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Mariners Net Slender First-Leg Advantage
City went into the clash on the back of a great run against their Lincolnshire neighbours, having won seven and drawn five of their previous 12 home games against Town. It was the visitors who had the better of the early stages though in a surprisingly open first-half which saw the majority of the action packed into a five minute spell halfway through the opening period.
Lincoln were unlucky not to take the lead in the 18th minute though when they had a goal disallowed, shortly after Town's Paul Bolland had been booked for a foul on Scott Kerr. Jeff Hughes swinging a great corner in to the back-stick which Jamie McCombe headed down and through Steve Mildenhall's legs from just six yards out. Referee Lee Mason saw a push by McCombe on Justin Whittle however and chalked the effort off. The break in play seeing Grimsby's veteran right-back John McDermott limping off to be replaced by Gary Croft.
Lightning struck twice for the home side just three minutes later when they had another goal disallowed, this time for offside. Some great work on the right by Francis Green saw the ball come in low for Jamie Forrester whose shot was blocked. The ball rebounding straight to Marvin Robinson who was clearly offside when he chipped his shot past Mildenhall and into the Town net.
Straight from that incident Lincoln went from thinking they had scored twice to being one goal down. Andy Parkinson held the ball up well before laying a lovely reverse pass into the City area for Curtis Woodhouse to run onto. Woodhouse crossed the ball in low across the six-yard box and it was an easy task for Gary Jones to tap home from close range to register his 16th goal of the season.
Bang on the half-hour mark Woodhouse was booked for a push on City's Kerr, then two minutes later Lincoln's Robinson was yellow-carded for going up with his arm in an aerial challenge on Mildenhall. With 39 minutes gone Woodhouse fouled Green on the left by-line. Kerr's free-kick in was only cleared straight to Lee Beevers on the edge of the Town box whose powerful drive was well tipped over by Mildenhall. Right on the half-time whistle Gary Cohen was the fourth player to go in the official's notebook for a cynical foul on Forrester down the left. Kerr sent in another lovely right-footed delivery to the back-post which Robinson flicked on past the Town woodwork from close range, the sides going in at the break with the Mariners holding a slender one goal advantage.
In the 49th minute Town's Bolland sent in a wonderful curling effort on his right foot from fully 30 yards out which he was desperately unlucky to see bounce back out off the City crossbar. Cohen saw his follow-up effort blocked, then Parkinson curled the resultant rebound inches wide of Marriott's far-post from the left-angle of the Lincoln box. Seven minutes later and the home side responded, with Green cutting in well from the right to see his left-footed effort from the edge of the box deflected narrowly wide of the Town far-post by Whittle.
After 59 minutes Forrester tried a speculative lob from 40 yards out, after seeing Mildenhall slightly off his line, it was always going to be a tough ask from there though and the ball drifted harmlessly wide. On the hour-mark City boss Keith Alexander made an attacking double substitution as he brought on the free-scoring Simon Yeo for Green and Lee Frecklington for Beevers. Lincoln had a heavy spell of pressure for a good ten-minutes and they seemed to be denied a good shout for a penalty in the 66th minute when Whittle looked to have got nowhere near the ball when he brought down Robinson in the Town penalty area.
After 68 minutes Grimsby's top scorer Michael Reddy, who has been restricted to appearances on the bench lately due to a groin problem, came on in place of Cohen. With 76 minutes gone Gary Birch entered the fray as Lincoln made their third and final change of the afternoon, Robinson the man sacrificed. Two minutes later ex-Lincoln player Ciaran Toner, who left Sincil Bank under a cloud after a training pitch altercation, came on in place of Junior Mendes for a Town side who were defending strongly while looking to attack City on the break.
Chances were at much more of a premium in the second-half as both sides seemed to tire after the frenetic pace of the opening period. Each team was, as expected, looking dangerous from set-pieces although there was very little else of interest coming from open-play. Lincoln especially not getting the run of the ball at times as it always seemed to fall inches from a City foot and straight to a Town one, the Mariners defending well in numbers.
In the 86th minute substitute Birch skipped past one-time Lincoln centre-half Ben Futcher out on the right, giant defender Futcher bringing down Birch and earning a yellow card for his troubles. City being unable to make anything out of the resultant free-kick. Two minutes later good work between Reddy and Toner for Grimsby saw the ball fed out to Parkinson on the left, the Mariners winger cutting in on his right foot to send a curling effort inches past Marriott's far-post from the edge of the City box.
