A tale of two poor sides sharing points

Lincoln City conceded a late goal to be denied a win against Mansfield. Gavin McCallum had given City the lead before Matt Green equalised with time running down, but other than that chances were at a premium as two poor sides ended up sharing the points on Tuesday evening.

City kicked off the game but it was the visitors who had the game’s first chance when Murray hit a volley over Anyon’s bar. A Mansfield free kick was cleared by Sinclair in the 12^th minute of a slow first half that was virtually devoid of quality. A poor Marriott clearance left Smith with an open goal from 25 yards but he failed to have a shot on goal, that despite Marriott being nowhere near the net.

Sinclair skipped past a few challenges for the Imps but he couldn’t get a shot on before the ball was cleared for a corner. From the resulting corner Fuseini played the poor delivery back into the box and McCallum headed straight at Marriott from six yards out. Cunningham headed over from close range.

The best chance of the first half came with five minutes of it left. Fuseini’s constant messing about on the ball left Lindon Meikle with a free run on goal when Fuseini misplayed it again, his curling shot hit the inside of the post and went across goal and out the other side. It took a few seconds for the celebrating Mansfield fans to realise it hadn’t gone in.

That was about it for the first half in which goalscoring opportunities were few and far between.

The second half wasn’t much different although McCallum and Cunningham both his efforts wide early on. Fuseini was replaced by Christophe for City.

Ex-Imp Connor hit over from six yards before slicing wide from a few yards on the hour mark......some things never change. Sutton was booked for dissent in the 72^nd minute. The slow second half seemed to be heading for a goalless draw before a long aimless punt forward from Anyon wasn’t dealt with by the defence and Gavin McCallum was there to hit a volley into the net to give City the lead.

Briscoe replaced Dyer for Mansfield before ex-Stag Kyle Perry came on for Smith. Perry was quickly in the action as he raced past two Mansfield players before giving away a foul when grounded. Thomas made a debut for the Imps when he came on as a late substitution.

With a few minutes left Paul Connor ran down the left and played in a ball that wasn’t dealt with effectively by City’s defence (how many times have I said that in recent years) and Green prodded in. Meikle curled over from distance in the last chance of the game.