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| Get well soon Jess! |
When the fixtures came out at the start of the season it was the two matches against Doncaster that I was looking forward to the most. Lincoln and Doncaster have been long term rivals in the men's game over the years and now provide each other with the only local games in the WSL. Living in Retford, I have had to put up with plenty of Rovers fans giving in large over the past 7 years or so about how well their side have done, although they do seem to have quietened down a considerable amount the season just gone for some reason. Even so if the Imps won here tonight I fully intended to let the Donny fans at work know the result.
When the club was named Doncaster Belles they were one of the most famous and respected clubs in women's football. They can certainly lay claim to being the most successful women's team from the North of England with an impressive tally of 6 women's FA cups behind them. However since they linked up with Rovers things have gone down hill with success thin on the ground. Doncaster Belles had a proud name and history so why they would want to spoil that by merging with Rovers is anybody's guess.
Last season they finished second bottom of the division and have started poorly this time around. Before tonight's match they sat bottom of the table without a single point collected from their opening three league matches. Although they were only a minute away from getting a point at Bristol last time out until the hosts got a last minute goal in a 3-2 win. Its been a similar story in the Continental cup; with the club having lost both matches so far and been eliminated from the competition with a game still to play. The sides only win this season came in the fifth round of the FA cup when they scrambled past Barnet Ladies 2-1 in extra time.
Going into the game I had Lincoln as favourites to win but as we all know football has a wonderful way of kicking you in the nether regions when you least expect it. Although Lincoln had played very well in their last league game against Arsenal, that performance, and point, would be wasted some what if they didn't collect the points from tonight's match. Lincoln are also have a glut of home games in succession so it is important that they take full advantage of them.
As these two sides are quite close geographically it is not uncommon for players to transfer between the two sides. In the summer both Sue Smith and Leandra Little left the Imps for Doncaster. Unfortunately for Sue Smith she sustained a nasty injury in the first match of the season and will be out the whole campaign. Lincoln recruited Precious Hamiltion from Doncaster and the striker has now scored as many goals for the Imps this season as she did for Doncaster in the whole of last season. It would appear that goal scoring is Doncaster's biggest problem as they scored the lowest amount of goals in the league last season (9 in 14 games) and are the lowest scores in the league this time around (3 in 3) Although in their defence they do have a game in hand (at least) on all the other teams in the division.
Entering the ground and picking up the programme (this month's She Kicks included again) one of the first things we noticed was that Jess Clarke was hobbling around the ground with a brace on her leg. So you didn't have to be a medical expert to realise that she wouldn't be taking part in tonight's encounter which is a blow to the Imps because she really has been one of the stars of the Imps campaign this season. Reading manager Glen Harries' programme notes it seems like we may be without Jess for a couple of games. Lets hope it is only a couple of games and she is back terrorising defences in the WSL very soon. On the plus side it was great to see Katie Rood in the match day squad. This was her first appearance in the squad this season due to her international commitments with the New Zealand under 23 side. She was described in the programme for the first game of the season as being a quick striker. At times this season the Lady Imps have had limited options up front so her return was most welcome. Also returning to the bench was defender Sophie Bradley who has been struggling with injury.
It was a great evening for watching football. weather wise and a decent crowd was in for tonight's derby match. Football is a sport for all and attracts fans and followers from all ends of the social spectrum. I have seen many weird and wonderful things in football grounds. However nothing quite prepared me for what i saw/heard tonight. A couple of Belles fans had brought along with them an old style hand bell to ring and support their team. It was novel to begin with but after a while got a tad irritating. But that's the glory of football if we all did the same thing and never saw anything different it would be boring.
The bell however was quickly silenced as Lincoln were quick out of the blocks and had their visitors chasing shadows. Lincoln's first effort of note came from a trade mark Lucy Staniforth free kick that nearly caught the Doncaster Keeper out of position. Lincoln were in control of the game. Although Lincoln had bossed the opening ten minutes or so it was Doncaster who created the best chance when a long clearance split the Lincoln defence and only a very smart save from Nic Hobbs prevented them from taking the lead.