In the final of three minutes of injury time Lincoln went extremely close to finding a very late equaliser. Hughes swinging in a corner to the centre of the box which Brown headed goalwards, only to see Woodhouse hack the ball off the line at the far-post. His clearance only hammered straight into his own man in Whittle though, with City's Northern Irish international Gareth McAuley hammering the loose ball against the outside of the Town post from close range. The final whistle came shortly afterwards to see the Mariners take an extremely useful 1-0 lead back to Blundell Park for the second leg of the tie on Tuesday night.
Lincoln line-up :
Alan Marriott, Lee Beevers (Lee Frecklington 60), Gareth McAuley, Jamie McCombe, Paul Morgan, Jeff Hughes, Nat Brown, Scott Kerr, Francis Green (Simon Yeo 60), Jamie Forrester, Marvin Robinson (Gary Birch 76).
Unused substitutes :
Paul Mayo, Colin Cryan.
Grimsby line-up :
Steve Mildenhall, Justin Whittle, Tom Newey, John McDermott (Gary Croft 18), Ben Futcher, Curtis Woodhouse, Andy Parkinson, Paul Bolland, Gray Jones, Gary Cohen (Michael Reddy 68), Junior Mendes (Ciaran Toner 78).
Unused substitutes :
Jean-Paul Kalala Kamudimba, Mark Goodfellow.
Referee - Lee Mason (Bolton).
Attendance - 8,037.
Shots on target - Lincoln 6 Grimsby 3.
Shots off target - Lincoln 5 Grimsby 2.
Hit woodwork - Lincoln 1 Grimsby 1.
Offsides - Lincoln 4 Grimsby 0.
Corners - Lincoln 10 Grimsby 4.
Free-kicks conceded - Lincoln 14 Grimsby 16.
Goal - Gary Jones 22 (G).
Yellow cards - Paul Bolland 17 (G), Curtis Woodhouse 30 (G), Marvin Robinson 32 (L), Gary Cohen 45 (G), Ben Futcher 86 (G).
Post-match quotes :
Town manager Russell Slade said:
"I am delighted with the result, we defended very well at key times and were very resilient. I thought we started brightly and the best move of the first twenty-odd minutes gave us the goal, it was a wonderful start.
Lincoln were unlucky not to take the lead in the 18th minute though when they had a goal disallowed, shortly after Town's Paul Bolland had been booked for a foul on Scott Kerr. Jeff Hughes swinging a great corner in to the back-stick which Jamie McCombe headed down and through Steve Mildenhall's legs from just six yards out. Referee Lee Mason saw a push by McCombe on Justin Whittle however and chalked the effort off. The break in play seeing Grimsby's veteran right-back John McDermott limping off to be replaced by Gary Croft.
Lightning struck twice for the home side just three minutes later when they had another goal disallowed, this time for offside. Some great work on the right by Francis Green saw the ball come in low for Jamie Forrester whose shot was blocked. The ball rebounding straight to Marvin Robinson who was clearly offside when he chipped his shot past Mildenhall and into the Town net.
Straight from that incident Lincoln went from thinking they had scored twice to being one goal down. Andy Parkinson held the ball up well before laying a lovely reverse pass into the City area for Curtis Woodhouse to run onto. Woodhouse crossed the ball in low across the six-yard box and it was an easy task for Gary Jones to tap home from close range to register his 16th goal of the season.
Bang on the half-hour mark Woodhouse was booked for a push on City's Kerr, then two minutes later Lincoln's Robinson was yellow-carded for going up with his arm in an aerial challenge on Mildenhall. With 39 minutes gone Woodhouse fouled Green on the left by-line. Kerr's free-kick in was only cleared straight to Lee Beevers on the edge of the Town box whose powerful drive was well tipped over by Mildenhall. Right on the half-time whistle Gary Cohen was the fourth player to go in the official's notebook for a cynical foul on Forrester down the left. Kerr sent in another lovely right-footed delivery to the back-post which Robinson flicked on past the Town woodwork from close range, the sides going in at the break with the Mariners holding a slender one goal advantage.
In the 49th minute Town's Bolland sent in a wonderful curling effort on his right foot from fully 30 yards out which he was desperately unlucky to see bounce back out off the City crossbar. Cohen saw his follow-up effort blocked, then Parkinson curled the resultant rebound inches wide of Marriott's far-post from the left-angle of the Lincoln box. Seven minutes later and the home side responded, with Green cutting in well from the right to see his left-footed effort from the edge of the box deflected narrowly wide of the Town far-post by Whittle.
