Three and easy as Imps rise to 16th
By Nathan Jackson
November 20 2010
Lincoln City made it three wins in a row for the first time since October 2008 after a convincing performance over Hereford United at Sincil Bank. Despite a shaky start, the Imps controlled most of the match and the goals came through Hutchinson, Facey and Carayol.
The game didn't start well for the Imps with Hereford almost scoring within ten seconds, Manset ran unchecked into the area and only a last ditch tackle from Hoyte stopped a very early opening goal. The resulting corner also reached the Frenchman, but his stretched toe-poke went trickling into the arms of Anyon. City responded by winning their own corner and it was Watts who headed over from Jarrett's set piece.
An inswinging cross from Jarrett was missed by Carayol before the Gambian hit the ball wide from distance after cutting in from the left. Scott Kerr was the next to try his luck from distance, but his 25 yard effort almost went over the bar. Another Jarrett cross was headed behind by Facey before Bartlett in the Hereford goal denied Hutchinson from point blank range. We were still only 10 minutes gone at this point.
A rare Hereford attack saw Manset shoot just wide of the target before there was a big penalty shout for Hereford as Colbeck found himself through on goal, Anyon rushed out and the two collided before the ball went just wide of the post. Most fans inside Sincil Bank thought that it would be a penalty but Anyon must have got a hand to the ball as the referee signalled a corner. A frantic first half continued as Hutchinson blazed a header over from six yards before Lunt fired a close range free kick at the wall.
Carayol shot wide from distance before the Imps took a deserved lead. Hoyte received the ball and ran down the wing, crossing the ball to Hutchinson and he duly headed home for his fourth of the season. The game slowed down slightly and you had to wait until the 34th minute for the next action, but it was worth the mini wait for the Imps as Facey met a cross from Carayol to head past Bartlett and score his first goal since Boxing Day last year for the Imps.
The final incident of the first half saw Bartlett again save from Facey as he burst into the box. The game went into half time near enough straight away.
The second half started with a substitution for the visitors, Canham replacing Lunt. The substitution didn't really change the fortunes immediately for the visitors as the Imps carved out the first chance when Facey burst through on goal, only to then pass the ball straight into Bartlett's arms due to a poor first touch. Kerr tried his luck from distance before Werling replaced Weir for the visitors.
City had an appeal for a penalty turned down when Jarrett's cross into the box was handled by Webster, but the referee waved play on and it became 2-1 from the resulting counter attack. Manset picked up the ball before sending a thunderbolt at Anyon, the keeper failing to keep hold of the ball and Fleetwood pounced to half the deficit.
Nerves around Sincil Bank became frayed as the Imps have given away a lot of two goal leads in the recent past, but it didn't take long for the Imps to re-establish their two goal lead as Carayol picked up the ball before going on a run that saw him beat three Hereford players before smashing the ball home with his left footed drive. It could have been 4-1 within a minute as Watts pounced at the back post from a Clapham flick on, only for it to be ruled offside.
Hutchinson and Carayol both had shots saved by Bartlett before Facey headed the resultant corner wide. City made their first change with just over 10 minutes to go as Carayol replaced Hughton, Gwynne replaced Colbeck for Hereford. For the third game in a row Facey missed a cross-goal header before Fleetwood hit the bar for Hereford.
Jarrett and Hutchinson both got standing ovations as they left the pitch, replaced by Joe Anderson and Drewe Broughton respectively. Neither side created any more chances and City won 3-1. Despite forcing Bartlett into several saves and Hereford having one or two decent efforts on target, the stats suggested that every shot on target went in.
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for example, your opening sentence "Lincoln City made it three wins (in?) a row for the first time in October 2008" lets the article down. Sorry, but it's true.
