Lincoln City 0 – 2 Alfreton Town
A home defeat to Alfreton Town in the FA trophy sends Lincoln City out of the competition. A goal from Luke Graham in the first half and Tom Shaw in the second ensured the visitors of the victory that sends them through to the next round.
The 1st half was kicked off by Lincoln, who looked to capitalise on their opponents who currently lie eight places below them in the Vanarama Conference.
The Imps soon gained a foothold in the game and started to dominate possession. They created their first real chance in the 10th minute when centre back Hamza Bencherif found himself on the edge on the Alfreton box. A creative turn saw space open up for the big man who whipped a right footed shot at goal, which goalkeeper George Willis saved down to his left.
Alfreton rarely threatened until the 21st minute when Cliff Byrne was fouled by City’s Marcus Marshall on while running down the right hand touchline. Tom Shaw swung a deep cross into the box which fell to Anthony Howell, who’s shot was saved by Farman but fell to the feet of Town captain Luke Graham, who slid the ball home from 6 yards out.
Looking to respond immediately however Lincoln pushes forward looking for the equaliser. They came close when Sean Newton’s cross was met by the head of Marcus Marshall, only for goalkeeper Willis to save at his near post.
As Lincoln maintained the majority of possession though, Bryne remained a threat down Alfreton’s right side winning another free kick in the 40th minute. A lovely curled delivery from Tom Shaw met the head of Bryne who’s effort hit the post.
As the second half began the home team looked to come out flying and they nearly scored within a minute of the restart. Their best chance of the game came when Newton’s darting run down the left and cross into the box was headed in by Marcus Marshall, only to be ruled out for a foul on the keeper, much to the home fans’ dismay.
Lincoln followed their attacking threat up soon after when a nice passing move between Alan Power and Marcus Marshall resulted in a lovely ball through to Ben Tomlinson who found himself one on one with Alfreton keeper, Willis. A poor first touch let the striker down though as Willis was able to smother the ball.
City’s great first half start was followed by a spell of possession with lackluster end product as Alfreton seemed happy to counter-attack behind their one goal lead.
In the 63rd minute Alfreton doubled their lead as a swift move forward left John Johnston running at the scrambling Lincoln defence and his pull back found Tom Shaw in acres of space, who proceeded to smash the ball past Paul Farman from eight yards out to make it 2-0.
As Lincoln maintained possession they continued to fail to create chances. As the final whistle blew it was Alfreton who head into the next round of the FA Trophy as Chris Moyses’ Lincoln City side crash out.
Manager Chris Moyses said: “It’s very disappointing, feel we got bullied. We needed to be a bit more physical against them.
“They’ve come to make a mark and we’ve not stood up to it. Simple as that.”
Teams:
Lincoln City: Farman (GK), Caprice, Miller, Bencherif, Newton, Adams, Nolan, Power, Marshall, Tomlinson, Burrow
Alfreton Town: Willis (GK), Wood, Rowe-Turner, Courtney, Graham, Bradley, Howell, Shaw, Hawley, Bryne, Johnston
Attendance: 1243 (45 Away)
Referee: Craig Hicks