Lincoln City played out an entertaining 0-0 draw at home to Plymouth Argyle in the first round of the FA Cup this Saturday afternoon. Even though there were no goals there were a few chances for both sides but the tie will now be settled on the 19th Of November at Home Park in Plymouth.
For this match Imps boss Gary Simpson was able to recall Paul Farman in goal behind the settled back line of Miller, Boyce, Brown and Newton. Jordan and Nolan were picked in front of the defence with Wright the lone striker with Tomlinson, Power and Jackson the three supporting the striker. Mo Fofana was back on the bench for this match as he has fallen out of favour with Simpson for a while now for an unknown reason.
The stadium observed a minutes silence before the match kicked off for Remembrance day, I am glad to say this was well observed by the fans and players alike. It was a cold but sunny November afternoon which good conditions for this FA cup match. Referee Scott Duncan got the game under way with the Imps kicking off attacking the South stand.
The match started brightly with both sides desperate to attack and put the opposing side on the back foot, early corners for Argyle saw no real attempts at goal and Lincoln like wise attacked well in the wide areas, Newton in particular, but were also unable to create any clear chances in the early phases of the match. Jackson was given free kick duties from 30 yards out as Tomlinson was fouled, sadly his effort was in no danger of testing the goalkeeper.
Jackson had a hopeful appeal for a penalty turned down after he went down just inside the box, the ref was unmoved and waved play on, there was a slight push it really wasn`t enough to warrant the attacker falling to the ground so dramatically. The best attacking move of the half came from Imps left back Newton, he ran forward with his usual power and went past players before cutting into the edge of the box, he unleashed a powerful drive from the angle but it went narrowly over the bar. Newton again proving to be the Imps best attacking option.
The match came to half time with Newton putting a good corner into the box, the ref blew for a free kick as their keeper collided with his own player clutching his head, this was the end of the action in the first half, entertaining but it was all to clear why both of these sides are struggling to score goals in the league.
Both sides emerged from the half time break unchanged, but the weather had taken a change for the worse with dark clouds rolling in with heavy rain from the North of the City. Plymouth got the second half under way attacking the South stand, away from their travelling support who were in the Stacey West for this game.
Imps striker Nick Wright had the first effort in the second half, picking up the ball in space before advancing, sadly he elected to shoot instead of play the ball into space down the right flank, his effort was blazed well over the bar. With half an hour of the match remaining the visitors made the first switch of the match with new loan signing Obadeyi coming on in place of Boco in attack. Power fouled the new man on the edge of the box to pick up a yellow card, the resulting free kick was low and Farman was able to claim it and take his time restarting the game.
Miller was cautioned for a foul on Alessandra, shortly before this foul the forward had an effort saved by Farman to ensure the game remained level. The Imps boss Gary Simpson made his first change with Jake Sheridan coming on in place of Jackson, this saw Tomlinson move over to the left side with Sheridan playing on the right. The second imps changed followed shortly after with Mo Fofana returning to action as he came on to replace Nolan in a straight swap, that like the previous change didn`t change the style of play of the Imps.
The matched entered the final ten minutes with both sides struggling to create any clear chances, the Imps made their third and final change with Bohan Dixon getting his usual ten minute run about in place of Wright who had had a poor second half after impressing with his work rate and closing down in the first. This was yet another straight swap with no change in formation.
Argyle looked the stronger in the final moments of the match but as has been the case for both sides lately the goal eluded them, corners were won bit these resulted in no clear chances for the visitors to capitalise on. The ref blew the final whistle on a fairly even affair with both sides just unable to score a decisive goal that would have won the tie.
An entertaining game overall but the same problem exists for the Imps, no real cohesion in the final third, the formation seems to have been persisted with for too long with no changes form the manager. Once again the two full backs were the best attacking players for the Imps, Newton was man of the match for me and is proving to be a great signing, it worries me where we would be going forward without this superb attacking and creative full back.
The replay will be played a week on Tuesday at home Park, a very long journey for amid week game, hopefully there will be a decent crowd and the Imps haven`t missed their chance of a cup upset.
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