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Imps throw it away in local derby
By Nathan Jackson September 11 2004
The Imps threw away a 2 goal lead to Boston in one of the most major cases of 2 POINTS DROPPED, you'll ever see. City dominated this game and our local rivals failed to live up to the hype Evans had given them and to be honest, this draw was far from a fair result on reflection of the game.

Boston kicked off but City immediatly gained posession. Matt Bloomer dispossed Bennett and ran forward before putting a cross into the box, unfortunatly it was headed away by Ellender. 4 minutes later, Bloomer was at it yet again as he crossed the ball in after a Francis Green throw but Yeo could only head wide. It was a good start for City.

Boston weren't threatening at all and only the 12th minute, after an ineffective corner, City hit them on the break when Francis Green used his electric pace to outrun several Boston defenders before putting the ball in for Yeo but the ball was hacked away by Paul Ellender.

Boston's first chance came on the 15th minute when McManus had a very ambitious volley easily saved by Marriott. McManus then tried to volley past Marriott although it went well over the Stacey West stand.

City used the counter attack again but McCombe couldn't get good control on it and the chance was wasted. On 32 minutes, a ball from Francis Green went under the feet of Paul Ellender leaving McCombe 1 on 1 with Abbey. The tall defender took his time and casually shot past Abbey to make it 1-0 to the Imps.

Straight from the restart, Yeo gained the ball and burst towards the Boston box. He past to Francis Green who could only direct his fierce shot wide. Another burst saw City gain a corner which was delivered by by Peat only to be punched by Abbey, straight to Yeo who's shot skimmed the outside of the post. The teams went into the break with a good advantage and looking well on top as Boston were failing to live up to the levels that Steve Evans had hyped them up to be.

Matthew Bloomer had the first "chance" of the second half as the ball fell to him about 40 yards from goal and bouyed by his goal at Bury, he decided to have a go and it was a very good effort as his shot was palmed out for a corner by Abbey. Peat again took the corner but it was met by McAuley heading the ball well over the bar.

On 52 minutes, McCombe provided a cross for Green but his shot went slightly wide. Less than a minute later, it fell to McCombe again who crossed for Green with no defender in sight. The striker turned and produce a well hit half volley to make to 2-0 to the Imps.

Thanks go to Matt Harris for providing the above picture

Then he came. Paul Gascoigne came on after spending the first half, quite literally, sat on a box in the dug out.  His appearance did little to inspire his teammates. If anything, he made them worse. One piece of delight for City fans was when Butcher was in the corner being crowded by Gazza who had Ellender behind him. Butcher proceeded to meg both at the same time and his cross was met by yet another  Yeo header which yet again went wide. Butcher infact, was having a man of the match performance and came so close to making it 3-0 when his 30 yard shot hit the top of the bar.

City cruising, Boston looked like a side in a lot of trouble, everything was being hoofed clear, you hear the Evans'???? Hoofed, not Brazilian style like you claim. However, then came an incident which turned the game. You can argue about it all you want but at the end of the day it was a penalty although it was highly debateable. The ball was floated in from a corner and after a scramble, someone shot and it hit McAuley's arm and the ref awarded the penalty. No doubt it hit his hand but when you're less than a yard away when the ball is hit (the average striker hits it at 52mph), the chance of you moving your arms in time is low. Anyway, Pitt stepped up and made it 2-1 with 5 minutes to go.

Then came what every Imps fan feared, after totally dominating the game against the poorest side to visit Sincil Bank this season, a Gazza cross was headed in by ex-Imp, Jason Lee to make it 2-2.

City had numerous oppurtunities in added time but didn't make any of them count.

SUMMARY : We dominated this game, there's no flip side of the coin, a draw was not a fair result by a long long way. Boston were the most disorganised and worst team that have been to Sincil Bank this season and how we let them get back into the game is beyond me. Oh well, a point's a point.

 

On a more serious note, we here at theimps.tk would like to pass on our wishes to Steve Evans as he revealed on Radio Lincolnshire after the game that his daughter has been diagnosed with cancer and we would just like to offer our condolences to the Evans family and hope she can make a quick recovery.

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