Imps 3 Leicester 3
The Imps and Leicester City shared six goals at Sincil Bank Stadium on Monday evening, but the first half performance by the men in red and white will have certainly sent out plenty of positive signs for the Lincoln faithful.
City blazed their way into a 3-0 half-time lead when some excellent football saw Lee Frecklington, Scott Kerr and Jamie Forrester all find the back of the net.
Leicester came out all guns blazing after the break though and within four minutes of the restart, had pulled two back through Chris O'Grady and substitute Elvis Hammond.
The Imps made wholesale changes during the second period, making it difficult to get any pattern to their play during the final quarter, but it took a misdirected header by Phil Watt which floated agonisingly into his own net 12 minutes from time to ensure the game ended all-square.
Match report by John Vickers at Sincil Bank Stadium:
Baking summer sunshine greeted the two teams as they made their way out of the tunnel for this pre-season friendly against Championship outfit Leicester City at Sincil Bank and, unsurprisingly, it was a relatively quiet start with both sides taking their time to settle into the conditions.
Leicester forced the first corner of the game with ex-Imp Gareth McAuley, who linked up with the Foxes following a couple of seasons with City almost scrambling home from six yards after the game's first corner went the visitors' way.
The Imps started proceedings operating a 4-3-3 formation and a neat one-two in the 14th minute between two of the front men - Jamie Forrester and new signing Mark Stallard - saw the latter come close to latching onto the ball but Leicester stopper Rab Douglas was quick off his line to deny the former Notts County front man.
City were using their midfield well in the opening stages with Lee Frecklington in particular seeing plenty of the ball alongside and it was the Lincoln-born playmaker who broke the deadlock with 18 minutes on the clock.
The goal came when some neat interplay between trialist Ryan Amoo, Forrester and Stallard ended up with Frecklington letting fly from 25 yards. His drive was powerfully hit and Leicester 'keeper Douglas' attempt to palm the ball over the bar proved fruitless as the ball bounced under the bar before dropping into the net, rather that over it as Douglas had hoped.
Four minutes later it was 2-0 when another excellent piece of football - this time involving Danny Bacon and Scott Kerr - ended up with the latter slotting neatly home from 8 yards. Good vision from Bacon saw him flick the ball with the outside of his boot into the path of Kerr and, after skipping over a challenge from Alan Sheehan, calmly slotted the ball into the corner of the net.
Leicester looked for a quick response and Lee Beevers did well to divert a Josh Low centre behind for a corner whilst at the other end good persistence from Stallard saw him force the Imps' first flag-kick.
In the 32nd minute, City were handed a great chance to make it 3-0 when a throughball from Frecklington saw Stallard bear down on Douglas. Stallard used all of his experience to wrong-foot the former Celtic 'keeper who could do nothing but drag the City striker to the deck. Penalty.
Jamie Forrester was the man entrusted with the spot kick and his struck the penaty well, but Douglas was up to the challenge, diving low to his right to palm the ball away. On hand though was Forrester and his follow up effort was powerful and fizzed straight through the legs of Douglas
Leicester's frustrations were starting to get the better of them and a late challenge by Chris O'Grady on skipper Adie Moses shortly after the restart forced referee Andy Woolmer to have words with the former England Youth International. Moses, meanwhile, was none to happy with the reckless tackle.
Seconds before the break a deep centre from Colin Cryan led to a second City corner but
At the break Alan Marriott, Luke Foster and Paul Mayo were introduced for Simon Rayner, Adie Moses and Jeff Hughes and Marriott's first touch was to pick the ball out of the net after Chris O'Grady slid the ball into an empty goal after a ball from the right cut the Imps' back line open.
Leicester came out all guns blazing and two minutes after pulling a goal back, Marriott was picking the ball out of his net again when O'Grady and substitute Elvis Hammond combined with the latter rifling the ball into the roof of the net from eight yards after O'Grady swung the ball in from the left.
This double strike forced Director of Football John Deehan to leave his seat in the stand to join Head Coach John Schofield on the bench. It was all change on the pitch in the 63rd minute when eight City changes made for a complete change to the Imps' side that started the game.
Hammond (twice) and Louis Dodds both had good chances to level matters, although credit must go to Alan Marriott for doing well to divert a low drive from the latter who had only been on the pitch for a couple of minutes after replacing O'Grady.
Ex-Imp McAuley then had an effort ruled out for offside after a Leicester corner was partially cleared by the Lincoln back line and it took a great saving challenge from Luke Foster to deny Momo Sylla a run on goal after the pacy striker got the wrong side of the City youngster.
At the other end Ollie Ryan came within inches of making it 4-2 when he drilled the ball just past the post from 12 yards on the angle after being picked out by Gary Birch. Seconds later, Leicester dragged themselves back on level terms.
The equaliser came when a cross from Hammond landed on the head of first year pro Phil Watt in the 78th minute. His attempted header back to Marriott, however, was misdirected and floated agonisingly into the top left corner, nestling in the bottom of the net via the inside of the post.
In the final minute of the game, a good block by a combination of Watt and Andy Toyne kept out Hammondand after a minute or so of added time, referee Woolmer brought an end to an entertaining pre-season friendly.
LINCOLN CITY
13 Simon Rayner
17 Colin Cryan
24 Jeff Hughes
4 Adie Moses
2 Lee Beevers
11 Scott Kerr
7 Lee Frecklington
25 Ryan Amoo
9 Mark Stallard
10 Danny Bacon
22 Jamie Forrester
subs:
1 Alan Marriott (for Rayner h/t)
3 Paul Mayo (for Hughes h/t)
21 Luke Foster (for Moses h/t)
8 Gary Birch (for Forrester 63)
15 Martin Gritton (for Stallard 63)
18 Ollie Ryan (for Bacon 63)
27 Leon Mettam (for Amoo 63)
28 Jamie Sherlock (for Kerr 63)
29 Andy Toyne (for Frecklington 63)
30 Phil Watt (for Cryan 63)
31 Tom Kemp (for Beevers 63)
Goals: Frecklington (18), Kerr (22)
LEICESTER CITY
1 Rab Douglas
2 Patrik Gerrbrand
3 Patrick Kisnorbo
4 Alan Sheehan
14 Gareth McAuley
16 Josh Low
8 Gareth Williams
6 Stephen Hughes
11 Levi Porter
19 Chris O'Grady
7 Iain Hume
subs:
13 Conrad Logan (for Douglas h/t)
10 Momo Sylla (for Low h/t)
18 Elvis Hammond (for Hume h/t)
20 James Wesolowski (for Williams 61)
9 Louis Dodds (for O'Grady 66)
Goals: O'Grady (47), Hammond (49), Watt (og 78)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Andy Woolmer
Assistants: Martin Dexter & Craig Evans
Fourth Official: Martin Chester
Attendance: 1,578 (313 visiting supporters)
i was about to have a bad day at work tommorow
, hopefully RK gave a good half time teamtalk, if he did it worked!!
