Liverpool beat Imps in dull encounter

By Nathan Jackson
August 16 2006

2 first half Liverpool goals were enough to beat the Imps but Imps' concerns are towards Marriott who limped off. City did eventually pull one back with one of their few shots on goal but if it hadn't been for substitute goalkeeper Rayner then the Imps would have lost by a lot more.

Mark Gonzalez opened the scoring for the Imps after around 20 minutes when he and Idrizaj linked up well to beat the Imps defence and Gonzalez smashed the ball home from close range to send more than half the crowd into raptures. A few minutes later and Imps' keeper Alan Marriott went off with a visible limp and he was replaced by Simon Rayner. It was a mistake by the Canadian keeper just before half time when he watched Antwi's header come back off the bar and didn't react quickly enough and Idrizaj headed past a motionless Rayner.

City made it 2-1 just over 20 minutes from the end when the Liverpool keeper misread a header back from his own defender, Semple knocked it past him and then into the back of the net to bring the Imps' back into the game but City failed to create enough pressure to get a 2nd. At the other end however, Rayner was single handedly saving the Imps with an impressive string of saves.

It finished 2-1 to Liverpool but was a pretty even game throughout, the only difference being Liverpool's defence as City struggled to get any chances of goal.