Retford United 0-2 Burscough

My Easter weekend kicked off with a night out around Retford on Thursday night. This in turn led to me waking up with a dreadful hangover at 6.00am on the Friday. I am blaming the Banana Bread flavour beer which i consumed in the Phoenix. seeing how i obtained the hangover there, i returned the next day to cure it with a full English breakfast; which was fantastic and was just what the doctor ordered. I washed it down with a couple of J20s as i was still a little delicate and couldn't face up to more Banana bread beer just yet.

Today was Retford United's last home match of the season and it couldn't have come quick enough for them. I have blogged about the club's problems a few times this season and don't want to tread over the same ground again. Although the writing has been on the wall since before Christmas the team's performances have got a lot better in the last couple of months so maybe they have something to take into the pre-season and next season.
Retford had beaten today's visitors Burscough away back in September, so today gave the badgers the chance to claim a very rare double. Ossett Town had joined Retford in becoming relegated a few weeks back leaving two relegation spaces sill up for grabs; Burscough being one of the sides still in the doo doo. If they were to stop up then three points here today was a must.

There was a decent crowd inside Cannon park today mainly due to the weather and the reduced admission prices. And most were disappointed to say the least when Burscough slammed in two goals in the 8th and 11th minute to all but kill the game off. Both goals were simple yet well worked and finished from a couple of yards out. They could have added a third when one of their strikers beat the Retford offside trap just inside the badgers half and made a bee line for the goal. Thankfully the ball got a bobble which took it away from the striker and safely into the arms of the goalkeeper. Retford steadied the ship and came more into the match as it went on but struggled to test the away side's keeper who looks like he has been on a few of the Retford Imps jolly boy trips.

Hands up if you want a 2nd helping of Buffet after the match


I retreated to the clubhouse at halftime form another soft drink and to scoff my chips like a fat boy. Lincoln were holding 2nd place Bury 0-0 away at Gigg Lane. A year ago unless you got into the clubhouse 5 minutes before the half time break you couldn't get a seat and it took you a while to get served. Today i would say the bar was half full at best. Its a real shame to see the support drift away as soon as the going gets tough. Respect to the lordofsodall and co for sticking with the side this season. I tip my hat to you all.

Retford were the better side in the second half and had Burscough on the back foot for most the half. They hit the post and missed a couple of half chances but were unable to get on the scoresheet. They probably deserved a goal but didn't get the breaks. The story of their season really. Lincoln put in a brave performance but lost 1-0. Lets hope Gillingham do us a favour tomorrow because boy do we need one right now.
Seeing how Retford have been struggling for cash this season i decided to make a rare purchase in the club shop before the match to help them out a tad.

While i am rambling on about Nottinghamshire non league football i would just like to congratulate Carlton Town on getting to the Notts senior cup final at Field Mill in a couple of weeks. Carlton are the most entertaining side i have seen on my non league travels this season so it is good to see them getting a bit of success after sadly dropping out of the promotion picture in the Evo stick south division. I hope they nwe go one better and win the cup.

Retford United 2-1 Kendal Town

Another trip to Cannon Park this weekend. I had planned to go to Lincoln United but a combination of working in the morning and this being the last weekend before payday put pay to that. It actually worked out pretty well as this was a decent performance by Retford as they chalked up only there second home win of the campaign. However if they continue to play like they have over the last couple of games i have seen them then they may well get a couple more before the season is out and salvage some pride in what has been a disappointing season so far for the Badgers.

Having paid my £9 quid and a couple for the programme i headed straight for the bar for the first of many drinks i consumed. The lager flowed as i chatted to a couple of die hard Badgers and we all agreed that the team had started to show alot more fight in the last few weeks or so. Another point of discussion was the crowds at Cannon Park. Over the years attendances have steadily gone up at Retford and were averaging around the 200-250 mark last season. If you weren't in the clubhouse by 2.15ish you used to struggle to get a seat in the large clubhouse. Today the bar was barely half full before kick off. Maybe having the wooden spoon match in the rugby six nations between Scotland and Italy on the big screen in the bar was putting people off i dont know but the crowd of 87 who did show up were treated to a decent enough match and a battling performance from the home side who thoroughly deserved to take home all three points.

At times this season the badgers have named just a bare eleven but today they did at least have one sub and it was a good job as they were forced into a change as early as the 12th minute. Kendall seemed to have come with the attitude that all they had to do was turn up and they would win. Well that went tits up didn't it?

