Lincoln City will need to rely on a Tuesday night replay against Guiseley if they are to progress into the FA Cup first round draw, after a frustrating 0-0 draw at Sincil Bank.
After a cagey opening 5 minutes, the Imps found their rhythm and were unlucky not to be one nil up. Jack Muldoon and Matt Rhead combined nicely in the opposition’s penalty area but Guiseley goalkeeper Dan Atkinson made a convincing save to keep out the shot on 7 minutes.
15 minutes later, it was man of the match, Harry Anderson that Atkinson was denying. The 19 year-old, on loan from Peterborough, cut in from the right hand side and unleashed a powerful effort towards the Guiseley net.
The best chance for the visitors came three quarters of the way through the first half and it fell to Jake Cassidy. The Welsh striker found himself through on goal following a precise through ball from team mate Jordan Preston but couldn’t manage to beat Paul Farman in the Lincoln goal.
As the half wore on, the game petered out in goalmouth action and Lincoln had to rely on speculative efforts from distance. However, six minutes from the half time whistle, Anderson had his appeals waved away after his shot seemed to hit the arm of Simon Walton in the box.
During half time, the sun managed to come out from behind the clouds but it wasn’t to be a sunny end to the game for Lincoln.
On the 55th minute mark, Lee Beavers managed to find Muldoon with a long ball. The tricky attacker then managed to find Anderson lurking on the edge of the Guiseley box and after setting himself, the teenager had his shot parried out by Atkinson.
The next ten minutes seemed to be played in midfield, with the Guiseley defence managing to keep out everything that was thrown their way. This wasn’t to stop Alex Woodyard though. The midfielder took a Guiseley clearance on the half volley and was unlucky to see it float a few feet over the bar with half an hour to play.
Up to this point in the game, the discipline of both teams had been at a high level and the clumsy challenges were at a minimum. Bradley Wood stopped the trend with 15 minutes to go with a cynical tackle that made referee, Karl Evans, brandish his yellow card for the first time of the afternoon.
With time running out for the Imps to grab a late goal and see them through to the FA Cup first round, they turned to new striker Theo Robinson to try and conjure a goal up.
The former Watford and Derby forward impressed in the final 15 minutes of the game and was unlucky not to find a winner. Robinson found himself in space in the Guiseley box but his shot seemed to be blocked by an arm. For the second time in the game, City were denied a penalty and they will now have to chance their luck at Nethermoor Park on Tuesday.
After the game, Imps boss Danny Cowley, said: “We lost our way for a little period in the first twenty minutes, we couldn’t find our rhythm.”
“In the second half, I couldn’t have asked much more from the players in terms of their efforts and in terms of a game plan.”