Under-18s reach FA Youth Cup Second Round
Town: Harry Lewis, Ryan Hickman, Ben Burton, Callum Grogan, Jeff Watkins (c), Alex Fletcher, Joe Kenton (Jordan Wilson 64), Niall Flint (Joel Carta 67), Kaiman Anderson, Josh Ginnelly, Tom King (Jacob Farleigh 76)Subs: Callum Roberts, Alex Ashton
Goals: K. Anderson (10, 50, 78, 82) J. Ginnelly (35, 70), N. Flint 44
Lincoln City: Richard Walton, Marlon Grundy (c), Mason Love, Sam Fewkes, Jordon Cooke, Connor Griffin, Jordan Harper, Jenk Acar, Kieran Helsdown (Jack McMenemy 64), Josh Barr-Rostron, Lewis Millington (Matthew Clarke 64)
Subs: Leon Loftus, Calum Stewart, Liam Harris
Referee – Mark Duncan
Assistant Referee 1 – Peter Gibbon
Assistant Referee 2 – Karl Buckley
Fourth Official – Mark Slattery
It was a pretty even opening 10 minutes as both sides tried to get an idea of each other early on. It was a case of differing styles of play with Lincoln looking to get the early direct ball in behind the Town defence while Town were getting the ball down and looking to pass it around to create the openings.
It was Town who took the early advantage when a ball was switched cross field to find Joe Kenton, he was forced wide by the Lincoln defence but showed good awareness to get to the by-line and then drill a low ball back across the face of goal and there was Kaiman Anderson getting in front of his marker and smashing the ball home to make it 1-0 to Town.
Town were also looking to get the defenders up to support the attackers and when Ryan Hickman made a run down the right he chased down the ball to put the pressure on the Imps keeper, he managed to clear and Joe Kenton who had dropped in to cover looked to have things under control, he attempted to clear but it took an unlucky deflection to set Lincoln on the attack but Kenton recovered well and get back to hook in an important tackle to snuff out the Imps attack.
Town were having a lot of success using the space that Joe Kenton was finding down the right and on a number of occasions balls in between the Lincoln defence put Kenton in good positions to attack the visitors. His runs to the by-line and then cutting back the ball into the danger area were causing Lincoln a lot of problems and just needed the important touch at the right time.
Harry Lewis in the Town goal had been having a pretty quiet game but on the 30 minute mark he had to be at his best after a shot was struck towards his top corner but Harry was alert to get up and tip the ball behind for a Lincoln corner. The ball was swung into the Town box and no one really got hold of it to clear, it eventually came to the edge of the Town box where the Harper curled in a decent shot that rattled the Town bar.
Town grabbed a second goal on 35 minutes and it was down to little bit of quality finishing from Ginnelly, the ball came to him in space just outside the Lincoln box and Josh hit a lovely drive that flew into the Lincoln net to give Town a 2-0 advantage with the half-time break fast approaching.
Town finished the half strongly and added a third goal with a minute left on the clock , it came from a lovely corner delivered to the near post by Ginnelly and there was Niall Flint rising well to out a lovely header across the goal and into the far corner to make it 3-0 to Town.
Half-time: 3-0
Lincoln looked to get at Town the restart and started to put some pressure onto the Town goal, but Town quickly turned defence into attack with a quick counter that saw the ball pushed out to Ginnelly, he get his head down and his pace quickly took him on towards the Imps box, their defence tried to push him wide but Josh found the space to hit in a decent effort that flew just wide of the mark.
Town added a fourth goal just before the 50 minute mark and it was another nicely worked goal, this one came after Joe Kenton had got in behind the Imps defence and then cut the ball back across the face of goal and there was Kaiman Anderson to tuck the ball home from close range to make it 4-0.
The home side were piling the pressure on now and had numbers camped in the Imps half, Ginnelly picked the ball up just outside the Lincoln box and then threaded a lovely ball to put Kenton in on goal, he tried to nick the ball past the keeper but Walton had come out quickly and was down to block and deny Town a fifth goal.
Ian Dawes made his first switch of the evening bringing on Jordan Wilson to replace the impressive Joe Kenton on 64 minutes, at the same time Lincoln made a double change with Helsdown and Millington making way for McMenemy and Clarke. Then minutes later Town made a second change with Joel Carta on to replaced Niall Flint.
On 70 minutes Town got their fifth of the evening and it was another well worked finish, this came when Alex Fletcher found space on the edge of the Imps box, he had runners down the right but chose to thread a ball through the defence to put Kaiman Anderson in to space, he took the ball to the by-line and then drilled another good low ball across goal and there was Josh Ginnelly to tap the ball home from close range for 5-0.
With just under 15 minutes remaining Dawsey made his final change of the evening brining on young Jacob Farleigh to replace Tom King.
It was 6-0 on 78 minutes and another for Kaiman Anderson to give him a hat-trick on the night, it came after another good corner from Ginnelly that was headed down and there was Anderson to rifle the ball home for 6-0.
4 minutes later it was 7-0 to Town and again it was Anderson on the scoresheet, this one started with Ryan Hickman down the right, he cut in to the box and then drove another low cross and there was Anderson in space for another tap in for his fourth goal of the night.
Lincoln were looking for a consolation goal and a good ball out from their defence curled in behind the Town defence to give Clarke a run in on goal, he drove in a low shot but Lewis was down quickly to smoother the ball and preserve Town's clean sheet.
Full-time: 7-0
Town will now travel to Tranmere Rovers in the next round of the FA Youth Cup after they beat Oldham Athletic.