Match report: Lincoln City 2-1 Notts County
Lincoln City have finished top of their Checkatrade Trophy group after beating Notts County 2-1 at Sincil Bank on Tuesday night.
An own-goal by Pierce Bird and a stunning late strike from Josh Ginnelly turned the game around, after Jonathon Forte had opened the scoring for County.
The home side could have taken the lead in the 9th minute. Billy Knott curled a ball to the far post from a corner and captain Luke Waterfall powered a header at the net, nearly creeping under Branislav Pindroch, but the goalkeeper managed to keep it and gather the ball.
In the 16th minute, Michael Bostwick made a solid challenge in his own half to allow Knott race forward with the ball. The attacking midfielder then played through Ollie Palmer, who checked back inside and curled a shot from outside of the area just wide of the right post.
Waterfall was looking threatening going forward once more. A free-kick had been headed away by County, but only to Ginnelly who crossed it back into the box for the central defender. However, the captain, who had lost his marker, headed his effort over the bar.
Moments later, the Imps had another chance. Cameron Stewart, who started his first game for the club, could only manage to poorly drag his long range shot wide of the goal.
Despite their early pressure, Lincoln fell behind in the 27th minute. Liam Walker chipped it over the top of the Imps’ defence and Forte dribbled the ball past Josh Vickers and slotted an easy strike into the back of the net to give Notts County a 1-0 lead.
Following a quiet spell in the game, the Imps got back level with an equaliser in the 37th minute. Stewart delivered a brilliant free-kick from the left into the box and Pierce Bird unfortunately headed the ball into the back of his own goal.
The Imps were soon on defensive duty and proved difficult to break down when they made numerous blocks to keep out Notts from grabbing a second, the best of the bunch came when Elliot Whitehouse stuck his leg in the way of a driven shot from Lewis Alessandra.
Lincoln got off to a bright start in the second half, with Knott attacking on the right wing. He put a cross into the box, but Palmer’s header was deflected wide.
In the 54th minute, Palmer got in behind the County defence, pulled it back for Whitehouse, but his left-footed strike was down the throat of the ‘keeper.
Palmer was involved in another attack, however his poor touch allowed Notts to get a block in, followed by a long range effort from Whitehouse which went well wide of the target.
At the other end, Sean Raggett made a tremendous block to stop Jorge Grant from regaining the lead for the visitors, when he cut inside and bent an effort towards the goal.
From the resulting corner, Raggett again got in the way of another shot. Hunt drilled a shot, taking a deflection before it was saved by the legs of Vickers.
Raggett then nearly put his own side ahead when he skimmed the top of the crossbar. The goalkeeper misread a Knott cross and the defender’s header was just a little too high for the goal.
The Imps did get that second goal in the 86th minute, through a fantastic strike from Ginnelly. He cut in from the left and despatched an excellent curling shot into the top right corner to win the game for Lincoln and send them to the top of their group.
That wasn’t the last action, however. Vickers pulled off a great save to deny Jon Stead in stoppage time to keep the scoreline at 2-1 to Lincoln.
Team line-ups:
Lincoln City: Vickers, Long, Waterfall, Raggett, Eardley, Whitehouse, Bostwick (Woodyard, 46’), Stewart (Anderson, 59’), Knott (Chapman, 86’), Ginnelly, Palmer.
Unused substitutes: Farman, Arnold, Dickie, Green.
Notts County: Pindroch, Hunt, Hollis, Bird, Jones, Thompson (Grant, 64’), Smith, Walker, Milsom (Stead, 85’), Alessandra, Forte (Saunders, 73’).
Unused substitutes: Fitzsimons, Hawkridge, Hewitt, Hodge.
