Beevers rescues point after dominant second half

By Nathan Jackson
April 9 2007

After falling a goal behind, a dominant second half saw the Imps equalise that to a towering header from Lee Beevers. City were unfortunate not to take all 3 points after several great added on time chances, but City will be thankful for extending the current unbeaten run to 2 games.

City kicked off the game and were the better side in an opening few minutes that was devoid of any chances until the 10^th minute when Ryan Amoo shot wide for the Imps. Mark Stallard failed to reach Eaden’s cross a minute later before then heading header an Amoo centre. Darlington then came close to doing what a lot of team do against the Imps, and that is scored with their first attack on the City goal. That chance came from former City target Blundell, the striker turned well and shot at Marriott, thankfully the keeper kept the shot out of the goal.

 

The game petered out into a midfield battle, with Darlington very rarely getting near the City goal, and City seemed afraid to shoot when they got near the Darlington goal. Darlington won the game’s first corner when Mayo hit the ball out, he received an ear bashing from Alan Marriott despite the keeper not telling Mayo there was nobody near him. Darlington wasted the corner however.

 

After Dany N’Guessan wasted a great chance for the Imps, Joachim broke for the hosts and seemed destined to give Darlington the lead, but he could only shot wide when one-on-one with Alan Marriott. Joachim made no mistake a few minutes later however as Blundell crossed in from the right and the former Boston striker headed past Alan Marriott.

 

Blundell was booked for coming out for a free kick too quickly. Jeff Hughes subsequently hit the free kick over the wall but the ball was easily claimed by Russell. The referee blew the whistle near enough straight afterwards.

 

Darlington almost doubled their lead within 10 seconds of the second half as Neil Wainright burst into the box, only to then fire drastically over the bar. Lee Beevers’ header from a Mayo free kick failed to reach Hughes. Holmes was booked for a push on Blundell before N’Guessan was replaced by Jamie Forrester. Almost instantly the Imps looked dangerous.

 

Within a minute the Imps had created a chance when Green’s cross was volleyed by Amoo, the ball was nervously saved by Russell who had Forrester pressurising him. Mark Phillips fired over from a corner before Holmes was replaced by Mendes. It was at this point that City took complete control of the game and had won a corner within 2 minutes.

 

It was floated in by Hughes and it hit one of the Darlington defender’s arms, the referee decided not to give a penalty though, much to the anger of the Imps’ fans. Horwood was caught from behind by Hughes, the Northern Irishman was booked for the foul. The referee was initially not going to give anything before Horwood complained, Horwood was then booked for dissent.

 

City won another corner which Hughes took, the ball was played to the edge of the 6 yards box and Lee Beevers rose to head in his first goal since the away game at Accrington Stanley. It was a goal that the Imps’ dominance of the second half had deserved.

Darlington quickly responded though but wasted a great chance to draw level. Just a few minutes after coming on, Martin Smith went off for the hosts as he was injured following that Darlington chance. Another City corner almost saw Beevers again head in, but this chance went over the bar.

 

Amoo crossed to Forrester, the striker turned and supplied Hughes with a chance, but unfortunately a defender recovered in time to prevent a goal. Forrester came close to scoring his first goal since the game against Mansfield, but his header was brilliantly saved by Russell. The resultant corner saw Russell save another Beevers header before Mayo’s follow up was again blocked on the line.

 

City thought they had scored again when yet another Beevers header hit the inside of the post, but unfortunately it was judged not to have crossed the line. The same happened again a minute later when a scramble on the goal-line appeared to have gone a few inches over the line, again the linesman ruling it hadn’t crossed the line.

 

The game ended with City making it 2 games unbeaten.