Gary Simpson’s Lincoln City drew 1-1 tonight with Gateshead at Sincil Bank.
After a slow first half, the Imps took the lead through Tom Anderson shortly after the break.
He put his head right where it hurt as he rose to meet Tomlinson’s corner early in the second half to score his first goal for the club.
The lead lasted for less than ten minutes as Wright stabbed in as a corner found its way to him at the far post.
The game began very slowly with both teams trying to gain a foothold on the game. But Lincoln’s game plan was working as Gateshead struggled to play their free flowing football.
However, the visitors looked the most potent through Michael Rankine. The powerful winger created a lot of chances, but the Lincoln defence kept them out.
Towards the latter ends of the first half the game opened up and chances fell to both teams.
Lincoln’s best chance of the game came through Marshall who was brought in for the suspended Jordan Burrow. He was picked out by Tomlinson, before he flashed his shot just wide of net.
Gateshead ended the half the strongest drawing good saves out of Nick Townsend. The best came through Alex Rodman, whose low effort was well saved by the Imps goalkeeper.
In the second half Lincoln came out the stinger team and created a number of opportunities. The first came through Tomlinson who curled a free kick just wide. Delano Sam-Yorke then created a golden opportunity for Karl Ledsham.
Sam-Yorke fizzed a ball across the face of the goal but Ledsham couldn’t find the finish.
Lincoln continued to press and eventually found the opener through Tom Anderson. Tomlinson sent over a teasing corner, which was met by the head of Anderson. His first goal for the Imps during his loan spell from Burnley.
Lincoln continued to press for a second but their lead didn’t last long. Within 10 minutes Gateshead were level.
After successive corners taken by former Everton and Reading midfielder John Oster, one eventually found itself to Danny Wright.
Wright poked the ball past Townsend to draw the game level.
Shortly after, Ledsham had the easiest chance of the game. Sam-Yorke battled well with the Heed’s defenders and played another ball across the visitors six yard box. But Ledsham missed the target to the shock of the Imps faithful.
In the last 10 minutes either team could’ve won it. Gateshead’s substitute Lewis Guy was denied a certain goal after a fantastic block by man of the match Anderson.
The Imps had one last chance to win and it fell to Hamza Bencherif. Another Tomlinson corner caused trouble for the Gateshead defence and this time was met by Bencherif whose powerful header was saved low by Bartlett.
Attendance – 2,394 (56 visitors)
Gary Simpson’s Reaction:
“I thought it was a good advert for the league. I thought there were two good sides. We knew what they were going to do, we know how they play and we tried to press them. We knew they would come through us sometimes but we thought we kept our shape pretty well. I thought we put them under pressure and created some chances against them and we just needed that second one to make us a bit comfortable.”
“We were a bit unlucky with their corner, I think it just came off somebody and bobbled up and spun to someone at the back stick as he got away from Tom. But overall I think it was a good performance.”
Player Ratings:
- Nick Townsend – 6 – Didn’t have a lot to do and made some good saves when he was needed.
- Tom Miller – 7 – Very solid performance from the right back. His long throws were a constant threat and not a lot got past him.
- Nat Brown – 7 – Looked solid at the back and worked well with Anderson. Shut out a lot of Gateshead chances.
- Tom Anderson – 9 – He was the stand out performer of the game. Very good in the air and on his feet. Scored the opening goal and hardly ever got beaten. (LincSport man of the match)
- Tony Diagne – 6 – Looked fairly solid defensively and put some good crosses into the box.
- Arnaud Mendy – 7 – Strong in the middle of the pitch and helped gain control of the game.
- Karl Ledsham – 6 – Missed some fairly easy chances and could’ve scored the winner. Apart from that he had a solid match.
- Hamza Bencherif – 7 – Big presence in the middle of the pitch. Strong in the air and had a few chances.
- Marcus Marshall – 7 – He had a good game, looked quite creative and had a good game.
- Ben Tomlinson – 8 – His set pieces were very good. He was good on the ball and created good chances for his teammates.
- Delano Sam-Yorke – 8 – He worked tirelessly and caused the Gateshead defence a lot of problems. He created good chances for his teammates and played very well.
Subs:
- Alan Power – 6 – He was only on the pitch for a few minutes so couldn’t really have an impact on the game.