both penalties she has taken so far this season and penalty number three was converted with ease. Remi is one of the hardest working players in the team and the real engine room in the Imps midfield so its great to see her get on the score sheet. (She also scooped the lady of the match award).

Again Lincoln went looking for the knockout blow that would have put the game in bed. Chances were made and missed by the likes of Hamilton and Cantrell. With ten minutes to go Hamilton was subbed for Jess Clarke in what was her first appearance since recovering  from injury. Then in the 88th minute came the moment to seal the game. Substitute Bonnie Horwood played a fantastic ball through that split the Liverpool defence for Jess Clarke to latch on to. Now had it been a fully match fit Jess then she would have easily left the visitors defence for dead and slammed the ball into the back of the net to give the Imps the points. However her understandable lack of sharpness showed as the pool defence got back and did just enough to put her off her stride and her shot was tamely hit. The Imps would rue that miss.

For some reason the ref had managed to find plenty of stoppage time and with that almost up Liverpool launched one last attack in the box and lumped a high ball into the box Casey Stoney was then adjudged to have barged the Liverpool attacker over and the ref pointed to the spot. The skipper was then shown the yellow card followed by a red. I didn't realise it at the time but this was Casey's second yellow of the game. Kelly Jones kept her cool to slot the ball past Nic to give Liverpool a share of the points. The Imps kicked off then the ref promptly blew for full time. One word summed it all up. Gutted. Just to really but the icing on the cake, during the walk back to the station after the game i managed to get caught in a torrential down pour and got thoroughly soaked to the skin. Not really what you want to lift your mood after a last minute penalty On the plus side i watched the game in the company of Martyn Daly a man who clearly knows his onions when it comes to football. Its always nice to meet up with people who read this blog.

I know that the scoreline says 3-3 but Lincoln will feel (rightly in my opinion) that they should have taken the three points but that's football as they say. As this is the last game before the Olympic break its perhaps a good time to pause and reflect on the season so far; what has gone right, and what hasn't.
 I felt that this game was pretty a decent summery of Lincoln's season to date. For the first twenty minutes their football was fantastic and had Liverpool chasing shadows. Then as soon as they let in the first goal the game totally changed and they looked nervy. If you look at the three goals that Lincoln conceded today you could say they were unlucky. The own goal was unlucky of that there is no doubt, you could argue that the 3rd was as well due the strange amount of injury time that the ref found from somewhere, and the first was simply a poor goal to lose. The problem for Lincoln is that these things have been happening to us for much of the season as we have continually made it difficult for ourselves. So far the only side that has really dominated Lincoln for any period was in the last 20 minutes in the 3-3 draw with Arsenal at home. Other than that Lincoln have given as good as they have got throughout the season.
Looking on the positive side though we have always looked very good going forward (apart from the Bristol game) and the fact that we have spread the goals around the side is a good sign as its great to have so many attacking options from all over the pitch. I go to Lincoln Ladies games very confident that we will score goals but on the other hand i wouldn't be rushing to place a bet on us keeping clean sheets. That's not to say the defenders are not pulling their weight because defending starts from the front and you defend as a front 10 not a back 4. You have to remember that this is a very young team who are going to make the odd error and play the wrong ball from time to time and at this level those mistakes will be punished.
Overall my view is one of optimism for the future. This side is a work in progress job and if we can keep them together then the future is very bright for the club.

As i said earlier the FAWSL takes a break for the Olympics and it goes without saying that i hope the team do the country proud (which i am sure they will do) Lincoln are represented in the squad by Sophie Bradley and Casey Stoney who has the honour of Captaining the side.
The next two Lady Imp games i will be blogging about will be the away match at Doncaster and the away match at Arsenal for which we already have train tickets booked and paid for. So if you are a Lady Gunners fan and you notice three Lincoln fans looking a little drunk and lost around north London then that will be us.
Thanks for reading the blogs and i look foward to continuing writing in the second phase of the season.

Come on you Lady Imps (and "Team GB")