By Nathan Jackson
December 31 2005

Lincoln City were cruising to victory against a poor Darlington side before taking their foot of the pedal and allowing Darlington to get back into the match and get a 2-2 draw. It was the 15th time in 2005 that the Imps have been in the lead at some point during the match and not won

City kicked off the game but after just 1 minute, the game stopped when Akpo Sodje and Gareth McAuley had a clash of heads and a loud crunch could be heard around the ground and although Sodje got up again, Gareth McAuley laid motionless on the ground. After 3 minutes, McAuley recovered and was able to continue, despite his arm appearing to have also taken an injury in the collision as well.

 

City controlled the opening play and launched attack after attack on the Darlington defence and Jeff Hughes, making his first start for the Imps, seemed to be the most impressive out of all the Imps early on and he provided a quality ball and poor finishing and one or two defensive clearance deprived the Imps from an early goal. Hughes himself had the first decent chance on the 10^th minute when Logan’s shot was blocked, however, Hughes sent his shot into the net following the rebound. Straight from the keeper’s clearance, City again launched an attack but Hughes’ cross went just over everyone and when Logan tried to collect the ball and shoot, it was blocked by a Darlington defender.

 

Jamie McCombe was the next Imp to try his luck but his shot from 18 yards was again blocked by the Darlington defence. Good work from Logan down the left saw him cross to Robinson who sent a very powerful shot towards goal but the emergency loan keeper, Knight, saved with his legs. However, it would not be long before City took a deserved lead. Kerr floated in a corner which McCombe headed towards McAuley who had the simple task of slotting the ball into an open net and gave the Imps a very well deserved 1-0 lead.

 

Within 60 seconds, Kerr and Keates had produced a very nice bit of interplay before the latter found Robinson who shot at Knight, the shot was saved by the rebound fell straight to Robinson who, just like McAuley, had a simple task of putting the ball into an empty net. The return of Dean Keates was proving inspirational and City had rarely dominated the opening exchanges of a game and Logan almost made it 3-0 within 4 minutes but his 30 yard shot went inches over the bar and the same happened to Luke Foster, who was having yet another great game in an Imps shirt.

 

However, then came the usual mistake that the Imps make when they get a 2 goal lead, they took their foot of the pedal and a Darlington side, who had easily been the worst to visit Sincil Bank this season, started to get into the game and Darlington’s first decent chance came in the 33^rd minute but Martis’ header from 10 yards went well over the goal, however, it was City who looked more likely to score and should have made it 3-0 when a Kerr corner came to Logan at the back post, his shot took a deflection or two before hitting Jamie McCombe who inadvertently cleared the ball.

 

Darlington summed up their half when their 2^nd chance came from 35 yards and went well over the bar and into the car part. The final major incident of the 2^nd half came when Foster was running with the ball before one member of lower league footballs least favourite families, Akpo Sodje, did a double footed challenge on him from behind and was deservedly sent off. Darlington should have had another player sent off after he went to punch Kerr but he escaped with a yellow. The half time whistle was greeted with a loud cheer from the City fans who had seen their side 3-0 down at the last time they heard the whistle signalling half time.

 

Darlington almost equalised immediately from the restart when Matt Clarke headed Neil Wainright’s header just wide of the post. However, this just encouraged the Imps to burst forward again and good work from Keates saw him run into the area before setting up Luke Foster who sent his shot straight at Clarke. 10 minutes into the second half and Darlington’s roles were reversed as Wainright headed a Matt Clarke against the base of the post.

 

Robinson then had a golden chance to make the game completely safe when he broke free of the Darlington defence but instead of taking his time and controlling the ball, Robinson decided to head the ball and the weak speed of the header saw Knight easily claim the ball and this was the turning point in the match because within 3 minutes, Darlington had pulled one back when Kandol broke free of a Lincoln defence that was in no hurry to get back and although Marriott saved his first shot, the ball fell straight back to Kandol who had no trouble in smashing the ball in from 1 yard out with Marriott grounded.

 

If you’ve been following Lincoln since Keith Alexander has been in charge, you know that City very rarely hold on to a 2 goal lead and within 5 minutes of it being 2-1, it was 2-2 when the man who would get you an excellent score in Scrabble, Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu shot from the edge of the area and it sailed past Marriott, again, the defence seemed very unconcerned about the impending danger. In typical Keith style, he waited until that goal had goal in until he started making substitution when Brown, Asamoah and Birch came on for the impressive Jeff Hughes, Marvin Robinson and surprisingly, Scott Kerr.

 

The game seriously slowed down as neither side seemed to want to take a chance and the next opportunity didn’t come until the 85^th minute when Keates again provided Logan with a chance and just when it seemed it was going to be 3-2, Knight’s luck continued as his legs got in the way again. However, Darlington had a great chance in injury time to win the match when a mistake in the attack saw Darlington break 4 on 1 against McAuley. Ndumbu-Usungu passed to Carlos Logan who’s shot seemed destined to go in before taking a deflection off Marriott for a corner that came to nothing.