Retford took the lead in the 29th minutes from a breakaway goal following Kendal pressure. The home side had created the best of the chances and thoroughly deserved their lead despite what the BBC Radio Cumbria reporter was saying in his match reports. (We were sat just behind him and it was fun to listen in to the bullshit that he was sending back to his listeners up North). So it was Retford that went in 1-0 at half time and deservedly so in my humble opinion.

Retford continued to dominate after the break and doubled their lead, much to the delight of the home crowd in the 60th minute. It was only now that the penny dropped for Kendal that they were 2-0 down to the whipping boys of the division and their playoff dreams were going up in smoke. Kendal then upped their game and pinned Retford back in their own half for much of the remainder of the match. I have seen a fair bit of Retford this season and they strike me as a 70 minutes team. Up till 70 minutes they compete very well but after that fade, drop off and make daft mistakes. So i wasn't overly confident of them holding out when the visitors scored from close range in the 76th minute. Kendal pretty much laid siege to the Retford goal for the final 15 minutes but for once the badgers stood firm. Retford could have sealed the win on a couple of occasions when they broke in 3 on 2 situations in their favour but either the wrong option was chosen or the final ball just wasn't good enough. With the last play of the game Kendall did have the ball in the net only for the goal to be ruled offside. The flag was up before the ball went in so i must assume that the decision was correct. It would have been very very harsh on Retford had Kendal got anything from the game. So thankfully they didn't and so it was smiles all round!
I then headed back into town for a few pints with a member of the badgers hardcore and it is at this point that my memory becomes a tad hazy.
One final point. It was quite amusing to see a few Kendal players just storm off down the tunnel at the final whistle without shaking hands or anything. Tossers.

Lincoln City 2-1 Southend United

From a Lincoln fans angle it was a strange build up to today's match. Normally the build up is dominated by the league positioning of the two teams, who's injured or not injured etc etc. For this match the build up was more about Steve Tilson v Southend United instead of Lincoln City v Southend United.
Steve Tilson was pretty much a god in Southend United fan's eyes. He supported them as a boy, he played for them and he managed them. And he did a very good job taking them from league two to the Championship (and back again it has to be said) On the way up beating the Imps in the 2005 playoff final in Cardiff.

However there seems to have been a huge falling out between Tilson and the Southend United chairman when he was sacked. I don't know all the details nor do i want to if truth be told. There seems to be a dispute about Steve's wages being paid/not being paid, but that's one for Southend. Normally Southend would bring 200-300 fans max. Due to the Tilson factor Southend were bringing over 1000 fans as so many wanted to say goodbye to Steve Tilson.

We did the normal pre match stuff. Going to the Neptune fish bar on the high street for pre match nourishment etc. In the newsagents next to the chip shop the collection of joke ten pound notes was quite impressive. The Spongebob one sparked a conversation between Baz and Felice about the show which they both watch (They claim its because of the kids but dont let that fool you!) None of the notes were a patch on the one below that i bought a few years ago!

There were a fair few Southend fans knocking about but not too many Lincoln fans. In the end only 2800 Lincoln fans showed up which isn't great although i do think many more will return next season when we start afresh as you will.
After the poor showing at Burton it was inevitable that changes were going to be made. Ben Hutchinson had been playing well in his reserve matches and cameo performances in the first team so he deserved his place today in the starting line up. Gavin MaCallum was the one to make way which i felt was a bit harsh as he has hardly been the worse player we have had in the past couple weeks. Hutchinson was up top with Ashley Grimes up top with Delroy Facey playing deeper back.

The first half was a poor show, pretty much like the Accrington match. Southend probably just shaded it although neither keeper really had a great deal to do. Lincoln took the lead a few moments before half time when the Southend Keeper parried out a tame Mustapha Carayol effort which was slammed into the top of the net by Ashley Grimes a true poachers goal. Moments later Southend could and should have levelled as Southend's Barry Corr latched onto a through ball which caught Adam Watts out of position. Thankfully Watts got back and just did enough to force Corr out wide and his shot hit the side netting.

