Last minute laspe costs Imps again

By Nathan Jackson
December 18 2004

How many times this season has City conceeded late goals that have cost them points? Saturday's game was a great example of this as City created more and the better chances of the game but ended up losing 1-0 in the 89th minute.

The Imps kicked off the match on a very dreary day in High Wycombe but the Chairboys quickly gained posession and enjoyed the majority of the opening play. However, the recently rejuvenated Wycombe weren't troubling the Imps defence and only a Steve Guppy free kick which was headed just wide by Craig "Goldilocks" Falconbridge.

A Sandwith shot was sliced out for a corner but Toner, returning to the first team squad after the injury to Gain, could on find the first defender which has become a common trend for the Imps this season.

Guppy crossed again for Goldilocks in the 15th minute but the striker failed to get decent contact and sent his weak header wide. A worrying side however, saw Gareth McAuley collaspe onto the floor and he was quickly replaced by the returning Martin Carruthurs who was put infront forcing Jamie McCombe to resort to his natural defencisve position.

Almost immediatly, City had a great chance to take the lead.  A Richardson cross evaded everyone except Carruthurs who composed himself before firing a shot from 6 yards straight at Talia.

The comination of Guppy and Falconbridge almost finally paid off in the 33rd minute when the former's cross was headed by the latter and it appeared to be sailing in before grazing the top of the bar.

Just before halftime, Yeo had a great chance to give the advantage to the Imps when he ran one on one with Talia. Yeo neatly chipped the ball over Talia but a rushing Wycombe defender cleared the ball at the very last second.

 

Wycombe came extremely close to grabbing an immediate second half goal when Gus Uhlenbeen sent a thunderous shot across goal, it was parried by Marriott but Falconbridge failed to convert the chance. Goldilocks was soon at it again when a cross came in and landed to him on the far post but he volleyed over from less than 2 yards out.

The game was extremely slow with chances few and far between. Martin Carruthurs broke through 1 on 1 with Talia but he sent his shot well wide.

Then came an odd decision, The ball was hovering around the midfield and Richardson was in an offside position, he ran back into an onside position before a defender tried to head it back to his keeper but it was seriously under hit. Now, Richardson was ONside when the ball was played so he couldn't possibly be ruled offside. The ref decided to ignore the linesmans flag. The ball found it's way out to Bloomer who sent in a cross that was caught by Talia.

Richardson came close 15 minutes from time when Futch headed on a Sandwith free kick but Marcus took too much time and his weak shot was easily saved by Talia.

Ritchie Hanlon was brought on in the 83rd minute to replace Toner and he almost got straight in the action when a scamble on the edge of the box fell to him and he shot hard but also wide. Another scramble in the area resulted in McCombe edging past a few defenders before sending a powerful shot just agnosiingly wide.

Wycombe, who had been quiet this half got a corner which was taken by Guppy. Guppy's cross was headed by Ryan and made it 1-0 to Wycombe with less than a minute of normal time remaining. That was the final noteworthy action of the match.