Fluke leaves it with Imps to throw away

By Nathan Jackson
April 11 2005

A last minute own goal gave the Imps a 1-0 victory which now, sees the Imps 5 points clear of 8th with 4 to play. So in other words, if either City win against Macclesfield or Northampton/Wycombe lose, City would only need a mere handful of points to guarantee a playoff place.

Lincoln had the first oppurtunity of rhte game when after 36 seconds the ball was cleared for a corner. Thorpe cleared and 2 minutes later, the ex-Imp produced the first chance of the game but his shot didn't really make Marriott work for it.

Lincoln's first chance came when Yeo rounded Forbes before his cross was headed down for Butcher but his show was well saved by Gueret. City won a corner quickly and Sandwith's delivery was headed over by Futcher.

Then Forbes' was hit by a deadly allergy which meant that every time anyone wearing red and white came near him, he just collasped, oddly enough the same thing was happening to Trundle whenever he entered the penalty area. Even worse was the ref was thinking it was a foul everytime. The referee didn't adhere himself to the Imps fans in the 12th minute when Yeo crossed the ball, Gueret flapped and McAuley headed the ball in but "championship quality" referee Richard Beeby disallowed the goal for a push on Gueret.

Yeo was then the next player to cruelly run into the area covered by Forbes' vision automatically causing the Swansea player to fall over grasping every part of his body possible. Yeo was booked for his protects.

Swansea started to come in to the game more and had their first clear cut chance when Robinson sent a goal bound shot towards Marriott but the keeper making his 250th appearance for City saved well. Several minutes and several Forbes' allergic reactions later, Swansea won a 29th minute free kick and Thorpe came extremely close to putting the Swans in the lead but his bullet header from Robinson's delivery went just over.

Only an excellent Gueret kept Butcher giving City the lead from a highly impressive 30 yard chip. A Swansea corner followed a free kick. McAuley eventually cleared the ball but Swansea were taking control however, they failed to make the breakthrough as the half came to a close.

The best oppurtunity of the game came just 46 seconds into the second half when after catching a cross, Marriott threw the ball straight at Thorpe who ran with Trundle on goal before passing to Trundle, however, Trundle was obviously expecting Thorpe to shoot so didn't respond until it was too late in a major let off.

Thorpe again prominent after latching on to a loose corner from Lincoln, however his long range shot didn't call Marriott to make a save however, Robinson did force an excellent save from his long range shot. Lincoln got their first attack of the half underway in the 60th minute however, the resultant corner saw the ball easily cleraered again but Yeo forced Gueret into a save from a thunderous shot.

For while it was quite literally an end to end game at Marriott kicked it straight to Gueret who returned it straight acbk, this was the case for a few mintues. Forbes was then the subject of his own booking when he objected a City throw in.

The game seemed destined for a 0-0 draw when Jamie McCombe sent a volley well wide. Then McAuley had a golden chance to give the Imps the lead when GTF played a great through ball however, Gueret made an excellent save from point blank range.

Then came what could turn to be the turning point in both of the City's promotion bids. Substitue Bean fouled Gain. The ball reached Gain who mishit his shot and it went to Monk who's deflection went into the air before looping downwards, hitting the underside of the bar and bouncing behind the line and hitting the back of the net to give City a 1-0 lead with no injury time left. It was almost a repeat of 2 years ago when an injury time own goal gave the Imps a 1-0 win over the same opponents. 

Now with this incredibly lucky victory, it means that Lincoln's playoff place is ours to throw away, with 4 games left, City are 5 points clear of 8th placed Northampton. The next 3 games are massive as City are facing the team currently 1 place below them before back to back games against the only two teams who can realistically catch the Imps.