Sandwith had the first effort with less than a minute gone but his shot was easily saved by the seemingly giant keeper, Ruddy. The massive keeper also easily saved a Martin Carruthurs effort just minutes later..
Cambridge started to put some pressure on the Imps and won a corner after Sandwith tackled Hodgson on the edge of the penalty area. Alan Marriott did well to tip over a header from Andy Duncan from the resulting corner but there was no marking from the Imps against the former Man Utd trainee. Marriott then produced to push the ball out again for another corner but the final of the 3 corners came to nothing.
Sandwith conceeded a 12th minute free kick after he fouled Stevland "Lemarr" Angus. The resulting free kick saw the ball cleared far up field but some patient work saw Cambridge bring the ball forward again only for John Turner to flash his close range effort well wide. It was all Cambridge, they had all the posession and last Saturday's last minute defeat still seemed to be hanging over the Imps players heads. City didn't have another effort until the 25th minute when a Francis Green header from a Sandwith cross was saved by Ruddy who wasn't really being troubled at all by the Imps strikeforce.
Ex Imp Justin Walker and the impressive young striker, John Turner both had speculative shots easily saved by Marriott. City then had a great oppurtunity to take the lead against the run of play when after waiting for the ball to bounce. Carruthurs smashed the ball towards goal from the corner of the penalty error. Ruddy couldn't get hold of it properly and Yeo was lurking but the popular striker couldn't get the ball under control and Ruddy made 2 excellent saves to deny the Imps.
Gain got a free kick after being fouled by Turner on 41 minutes and he passed to Richard Butcher who shot from 25 yards out and the ball was destined for the top corner but Ruddy's height gave him an advantage and he tipped it out for a corner which came to nothing.
Lincoln came out for the 2nd half like a house on fire and Green's shot within 20 seconds of the restart tested Ruddy but in all honesty, would have been a bit of a fluke if it had gone in.
In the 54th minute, Cambridge gained another corner but Hodgson's kick went to Marriott who punch straight back to the former Darlington midfielder. Hodgson took his time and sent a shot hurtling at the crossbar to sent a wave off relief around for the Imps.
Stevland "Lemarr" Angus got the first Cambridge caution of the afternoon during a spell they were dominating. City were like fishes out of water and it was hard to see why Cambridge were down where they are. However, it didn't stay Cambridge's way for long. Carruthurs passed along the deck but it looked to have gone to far but neither "Lemarr" or Ruddy were going for it. Green suddenly popped out of nowhere much to both defender and keeper's suprise and chipped over Ruddy to give the Imps a 1-0 lead from a situation that never looked likely to produce a goal.
It became a one team game again as Cambridge seemed to give up and resign themselves to another defeat, they were very unambitious going forward. Butcher managed to get the ball and have another 25 yard shot but it went quite wide. City then had two penalty appeals, both involving Yeo although neither looked very convincing. Yeo was booked for diving.
Nothing else of interested happened in the game and City went on to record their 4th win on the road this season, which all, coincedentally have ended 1-0.
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