The second half was much much better than the first. After feeling each other out in the first half both sides went for each other like two boxers looking to knock seven bells of shit out of each other. Delroy Facey was getting through a hell of alot of work down the Lincoln left forcing their right back, who likes to get forward, back. We have all seen Delroy excel in the target man role, bringing others into play not to mention his goal scoring. His leadership qualities have also been there for all to see. Today we saw another dimension to his game, he suffered from a few bad bounces today but was otherwise he was excellent.
Lincoln had a great chance to go 2-0 up when yet another Delroy cross was met by Ben Hutchinson and he headed back across goal with the keeper well beaten but his effort was kicked off the line. The ref today was quite picky and the game was littered with free kicks and it was from one of these Southend got there equaliser. A free kick about 40 yards out was humped into the box and bang 1-1. Yet again we were caught out by a set piece.
We were soon back on the front foot. Delroy was like a tank on the left with defenders just bouncing of him and it looked like that was our best chance to win the game was through big Del.
Lincoln did get a winner but as with Bradford the magic bladder came into play and i missed Ashely Grimes' winner while i was shaking the snake. The noise was quite loud but due to the large amount of away fans i wasn't sure which way the goal had gone till i came out of the toilet. Lincoln saw the rest of the match out quite comfortabley and should have added to score in injury time when a substitute and former Southend United player Scott Spencer shot over after a great passing move that started deep in the Lincoln half. At the final whistle Tilly applauded the Imps fans as normal then went over to the Southend fans to say goodbye.
These were a big three points as Barnet won 2-1 at Hereford United. Stockport and Burton drew 0-0 so the Imps still have an eleven point lead over the drop zone. We now need 5 more points to get to the magic 50 point mark. Tuesday night we have a big match away at Maccelsfield Town. This is Lincolns game in hand on Barnet(Who dont play on Tuesday) So it would be a huge boost to get something from it.

On a non footballing point i must mention Italy's great win in the rugby. After giving Felice plenty of stick after they got a kicking from England i must applaud them for beating France at home 22-21.

Lincoln 3-1 Oxford United

After losing to the bottom side in the division Lincoln need to pick themselves up and get some points on the board fast so we don't get sucked back into the relegation dogfight. At the start of the season every side's first goal is to get to the magic 50 point total which should be enough to stamp your card for another season in League two. More often than not 46-48 points is enough but on the other hand i seem to remember York City going down on 52 one year. Before tonight's game City had amassed 38 points and were 9 points clear of Burton Albion in the last relegation place. Due to Burton having up to six games in hand on some clubs(four on Lincoln) i have been looking past them and focusing 3rd bottom Barnet who Lincoln had crumbled so badly against at the weekend. They were 8 points behind Lincoln but had played two games more. Bottom of the table Stockport County were 10 points (and 8 league places) adrift of Lincoln. Stockport were at Cheltenham Town whilst Barnet weren't playing so Lincoln had a real chance to extent our gap over the bottom two. Oxford are no mugs however. After winning promotion via the playoffs from the blue square premier division last year they sit just outside the playoffs this time around. The were backed by over 200 fans which considering how far it is to travel for a night game was a fantastic effort and they made plenty of noise.

City got off to a great start on 5 minutes when Josh 0'Keefe hit a volley against the post then followed up the rebound. After that early setback Oxford got on the front foot and played the better football without forcing Carson in the Imps goal into any save of note. Lincoln's front pair also failed to get many shots away as both sides cancelled each other out. Oxford were using a good range of long and short passes but Danny Hone and co snuffed them out. Then 5 minutes before the break it all went tits up.
Oxford played a great move that maybe contained 6-7 passes that ended in a ball being looped into the box. As it was played well in front of the Oxford strikers and pretty much down Carsons throat it seemed as if the Imps have survived. Wrong again.
Carson dived forward to gather it but as he fell to the ground the ball popped out and rolled right in front of the on rushing Oxford striker who tapped on one of the easiest goals he will ever get. It was a blunder of the highest order but Carson has been one of the reasons why we have climbed the table since the new year so one goof wont alter his standing amongst the Imps faithful. He is a young keeper and you are going to get blunders like this from time to time. You could tell he was well and truly gutted by it and having made fuck ups like that myself and its horrible. Thankfully there were only a few minutes to go till half time since it was now important for Imps goalkeeping coach Paul Musselwhite to sit Carson down and clear his head.
We all saw at the world cup how Rob Greens balls up changed the momentum of the game between England the the USA as nerves spread throughout the side after his howler and for 20 minutes it seemed as if Lincoln were going to follow their example. Oxford were now seeing far more of the ball than City and were starting to turn the screw.
In the first half City had been forced to make a change when Luke Howell pulled up with a hamstring injury and was replaced by wing wizard Mustapha Carayol and it was he that unlocked the Oxford defence. As it was his cross which was met by Delroy Facey whose effort was helped in by an Oxford Defender. 2-1 Lincoln. A lead we didnt deserve. It got even better a few minutes later with another own goal. This time Anthony Tonkin slicked another Carayol cross high into his own net without a City player anywhere near him. Fantastic.
After that City saw the game out and gained a priceless three points. Elsewhere Stockport lost 2-1 at Cheltenham and Burton won 3-2 at Northampton Town. All this mean that Lincoln now have 41 points from 32 games and an 11 point gap to Barnet in the final relegation place.
Although you can never take anything for granted the next few weeks could go along way to seeing city over the finishing line. Next up is Accrington Stanley at home on Saturday followed by a trip to Burton Albion. Then Southend United visit Lincoln and then we go to Macclesfield Town. Barnet face Rotherham United away and Wycombe at home both of which are gunning for automatic promotion so i wouldn't have thought they will get many points from those games. There will however be many more twists and turns along the way so lets get those 9 more points we need ASAP!!