Lincoln got the goal they deserved on 10 minutes. A corner was swung over by Staniforth from the right (as i looked at it from behind the goal) and Rachel Daly headed home from close range. To the guy with the bell "You're not ringing any more!"
The Imps sensed blood and continued to push forward. They had a golden chance to double the lead when Staniforth played a smart through ball to Collette Mccallum but the Donny keeper just beat her to the ball. Five minutes later an almost identical move ended with the same player launching the ball over the goal and stand. They were two decent chances and ones that the Imps would later rue. Lincoln were still well on top but former Imp Leandra Little was solid as a rock for the visitors and was pretty much thwarting the Imps attack on her own.
After those two let-offs the Belles started to get back into the game and forced a couple of corners that Lincoln managed to scramble away.
Donny were level shortly after though, after the Imps failed to clear their lines and allowed Millie Bright to just beat Nic in goal to the ball. If that wasn't bad enough worse was to come a minute later.
The Imps were pretty shell shocked after surrendering the lead and conceded a corner after the restart. Doncaster crowded the box and sent the ball to the back stick where Katie Holtham was waiting to head the ball home to give the visitors a 1-2 lead. Two goals in a minute and much frantic bell ringing.
Lincoln did try and take the game to Doncaster and did fashion a couple of half chances from corners but the Belles managed to hang on till half time. The scored line was tough on Lincoln after the way they bossed the game in the opening 25 minutes but the failure to covert the possession and chances into goals had cost them.
The Lady Imps made a positive start to the second half and were almost level when Precious Hamilton hit a fantastic shot against the bar from about 30 yards out from almost the left touchline (Again as i looked at it) Had it had the fortune to have gone in, i am sure that there would have been a debate amongst the fans as to whether or not she meant it or was it meant to be a cross. In my view seeing how there were no Lincoln players even in the box i think that she definitely meant it.
In truth that was as exciting as it got in the second half as the game became rather flat and got bogged down in midfield. Lincoln did try to chance it and when Sophie Bradley came on her long throws did cause one or two problems for Doncaster but the Imps were still struggling to muster a serious shot on target. Katie Rood was brought on for her Lincoln debut with about 20 minutes to go and was very busy closing down defenders and trying to force them into errors. However the longer the game went on you just got the feeling that it wasn't quite going to be the Imps day.
In the dying moments Lincoln thought they had an equaliser after a scramble from a corner but the ref had seen something and called the play back. Lincolns frustrations were there for all to see as a couple of players got booked for taking there protests a little to far. The whistle went shortly after and consigned Lincoln to their first home defeat of the season.
All sides had a couple of bad games in a season and the Lady Imps are no different. In the second half they never really got going and they seemed a little sluggish. I am sure though that lessons will be learnt and you have to remember that this is a young side so you are going to get a little inconsistency in performance levels. There were a couple of bright spots. Kate Rood will give them a different kind of threat up front and it was good to see Sophie Bradley get half an hour under her belt. I felt sorry for Precious who did plenty of running up top but the support was just a little to slow in reacting to her holding the ball up. A couple of times she drifted which helped Doncaster as it meant that Lincoln were short on bodies in the box.
The crowd was also a very pleasing 274 and even with this disappointing result i am sure they will be back a week on Saturday to see the Lady Imps take on Liverpool in the Continental Cup.
Thanks for reading.
Come on you Lady Imps.
Here's a bell orientated video to try and cheer us all up a bit.
