UniBond League Division One South
Ashby Avenue, Hartsholme, Lincoln
Saturday, 11th October 2008, 3.00pm
Rovers Make A Point On The Road
Gresley Rovers visited Lincoln hoping to get their stuttering season going and were within five minutes of grabbing all three points.
Things got off to the perfect start when a mistake from Lincoln's keeper Mario Ziccardi on two minutes handed them an early lead.
From a free kick by Oliver Hancock Ziccardi tried to puch the ball clear but it clattered one of his own defenders and the ball fell at the feet of David Blenkinsopp who smashed the ball home at the far post.
On 12 minutes United went close but Gio Carchedi's shot on the turn went well wide and minutes later they went close again this time when a low cross from Luke Forbes just eluded Ben Good at the far post.
Just after the half hour mark Rovers' keeper Simon Baldwin had to be alert to tip a cross from Carchedi over the bar.
The visitors had the better of the chances to go in at the break in the lead with Louis Briscoe firing fractionally wide and ??? Machin having to head Blenkinsopp's cross over his own bar.
Within 10 minutes of the second half starting Briscoe had a chance to increase Rovers' lead when he was put through by Carl Slater but the striker somehow managed to put his shot over the bar from 12 yards out.
The action switched to the other end with Carchedi curling a superb effort just past the far corner with Baldwin beaten.
Good went close to levelling putting his header from Machin's cross just wide
Jamie Hood then started a rapid response from the visitors sending Robbie Banks down the right. Banks then picked out Briscoe on the edge of the box but again the final shot flew disappointingly over the bar.
United thought they'd equalised on 65 minutes when a linesman's flag ruled out McDaid's headed goal for offside.
Rovers began to defend deep as the home side pressed forward with Hood having to head a dangerous looking ball away for a corner. The resultant flag kick fell to Wilkinson who fired straight at Baldwin who did well to block the attempt.
United got the equaliser their pressure deserved with just five minutes left on the clock. A corner by Scott Lowman found Sam Wilkinson at the near post who steered the ball into the net.
With normal time finished Rovers thought they'd grabbed a late winner when Jamie Barrett powered home Sam Wilson's free kick only to have the goal ruled out for a harshly judged offside.
Manager's View
"We had a great start and you could see what that goal meant to the players, but when you score that early it leaves you a long time to sit on it.
"We tried to get the second goal and, frustratingly, we had two big chances in the second half which I would have backed Louis (Briscoe) to put away.
"In fairness, they looked dangerous late on after bringing Wilkinson on and it was he who got the goal - though I don't think he knew too much about it as it seemed to hit him more than anything.
"We defended better today, but we were unhappy with the defending in the last 15 minutes as we were dropping deeper and deeper, but at least we didn't concede a goal due to an individual error as we have done in the last few games.
"We were a bit wasteful going forward and things are not quite clicking, but after three straight defeats, we have stopped the rot."