Barnet 4-2 Lincoln City

I had really been looking forward to this match. Barnet is always a decent away match and a relatively easy ground to get to, and there is a decent pub right next to the away end. Due to the weather and fixture lists we haven't done too many Lincoln away games on Saturdays. Lincoln always take good numbers to Barnet so the atmosphere is always good.
All was well in the world when i arose from my pit in the morning. The previous nights curry had made its last stand, the sandwich orders for day had been phoned in by the guys so after watching the morning line i set off to pick up the food for the journey from Bacons; the best place in Retford to pick up great sandwiches.

The journey down to North London was fairly non eventful one moment of note was when we slowed down to allow a pheasent to cross the A1. Due to the fact we have had rain for most of the last week or so i was a little concerned that the match would be called off. On the way down we overtook the Lincoln team coach and a car with a Sheffield United sticker in the back which received a cupped hand salute from Baz. Its hard to believe that it looks like the Steel City derby could well be played in the third tier of English football next season. Wouldn't mind a trip to either club in next seasons JP Trophy though. Although we will more likely get Hartlepool, Carlisle or Rotherham away (Providing we stay up that is)

We had a drive round the streets near Barnet's Underhill stadium but couldn't find anywhere to park the motor, so we parked up at Barnet Underground station. Barnet high street, which is only a five minute walk from the tube station, has quite a few decent places to eat and drink pre game. With this being London the chances of getting a decent Kebab in the afternoon were quite high. Alas the steady drizzle of rain put paid to these plans. Nobody really wants rain getting in their large lamb donner so we headed straight to the Red Lion pub which is right next to the away end.

As normal the pub was full of away fans. This is one of my favourite away pubs in the country. The walls are covered with old sporting drawings and portraits from the early 1900s. The pub does a nice range in pies and homemade sandwiches as well. The beer is expensive but that is what you expect in London, we got sat down in a corner and merrily drunk our drinks and all was well in the world.
Baz had pre-ordered the tickets and we had to pick them up from the ticket office (Not surprisingly really) The office and club shop are at the far end of the stadium to the away end so it gave us a chance to have a look around. The club shop is a portercabin type thing and sells the normal football stuff. The Programme was the league normal £3 and quite good. There was a stall doing face painting but unfortunately nobody seemed to be taking up the opportunity, although a young away fan wanted to have his face painted in the colours of the mighty Imps but alas Scrooge McDuck the Celtic fan wouldn't allow it ;-)
There is also a food hut next door to the ticket window selling a better range of food than there is inside the stadium.

Lincoln normally take a good following to London matches and today was no different. Like most teams Lincoln have many exiled fans in the capital and the south east. You can always spot the London based fans by the way they are dressed. Its hard to explain this but if you have spent any time in our great capital city you will know what i mean. There are most certainly different rules for dressing in London as there are in the rest of Great Britain. For example one chap was dressed in a Cowboy hat, red scarf, long leather coat and lime green cord trousers. In London nobody would bat an eyelid. If i strolled into the Olde Sun public house in Retford on a Friday night i would imagine i would get a very different response. The sheer quirkiness of London is one of the things i love about the place.