After 59 minutes Forrester tried a speculative lob from 40 yards out, after seeing Mildenhall slightly off his line, it was always going to be a tough ask from there though and the ball drifted harmlessly wide. On the hour-mark City boss Keith Alexander made an attacking double substitution as he brought on the free-scoring Simon Yeo for Green and Lee Frecklington for Beevers. Lincoln had a heavy spell of pressure for a good ten-minutes and they seemed to be denied a good shout for a penalty in the 66th minute when Whittle looked to have got nowhere near the ball when he brought down Robinson in the Town penalty area.
After 68 minutes Grimsby's top scorer Michael Reddy, who has been restricted to appearances on the bench lately due to a groin problem, came on in place of Cohen. With 76 minutes gone Gary Birch entered the fray as Lincoln made their third and final change of the afternoon, Robinson the man sacrificed. Two minutes later ex-Lincoln player Ciaran Toner, who left Sincil Bank under a cloud after a training pitch altercation, came on in place of Junior Mendes for a Town side who were defending strongly while looking to attack City on the break.
Chances were at much more of a premium in the second-half as both sides seemed to tire after the frenetic pace of the opening period. Each team was, as expected, looking dangerous from set-pieces although there was very little else of interest coming from open-play. Lincoln especially not getting the run of the ball at times as it always seemed to fall inches from a City foot and straight to a Town one, the Mariners defending well in numbers.
In the 86th minute substitute Birch skipped past one-time Lincoln centre-half Ben Futcher out on the right, giant defender Futcher bringing down Birch and earning a yellow card for his troubles. City being unable to make anything out of the resultant free-kick. Two minutes later good work between Reddy and Toner for Grimsby saw the ball fed out to Parkinson on the left, the Mariners winger cutting in on his right foot to send a curling effort inches past Marriott's far-post from the edge of the City box.
In the final of three minutes of injury time Lincoln went extremely close to finding a very late equaliser. Hughes swinging in a corner to the centre of the box which Brown headed goalwards, only to see Woodhouse hack the ball off the line at the far-post. His clearance only hammered straight into his own man in Whittle though, with City's Northern Irish international Gareth McAuley hammering the loose ball against the outside of the Town post from close range. The final whistle came shortly afterwards to see the Mariners take an extremely useful 1-0 lead back to Blundell Park for the second leg of the tie on Tuesday night.
Lincoln line-up :
Alan Marriott, Lee Beevers (Lee Frecklington 60), Gareth McAuley, Jamie McCombe, Paul Morgan, Jeff Hughes, Nat Brown, Scott Kerr, Francis Green (Simon Yeo 60), Jamie Forrester, Marvin Robinson (Gary Birch 76).
Unused substitutes :
Paul Mayo, Colin Cryan.
Grimsby line-up :
Steve Mildenhall, Justin Whittle, Tom Newey, John McDermott (Gary Croft 18), Ben Futcher, Curtis Woodhouse, Andy Parkinson, Paul Bolland, Gray Jones, Gary Cohen (Michael Reddy 68), Junior Mendes (Ciaran Toner 78).
Unused substitutes :
Jean-Paul Kalala Kamudimba, Mark Goodfellow.
Referee - Lee Mason (Bolton).
Attendance - 8,037.
Shots on target - Lincoln 6 Grimsby 3.
Shots off target - Lincoln 5 Grimsby 2.
Hit woodwork - Lincoln 1 Grimsby 1.
Offsides - Lincoln 4 Grimsby 0.
Corners - Lincoln 10 Grimsby 4.
Free-kicks conceded - Lincoln 14 Grimsby 16.
Goal - Gary Jones 22 (G).
Yellow cards - Paul Bolland 17 (G), Curtis Woodhouse 30 (G), Marvin Robinson 32 (L), Gary Cohen 45 (G), Ben Futcher 86 (G).
Post-match quotes :
Town manager Russell Slade said:
"I am delighted with the result, we defended very well at key times and were very resilient. I thought we started brightly and the best move of the first twenty-odd minutes gave us the goal, it was a wonderful start.
"Obviously we were disappointed not going up automatically, that really hurt us. Lincoln are a strong team and keep battering sides until they find a weakness."
Lincoln boss Keith Alexander added:
"I'm disappointed with the result but I was quite pleased with the performance. We had a lot of the ball and had one or two chances but it wasn't our day.
"I thought we were on top of our game, I thought they were hanging on, we had a couple disallowed and we hit the bar and post in the last minute. Obviously it is difficult going to Grimsby 1-0 down but we will go there and attack."