Entering the ground and picking up the programme (this month's She Kicks included again) one of the first things we noticed was that Jess Clarke was hobbling around the ground with a brace on her leg. So you didn't have to be a medical expert to realise that she wouldn't be taking part in tonight's encounter which is a blow to the Imps because she really has been one of the stars of the Imps campaign this season. Reading manager Glen Harries' programme notes it seems like we may be without Jess for a couple of games. Lets hope it is only a couple of games and she is back terrorising defences in the WSL very soon. On the plus side it was great to see Katie Rood in the match day squad. This was her first appearance in the squad this season due to her international commitments with the New Zealand under 23 side. She was described in the programme for the first game of the season as being a quick striker. At times this season the Lady Imps have had limited options up front so her return was most welcome. Also returning to the bench was defender Sophie Bradley who has been struggling with injury.
The bell however was quickly silenced as Lincoln were quick out of the blocks and had their visitors chasing shadows. Lincoln's first effort of note came from a trade mark Lucy Staniforth free kick that nearly caught the Doncaster Keeper out of position. Lincoln were in control of the game. Although Lincoln had bossed the opening ten minutes or so it was Doncaster who created the best chance when a long clearance split the Lincoln defence and only a very smart save from Nic Hobbs prevented them from taking the lead.
Lincoln got the goal they deserved on 10 minutes. A corner was swung over by Staniforth from the right (as i looked at it from behind the goal) and Rachel Daly headed home from close range. To the guy with the bell "You're not ringing any more!"
The Imps sensed blood and continued to push forward. They had a golden chance to double the lead when Staniforth played a smart through ball to Collette Mccallum but the Donny keeper just beat her to the ball. Five minutes later an almost identical move ended with the same player launching the ball over the goal and stand. They were two decent chances and ones that the Imps would later rue. Lincoln were still well on top but former Imp Leandra Little was solid as a rock for the visitors and was pretty much thwarting the Imps attack on her own.
After those two let-offs the Belles started to get back into the game and forced a couple of corners that Lincoln managed to scramble away.
Donny were level shortly after though, after the Imps failed to clear their lines and allowed Millie Bright to just beat Nic in goal to the ball. If that wasn't bad enough worse was to come a minute later.
The Imps were pretty shell shocked after surrendering the lead and conceded a corner after the restart. Doncaster crowded the box and sent the ball to the back stick where Katie Holtham was waiting to head the ball home to give the visitors a 1-2 lead. Two goals in a minute and much frantic bell ringing.
Lincoln did try and take the game to Doncaster and did fashion a couple of half chances from corners but the Belles managed to hang on till half time. The scored line was tough on Lincoln after the way they bossed the game in the opening 25 minutes but the failure to covert the possession and chances into goals had cost them.
In truth that was as exciting as it got in the second half as the game became rather flat and got bogged down in midfield. Lincoln did try to chance it and when Sophie Bradley came on her long throws did cause one or two problems for Doncaster but the Imps were still struggling to muster a serious shot on target. Katie Rood was brought on for her Lincoln debut with about 20 minutes to go and was very busy closing down defenders and trying to force them into errors. However the longer the game went on you just got the feeling that it wasn't quite going to be the Imps day.
In the dying moments Lincoln thought they had an equaliser after a scramble from a corner but the ref had seen something and called the play back. Lincolns frustrations were there for all to see as a couple of players got booked for taking there protests a little to far. The whistle went shortly after and consigned Lincoln to their first home defeat of the season.
All sides had a couple of bad games in a season and the Lady Imps are no different. In the second half they never really got going and they seemed a little sluggish. I am sure though that lessons will be learnt and you have to remember that this is a young side so you are going to get a little inconsistency in performance levels. There were a couple of bright spots. Kate Rood will give them a different kind of threat up front and it was good to see Sophie Bradley get half an hour under her belt. I felt sorry for Precious who did plenty of running up top but the support was just a little to slow in reacting to her holding the ball up. A couple of times she drifted which helped Doncaster as it meant that Lincoln were short on bodies in the box.
The crowd was also a very pleasing 274 and even with this disappointing result i am sure they will be back a week on Saturday to see the Lady Imps take on Liverpool in the Continental Cup.
Thanks for reading.
Come on you Lady Imps.
Here's a bell orientated video to try and cheer us all up a bit.
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