It was 16 of your finest English pounds to sit and a pound less to stand. We opted for the seating which gave you a decent enough view of the action and the famous "Barnet slope". Lincoln were kicking up the slope in the first half, and quite a bit of rain had fallen overnight and throughout the day thus making the pitch very heavy going. Neither of these however were an excuse for the first 45 minutes of "football" that Lincoln produced.
Barnet were quicker out of the traps than i am at turning off the tv when David Cameron is speaking. Lincoln were second to every ball and positionally were all over the place. It looked as if Barnet had an extra man as Lincoln were chasing shadows. Barnet had a flurry of corners and it was from one of those Barnet took the lead after only five minutes when ex Sheffield United striker Steve Kabba rose unmarked to head home at the near post. How you can forget about a six foot plus former Championship striker and the near post amazes me but then again this is Lincoln.
You would have though that that was the kick up the arse Lincoln needed but it wasn't. Barnet kept on attacking and Lincoln continued to struggle Barnet fired a few crosses into the Imps box that weren't delt with convincingly while Lincoln offered very little up front.

it got worse on 15 minutes when Ali Fuseini conceded a penalty which Kabba buried to make it 2-0 this was rapidly turning into another Bury/Shrewsbury farce. But this time we were losing to the team bottom of the league and had a two and a half hour trip home. It got a bit better for Lincoln after we got into their half once or twice but didn't force the Barnet Keeper into many/any saves. Barnet hit the post when it looked easier to score and missed one or two other good chances. Lincoln had a great chance to get back into the match when Ali Fuseini floated a free kick into the box but Grimes for once failed to connect with it. If he had it would surely have made it 2-1 as the keeper was well beaten. That miss hurt even more when Barnet's Mark Hughes curled in a great goal from the edge of the box after the Imps failed to clear their lines. Half time 3-0 and if truth be told the scoreline flattered Lincoln.
One place i like to visit in London is the Natural History museum which has a great dinosaur collection. At half time i was thinking how much i would rather be there instead of watching the cant-defendasaurus and the cant-pass-asaurus. In the Lincoln ends there were definitely a large number of sightings off pissedofasaurus angrily grazing on pies and burgers.

I would have loved to have been a fly on wall of the Imps dressing room at half time because whatever Steve Tilson and Paul Brush said it certainly worked. Luke Howell pulled one back on 47 quickly followed by a close range effort from Ashley Grimes and all of a sudden Lincoln were in a game that we barely deserved to be in. The Imps were really taking the match to their hosts and it seemed only a matter of time till the Imps got the third. I have never seen Lincoln get anything from a match when being 0-3 down.
Felice was even more distraught at the news that Italy were getting yet another kicking at rugger; this time at the hands of the Welsh.
The Imps won a penalty and up stepped Ashley Grimes who had his spot kick well saved. Moments like this change games. The miss really took the wind out of Lincoln's sails and Barnet clamped down and started to exploit Lincoln's flanks. Barnet have real pace upfront and it was causing Adam Watts and co at the back real problems. Barnet killed the match off when a ball was crossed to the back post and nobody picked up McLeod who had a simple tap in. A poor goal to concede and one that summed up the day. The rest of the game was played out tamely enough with Barnet looking the more likely to score and Lincoln chances being few and far between.



So what does it all mean? Well Barnet close the gap on Lincoln but it could have been worse. Stockport, Burton and Maccelsfield all got beat and we remain 9 points clear of the drop zone with two matches in hand. One of those is on Tuesday night when Oxford United visit Lincoln. Although we still have a nice gap to the relagation zone we could do with a win just to keep everything ticking over. Our next two games are at home so we have a chance to bounce back.
All the best to Barnet for the rest of the season but i would still say that Barnet and Stockport are favourites for the drop which is a shame as they are both great away days.
On the way back we listened to England giving France a good kicking in the six nations. I dont take much notice of rugby but mentioning France allows me to sign off this blog entry with a picture of a French maid to cheer up the Imps that travelled to London yesterday.
Over and out.

Lincoln City Res 3-0 Leeds United Res

Due to work being pretty hectic at the back end of last year i had a couple of days holiday rolled over to this year. One of them was used for the day after the Superbowl. Defeat hurt so much that night that I couldn't bring myself to blog about it. I decided to use the other one today so i could take in Lincoln City reserves Vs Leeds United reserves in the afternoon. Admission for reserve matches at Sincil Bank if free to season ticket holders so its a win win situation really (and you get a free teamsheet!!). It could also be said that booking a day off work to watch a reserve team game that really doesn't mean anything is quite sad, but with Leeds high flying in the Championship there is the chance of seeing one or two decent players in action.
Due to the number of games that the Imps have played over the past month or so i expected our team to be a very young one mainly made up of youth team players and maybe one or two trialists with a couple of fringe players thrown in for good measure.

