By Nathan Jackson
March 18 2006

City lost for the first time 2006 after a Marvin Robinson wondergoal wasn't enough for a lacklusture Imps' side. Joachim and Dudfield scored the vital goals but it will be a derby game that will be remembered for the all the wrong reasons after an incident just before the Imps' goal.

City started the game well and won a free kick within seconds of the kick off when Francis Green tumbled under a challenge. Shock, horror, Yeo’s offside when the free kick’s taken and we’re back to square one. Boston brought the ball down to the Lincoln end but failed to trouble Marriott when Dudfield sent a weak shot wide of the goal. Birch had City’s next chance but was guilty of not taking his time as he shot from 25 yards and the shot went wide of the target, if he’d have taken his time, he’d have realised that he was through 1 on 1.

 

City won the game’s first corner, Robinson’s delivery fell to Birch who fed Green but Kuipers stood up to the challenge and kept the ball from entering the net. Boston started attacking the Imps’ goal and won 2 quick corners and only a scramble in the box saw the ball eventually fall to McCombe who cleared the ball. However, the ball quickly returned and Peter Till shot goalwards from 20 yards but Marriott easily collected the ball.

 

Beevers won the ball brilliantly from Joachim but his pass was too strong for Green and the ball ran out for a throw in. After 7 minutes without nothing happening, Till again tested Marriott but the keeper easily saved the shot. Nat Brown, again covering for the injured McAuley cleared well from former Imp, Lawrie Dudfield. However, the striker proved pivotal in the 26^th minute when Mayo fouled Till, the hosts took the free kick, an UNMARKED Dudfield headed goalwards, it hit the ball and bounced the feet of Joachim who had the simple task of putting the ball home from all of a yard (I hope Yeo was watching that).

 

Yeo could have equalised within a minute if he had bothered to jump for an almost perfect centre from Steve Robinson and then all Yeo did was moan at Robinson instead of chasing a ball that was less than a yard behind him and Kuipers took his time (not for the first time this afternoon) and easily claimed the ball. Yeo’s usual dive came from the “challenge” of Alan White but Boston were awarded a free kick when Beevers fouled Gary Silk, a foul that had Steve Evan’s jumping out of his dugout and acting like there was no haggis left.

 

The 2000+ travelling supporters thought the Imps had equalised 5 minutes before half time when Scott Kerr’s corner floated over Kuipers and then hit the net, however, it was the behind of the net and it remained 1-0 to the Pilgrims’ going into the break.

 

During the break, Frecklington replaced Steve Robinson. Yeo hit a volley wide almost immediately after the restart before Frecklington fouled Holland. It didn’t take long for the first yellow card of the afternoon when Talbot fouled Cryan. Kerr hit the free kick but when it was clear, the referee stopped the play because of a Boston player laying clutching his face on the ground. Interestingly enough though, halfway through, he started clasping the back of his head as if the “pain” had shifted.

 

City started putting their hosts under a bit of pressure and several players came close with half chances. The best came when Green sent in a cross and Birch headed wide, Yeo went mental at his fellow striker for not knowing he was there, despite the fact that Yeo didn’t shout of anything. However, Yeo was very quiet just a minute later when he was tackled by Silk but Yeo went down and stayed down, after a fair bit of treatment, Keith Oakes signalled he wouldn’t be able to take anymore part and Marvin Robinson replaced him, however, that wasn’t the end of it. As Yeo was on the stretcher, appearing not to be moving, Boston fans decided to start throwing things at him and spitting at him, and you call yourselves “football fans”.

 

Anyway, 20 seconds later and Green crossed in the ball and with his first touch, Marvin Robinson produced a stunning acrobatic effort that sailed past Kuipers and sent the York Street End in raptures as 2000+ Imps fans went absolutely mental, it was a stunning goal and easily the best scored by an Imps’ player so far in 2006. City started to control the game and Lee Frecklington almost put the Imps into the lead soon after when he shot from an acute angle and it just went wide of the post.

 

Beevers excellent cross was caught easily by Kuipers as no Imps’ players challenged for the ball. Then came the moment when all Imps’ fans knew that they weren’t going to win the game as Martin Gritton made his usual cameo appearance as he replaced Birch. Holland was replaced by Thomas for the hosts.

 

What’s this? Boston are in our half? Surely not? Really? Boston finally got into the Imps half when Thomas ran at Cryan and got past the defender but he recovered quickly enough to block the subsequent shot. Just like it had done last week, the introduction of Gritton had changed the game as Boston decided to start attack the goal and Beevers prevented a likely goal with his perfectly times tackle, it fell to Joachim who raced down the wing and forced Marriott into a save and out for a corner.

 

That corner was floated in by White and after a mini-scramble, the former Imp Dudfield popped up and smashed the ball in to make it 2-1 in the 4^th minute of injury time. 3 more minutes went by but the Imps were unable to create any opportunities and City’s undefeated run in 2006 came to an end.