Report: Grimsby Town 0-0 Lincoln City

As I may have mentioned elsewhere, we were not able to get tickets for the game at Blundell Park yesterday so we settled for the next best thing, the big screen at Sincil Bank. Believe me, it was a surreal experience. My guess is there were about 1,000 of us settled into block six of the Co-op Stand. There was no commentary but we could hear the Imps fans, especially in the second half.

As for the game, Danny Cowley made just the one change from Tuesday evening with Nathan Arnold coming in to face his former club in place of Josh Ginelly. Josh Vickers kept his place between the posts. The teams came out to great cheers from the 7,669 in the ground, of which 1,878 were Imps fans bringing our average away following to over the 1,500 mark for the season to date; that is simply amazing!

The first half started with both sides looking a bit edgy, not wanting to concede the first goal and chances were at a premium. There were a few goalmouth scrambles which came to nothing but then, following a clearance from a Neil Eardley cross, the ball fell to Harry Anderson who fired in a low, hard ball across the six-yard line. It was begging to be poked home but, sadly for all Imps fans, nobody managed to get a foot on it and the chance went begging. Arnold then had a couple of chances, the first blocked by James McKeown in the Grimsby goal and the second went agonisingly wide. Anderson then forced a City corner which was floated in by Sam Habergham to the back stick where Michael Bostwick headed the ball goalwards only to see McKeown grab it firmly. City went in at half-time with the scores level at 0-0 but definitely in the ascendancy.

Half-time: Grimsby Town 0 Lincoln City 0

Anderson was to come close twice in the early stages with a very good run and cross that caused panic in the home box before the ball was hacked clear then McKeown again rescued Town by blocking another effort from Anderson with his legs. City had certainly started the second half as they ended the first and it would, surely, only be a matter of time before they took the lead. Grimsby were not without chances of their own and Martyn Woolford had an effort blocked as did Sam Jones who’s low drive wasn’t good enough to beat the increasingly confident Vickers. Matt Rhead the replaced Ollie Palmer, who wasn’t having as good a game as he did against Barnet earlier in the week, and instantly got involved with some deft touches and flick-on headers. Matty Green then saw a drive miss the post by little. Jordan Maguire-Drew was next to come on, replacing Arnold who received a very good ovation from both sets of fans, and he soon got into the stride of things with some excellent interplay between him and Green before crossing a ball for Bostwick to head, but it went wide again. Another very good cross by Maguire-Drew in the closing minutes was partially cleared but only as far as Bostwick who had two bites of the cherry, his first effort rebounding back to him off McKeown but the second was hit high and wide when we all thought he would notch his first goal for City.

There was still time for Green to feed the ball to Maguire-Drew but his curling shot went narrowly wide, much to the dismay of Imps fans everywhere. So, it finished as it started, 0-0 but I feel Danny Cowley would have been the slightly happier of the two managers. A good performance from the Imps, and I was especially pleased for Josh Vickers who had a very creditable game even though some of his kicking went a bit awry!

Next up, Chesterfield; my wife’s home town team and there is a story here which I will reveal in the preview.

Up the Imps.

Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City FC for the photograph.