After going up into the town to get my phone sorted (its only taken me about 4 months to get it fixed) I headed down to the ground. First stop as always with football was the chip shop to stock up on pie chips and peas. I then planned to tick off a pub on the high street that i haven't been in yet; The Shakespeare. Alas it doesn't open till 4.30 pm so i headed to the Golden Cross for one in the hope of seeing some of England's opening match against the Netherlands in the cricket World Cup. Again i was out of luck as they had Bargain Hunt on. Oh the joy.

Sincil Bank is first and fore most a football stadium but in recent years the club have really done a decent job on advertising the faculties for conferences, meetings, training courses etc etc and today was a great example of this. The NHS had a large conference in the Centre spot and there was also something going off in the executive club. Due to all of this going activity Lincoln City's elite Stewards had be brought in mantain order and make sure people didn't end up in the wrong place.

Due to the executive club being booked up you couldn't get a beer as you normally can at reserve matches but seeing as it was pretty cold it really wasn't much of a problem. The club had opened one of the catering points in the St Andrews stand which was serving hot food and drinks to the decently sized crowd that was in attendance; with a good few travelling from Yorkshire. I took up a place next to the press area in the St Andrews stand was quizzed by the chap from West Yorkshire radio on the strength of Lincolns line up. After telling him about the side and which players had first team experience he seem quite confident that Lincoln would win as with Leeds having a first team match with Barnsley tonight they were fielding a very young side. The man to watch in the Leeds side was their number nine Ramon Nunez. Lincoln had a side that for the most part could have been the starting eleven a few months ago as you can see below.

1) Joe Anyon
2) Cian Hughton
3) Joe Anderson
4) Karl Cunningham
5) Paul Green (C)
6) Patrick Kanyuka
7) Mustapha Carayol
8) Ali Fuesini
9) Ben Hutchinson
10) Scot Spencer
11) Jake Gibson

So only Jake Gibson and Karl Cunningham haven't played in the Imps first team this season. Whilst Anyon, Hughton, Green and Carayol had all played for the Imps in our 4-0 kicking at Leeds in the Carling cup 1st round tie back in August.

Leeds v Lincoln back in August

Lincoln dominated the first half. Cunningham playing in the centre of the park looked a class act and ran the game along with Ali Fuesini. You could see Ali has a very good footballing brain and very rarely gave the ball away, if i have a slight concern about him its that he doesn't seem to be very quick but his passing is a different class and if given protection, could well pick most league two defences apart.
Lincoln had already wasted a couple of good chances by the time Ben Hutchinson gave us the lead with a neat turn and finish into the far corner. Hutch and Scott Spencer had linked up well and were giving the young Leeds centrebacks quite alot to think about. The Imps went in 1-0 up with Joe Anyon yet to make a save of any note. It had been an entertaining match, watched on by former Imps Simon Weaver, John Schofield, Jon Whitney and Tony Cunningham.

I was expecting Leeds to come out all guns blazing in the second half and just after halftime they had their best chance of the game when Anyon smothered out Nunez from close range. Lincoln went further ahead on 53 minutes when a Carayol corner was miss judged by Gonzalez in the Leeds goal and Patrick Kanyuka (minus the beard) headed home.
Leeds were unfortunate not to get back into it shortly after when a free kick from Nunez was rabbit punched out by Anyon and luckily fell to a red and white shirt and cleared. Cian Hughton had been having a great game getting foward down the right and it was from one of these runs that the Imps got their third, as he won a Penalty when he was tripped in the box. I thought he fell over himself but as nobody seemed to complain i can only assume that i was wrong. Ben Hutchinson stepped up and sent Gonzalez the wrong way for 3-0.
Shortly after that it could have been 4-0 when Hughton blasted a great effort against the bar from about 30 yards after another great run. It was however the visitors who finished the strongest when the hit the bar with a headed from a corner then Grella sent the rebound over.




Full time Lincoln City res 3-0 Leeds res.

All in all i was pretty happy with the Imps today. Karl Cunningham really does look to be a decent prospect as did Jake Gibson. Lets hope they both continue to work hard and follow the examples set by Danny Hone and Lee Frecklington. Fuseini and Kanyuka both got another 90 minutes under their belts and are starting to get up to match pace. Scott Spencer worked hard upfront and just needs a goal to give him confidence. Overall the whole side did well but you have to remember that they were pretty much up against Leeds United's youth team. Had it been Leed's normal reserve side it would have been much closer.
None the less it was a very enjoyable afternoon and as season ticket holders get in for free, very good value for money.