By theimps.tk
April 23 2006

After an early goal for Orient, in-form Jamie Forrester controversially equalised for the Imps to earn City a draw that guarantees last day nerves. The draw means that no matter what happens next week, City will still need a result on the final day to stand a chance of the playoffs.

City kicked the game off but were immediately on the back foot as Orient played a long ball forward and Marriott raced out of his goal to boot it into the crowd when he had more than enough time to control the ball and possibly clear it. That throw in turned into a corner and the ever impressive Matt Lockwood swung the ball in and John Mackie connect with the ball and point blank range and headed Orient into the lead after just 72 seconds. It was the quickest goal in any Imps game so far this season beating Oxford’s effort of 1:47 in the game back in August.

 

City immediately went on the attack from the restart but Orient’s sturdy defence kept the Imps from getting any shots in and it took until the 6^th minute for the Imps to create a chance. Kerr, the ultimate master of looking at the ball when he passes it, managed to beat the first defender from a corner, after a mini scramble, the ball fell to Tann who tried to clear but sliced his clearance straight into the hands of Garner.

 

Forrester then broke down the right and had Hughes as an option to his left but choose to shoot from about 30 yards and Garner didn’t have to work too hard as he caught it very comfortably. Orient suddenly thought that they might need a second and launched their 2^nd attack on 14 minutes and won a corner. Lockwood’s set piece was against headed goalwards by Mackie and it appeared destined for the back of the net until Jeff Hughes got a vital block on the ball to prevent a certain goal. Orient were doing some blocking off their own as they prevent Francis Green a clear run on goal with an excellently timed challenge from Simpson.

 

Nat Brown and Gary Alexander got into a heated argument after the latter came in with a late tackle on Brown. However, Brown was lucky to stay on the pitch as he raised his hands towards Alexander’s face. City won a dangerous free kick on the edge of the area in the 26^th but just like virtually every other free kick these days, it went over everyone and out for a goal kick. Out of no-where, Marvin Robinson almost gave the Imps a goal when he headed a Hughes cross goalwards and it appeared to be dipping in but instead, ran down the bottom of the net.

 

Then City scored a very controversial goal. Referee Parkes wasn’t proving popular with the Orient fans as virtually everything was going Lincoln’s way and in the 36^th minute, Jeff Hughes’ great ball found Green who fed Forrester, the on loan striker appeared to kick one of the Orient defenders in the knee but the referee didn’t blow and Forrester chipped the ball over Garner from 20 yards out to the anger of the 900 or so travelling supporters.

 

All of the sudden, it was all City and the Imps which 2 quickfire corners but the second came to nothing. Jamie McCombe came close to scoring a classic in the 40^th minute when he volleyed from the edge of the area but it had too much swerve on it and went wide of the game. Another goalmouth scramble 2 minutes before the break saw Orient clear under extreme pressure. Orient did manage to create a chance but Conner’s header lacked both power and direction. The half finally ended with polite applause from the Imps fans and extremely loud booing from the Orient fans.

 

Orient started the second half as quickly as they had started the first and almost took a quick lead but Mackie headed a corner over the net. City wasted another corner soon afterwards when a promising corner was headed out by Barnard without a single Lincoln player challenging for the ball.

 

Gareth McAuley then actually did something he hasn’t done for ages, he actually tried to tackle someone. Now, I know you’d have fainted at the shock of reading that but he did seriously make a tackle and it was actually quite a good one as he prevented Alexander from running one on one with Marriott.

 

Former Mansfield hitman, Wayne Cordon was trying his hardest to restore Orient’s lead as he won a corner and from that corner, Orient won a free kick that then turned into a corner. City finally managed to clear it though and won a free kick on the edge of the area that was in an almost identical position to Hughes’ in the first half and it also ended up going over everyone as well.

 

City won another corner on the 67^th minute but Garner was again left with an easy collection as no Imps’ player challenged for the ball. Just minutes later though and the Imps could have easily taken the lead when Robinson chased down a lost cause, forcing former Bury custodian Garner to clear the ball, however, it went straight to Forrester who was around 35 yards out, he shot goalwards but Garner got back into his goal just in time.

 

Birch replaced Robinson for the Imps and then Orient boss, Martin Ling made a double change for his side as Gary Alexander and Paul Conner were replaced by Jabo Ibehre who seems to like scoring against us and Lee Steele, the man who scored a hatrick at Sincil Bank last season. The game started to grow a bit weary and Forrester was defiantly starting to tire as he failed to reach a near perfect delivery from Beevers. Frecklington replaced Kerr for City and McMahon replaced Barnard for the visitors.

 

Neither side could create any more noteworthy efforts and the Imps stayed 7^th but vitally missed out on a chance to at least keep their 2 point lead and it’s now guaranteed that the Imps will go into the final day still battling for 7^th place.