Lincoln City were involved in a local derby of a pre-season friendly against Gainsborough Trinity at Sincil Bank on Saturday, July 28th.
With two pre-season games already under their belt, you would expect Lincoln City to have a rhythm about their play. However, the first ten minutes were somewhat nervous for the Imps, with stray passes all over the field.
Soon enough, City found their stride and settled into the game, boosted from great performances from all of the defence.
The game turned into a battle of the midfields with chances coming few and far between for both sides and a lot of ball retention in the middle of the park.
However, Lincoln soon broke through the Gainsborough defence, Alan Power made a terrific solo run into the box. He was soon brought down by a defender and the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. Up stepped Rob Duffy, who sent the keeper the wrong way to make it 1-0 to Lincoln on the 39 minute mark.
Both teams continued to push forward for the remainder of the half but to no avail.
At half time, the board at Lincoln City Football Club drew a winner from the ‘Name Our Stadium’ campaign. The winning ticket number was 2085 and the new name for the stadium and associated media will be announced within the next week.
The second half of the game followed a similar pattern to the first with few chances between the sides and the ball being played mainly in midfield.
Gainsborough equalised midway through the second half via a header from substitute, Darryl Stamp, following a break by Trinity.
Once again, the game returned to a midfield battle with not many chances coming from either side.
The game finished Lincoln City 1-1 Gainsborough Trinity, with both teams seemingly satisfied with the draw.
Player Ratings
Paul Farman – 8
Solid performance from the keeper. Unlucky to have conceded but played a solid game.
Dan Gray – 7
Good performance keeping the wingers at bay. Played well in central midfield once Power was substituted.
Andrew Boyce – 9
The Linc Sport’s Man of the Match: Great game in defence, consistently winning balls. Great vision, reactions and tackling.
Graham Hutchinson – 8
Also a very solid performance is defence. Lacked positioning at times but recovered well when needed to.
John Nutter – 6
Good performance from the left-back. Unlucky to have the goal from his side of the pitch. Good attacking play and a great free-kick late on.
Gary Mills – 7
Great performance from the central midfielder. Controlled a lot of the game when Lincoln were on the ball. Key to the midfield.
Alan Power – 6
Showed glimpses of brilliance such as the lead up to the goal, but also showed lack of positioning at vital times.
Adam Smith – 8
Great wing-play on the left, providing some good runs and good crosses. Had great pace and determination and linked up well with Taylor
Peter Bore – 6
A good performance on the right wing but was somewhat anonymous in the game.
Rob Duffy – 7
Showed great composure to score the penalty for the Imps but didn’t get many more chances in the game.
Jamie Taylor – 7 – Great link-up play on the left with Smith. Had some good attempts on goal. Maybe a goal would have done his performance justice.