Despite City taking the kick off, within 10 seconds the ball was down the Lincoln end and out for a corner after ex-Imp Greg Pearson's shot had been blocked. The ball was floated in and the ball headed towards goal and only Keates standing on the line prevented it from going in, a mini scramble ensued but City did eventually grasp the ball.

The game had a slow started but City managed to gain a corner in the 7th minute but Dean Keates' corner was headed straight at goal by Brown and produced an excellent save from Jamie Young. The following corner failed to trouble the Rushden club.

Rushden were controlling the play but were failing to create any openings as City were pumping lost causes towards the box but it did almost become 1-0 on the 15th minute mark when Derek Asamoah sent a wild shot just inches over the bar. A LONGGGGG ball from defence to Birch saw the ex Kidderminster man lay it into the path of Asamoah but the move unfortunatly came to nothing. However, it was 1-0 just minutes later. Ex Bournemouth defender, Phil Gulliver fouled Brown about 25 yards out of goal to give the Imps a good oppurtunity. Keates stepped up before smashing the ball over the wall and into the back of the net to not only score his first goal for the Imps, but to score the Imp's first goal directly from a free kick (in the league) since Kingsley Black's effort against Exeter towards the end of the 2001/2 season.

Asamoah tried his luck from distances just minutes minutes later but it went considerable wide. Rushden, who despite their lack of action in this report so far, had been bosing the game pretty much and almost got a deserved equalisers when O'Grady sent a powerful header towards goal but an impressive save from Marriott sent the ball out for a corner, which was easily dealt with.

A slightly controversial moment happened with 3 minutes of the half left. After a scramble, Birch managed to stick the ball in the net, but only then did the referee blow to signal the injury, ruling out the goal. We'll come back to this later as another incident just makes this one more controversial.

O'Grady had the first decent chance of the 2nd half when his shot went wide after some good build up play. Bell would have an attempt on goal 2 minutes later but his speculative effort was easy for Marriott.

Remember that controversial incident? (if you don't when it's only 2 paragraphs above this, you must be a member of the Steve Evans Appreciation Society) Well you've probably been wondering what could make it more controversial. In the 59th minute, near enough the exact same thing happened as before, a cross came into the box and one of their players went down injured whilst another headed the ball goalwards. What makes the original incident more controversial is that the referee didn't blow to stop play, even though the Rushden player was down injured, meaning that he would have allowed a goal if it had entered the net, despite being the exact same situation as the shot that did go in.

Morgan and Mayo shortly made their returns from suspension as Keith looked for a more defence formation, replacing 2 strikers, for the 2 defenders and it's funny how despite having more defenders on the pitch, we started to crumble and let them come through and it was quickly 1-1. Another LONGGGGGGG Rushden ball (did you see that Mr Hunter??) was headed on by Gulliver and Pearson volleyed past Marriott to make it 1-1 with a VERY DIRECT GOAL (awaiting Paul Hunter to call it a very Brazilian like goal with 20 trillion along the ground passes involved)

The floodgates opened and Rushden, like they had done most of the match, were absolutly dominated and Pearson almost doubled his tally just minutes later but his shot hit the top of the crossbar. Okuonghae's shot was blocked minutes later after a Bell delivery.

Many Lincoln fans then got irate with referee, Mr Singh after he gave some questionable decisions. The most unbelieveable being Nat Brown going up for a header and connecting clearly with his head, Mr Singh then proceeds to give a free kick for handball (the hands being a full 3 feet away from Nat Brown's head). That was one of several unusual decisions by the referee known as "Homer" by 1000s of fans due to his record of 94% of home wins in his games.

The game ended with Rushden on top again and City slipped to 13th in the table.

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