Report | Lincoln City

Despite dominating for much of the game, City were forced to settle for a share of the spoils against Bury at Gigg Lane on Tuesday evening with the game ending up one apiece

After Ollie Ryan, in for his first start of the season, crashed an 11th minute effort against against the crossbar, things certainly livened up as, from Bury's first real attack three minutes later, debutant Hamza Bencherif tripped Nicky Adams in the the box. Up stepped Andy Bishop from 12 yards only for Alan Marriott, for the second successive game, to produce another great save.

It took City just five minutes to respond and respond they did as a slick piece of build-up play ended with Louis Dodds and Steve Torpey combining before the latter laid the ball into the path of Scott Kerr. The City skipper then proceeded to pull the trigger from 25 yards with his excellent drive flying past the fingertips of home 'keeper Jim Provett before crashing into the top left corner for his first of the season.

It wasn't long before Bury brought themselves level though and they did so in spectacular fashion. The equaliser came after Marriott raced off his line to clear a hopeful punt forward from the home defence only to see his clearance land at the feet of Paul Scott. The Bury man did the rest as, after he brought the ball under control just inside the City half, he lashed it goalwards. There was nothing the backtracking City defenders could do as the ball bounced once before nestling in the back of the net.

The closest either side came after the break was when Paul Green crashed an effort against the post following a neatly-worked free-kick and although the draw brought the five-game losing run to an end, manager John Schofield will probably feel as though his players did enough to come away with maximum points.

Match report by John Vickers at Gigg Lane:

Manager John Schofield threatened to ring the changes following Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Wrexham and that's what he did for this Coca-Cola League 2 encounter against Bury at Gigg Lane.

Out from the 11 who started at the Racecourse Ground were Adie Moses, the suspended Gary Croft, Jamie Forrester and Mark Stallard and in came new loan signing Hamza Bencherif, Ryan Amoo, Ollie Ryan and Steve Torpey. With the obvious exception of Croft, the others found themselves on the bench alongside Dany N'Guessan.

The formation from the off was 5-3-2 with Amoo and Green either side of Bencherif, Brown and Beevers at the back, Hand and Kerr in the middle with Ryan, Torpey and Dodds up front; the latter once again finding himself in a free role allowing him to drift between attack and midfield.

City got the game underway and immediately won a succession of throw-ins down their left. None came to anything though, although Torpey will feel aggrieved not to have won a free-kick from one of them as he was clearly held down by ex-Imp Ben Futcher.

The game was three minutes old when good work from Ryan saw him force the first corner of the game but Kerr's delivery was intercepted at the near post whilst, after Bury intercepted another City move forward, a mistimed challenge from the Imps' skipper on Andy Mangan saw him receive a ticking off from referee Michael Oliver.

New boy Bencherif's first contribution was to concede an eighth minute corner after a cross came in from the Bury right and after City dealt easily with that danger, Ryan forced former Imps' skipper Paul Morgan to concede a throw-in on the Imps' right.

The lively Ryan was at the centre of things again in the 11th minute when he gained control in the box before creating room for himself. There was a narrow angle for him to aim at but he proceeded to lash the ball goalwards only for it to crash against the underside of the bar before bouncing out to safety.

City were continuing to dominate but Bury certainly made the most of their first foray forward as, in the 14th minute, a turn of pace from Nicky Adams on the left saw him forced debutant Bencherif into a mistimed tackle. Referee Oliver was on the spot and promptly pointed to the spot.

So, for the second successive match, Alan Marriott - who has appeared more times for City against Bury than any other player in the Club's history - was up against a penalty and, just as he did against Wrexham, proved to be up to the challenge as he produced an excellent stop from Andy Bishop before Nat Brown headed the loose ball out for a corner.

To be honest, the goal was nothing more than City deserved following a more than encouraging opening and they had a chance to double things three minutes later when they won a free-kick a few yards outside the box. It was Kerr again who set his sights but on this occasion Provett managed to get in a block before Louis Dodds was flagged offside as he latched on to the loose ball.

Five minutes after the Imps edged themselves in front Bury brought themselves level in spectacular fashion.

The equaliser came after Marriott raced off his line to clear a hopeful punt forward from the home defence only to see his clearance land at the feet of Paul Scott. The Bury number two did the rest as, after he brought the ball under control just inside the City half, he lashed it goalwards. There was nothing the backtracking City defenders could do as the ball bounced once before nestling in the back of the net.

The following quarter of an hour or so was pretty scrappy, although as far as attack-minded moves were the case City were certainly looking the more likely to net the third goal of the game.

It almost went the other way though as a cross-cum-shot from the Bury right was spilled by Marriott but Bencherif was on hand to hammer the ball out and, as it clipped a home player play restarted with a throw-in to the Imps.

Two minutes of added time failed to produce anything of note so it was one apiece as the teams went in for their respective half-time chats.

HT: BURY 1 IMPS 1

No changes were made during the break and it was the hosts who got the second period underway, attacking the end behind which sat the travelling City supporters.

Ninety seconds after the restart Andy Mangan fired wide from an angle on the right whilst, from the Shakers' next attack, the Bury man looked to be accidentally tripped by Bencherif. Not so according to referee Oliver who, after awarding the hosts a free-kick, promptly brandished a yellow card to the Nottingham Forest loanee.

Bishop drilled the resultant free-kick into the City wall before it bounced out for a corner and the Imps' backline were happy to hack the ball to safety after the flag-kick was played into the danger area.

The Imps looked to respond through Torpey who put home 'keeper Provett under enough pressure for him to slice out for a throw-in - on another day the ball would have landed at the City striker's feet but it spun away wickedly before bouncing over the white line.

Shortly afterwards a Dodds chipped centre was headed away from under his bar by Futcher and just after the hour mark referee Oliver eventually gave a decision Torpey's way as, not for the first time, he was held down as Futcher went up to win a header.

The 64th minute set-piece was a well-worked training ground effort and with Bencherif acting as a decoy the ball was laid off by Amoo and Kerr to Green only for the latter to see his low right-foot drive crash against the left hand upright before Brown was flagged offside as he looked to get on the end of the loose ball.

A Dodds 25-yarder then saw Provett fling himself to his left before clutching at the second attempt whilst at the other end Bencherif had to be alert to clear his lines after Brown gave possession away to Mangan.

Midway through the second half Bencherif made way for Adie Moses at the back and shortly after this switch referee Oliver spotted something that everyone else in the ground didn't as he awarded the home side a free-kick a couple of yards outside the box. Fortunately for City, Mangan made a hash of things and Dodds cleared for a throw-in.

Good pace from Ryan saw him draw a 71st minute foul from Colin Woodthorpe, which earned the Bury left-back a yellow card. After Kerr floated the free-kick in, it was headed back across by Brown before brave goalkeeping by Provett at the feet of Green saw him do well to claim the ball. He required treatment for his troubles.

With Provett back on his feet, Andy Bishop made way for Glynn Hurst for the home side and shortly after this switch a long-range volley from Green saw Provett do well to claim the ball under his bar.

With a quarter of an hour on the clock, Mark Stallard replaced Steve Torpey in a straight swap up front for the Imps whilst Bury's response saw David Buchanan come on for Brian Barry-Murphy three minutes later.

A third and final change for City saw Lee Frecklington replace Louis Dodds as the clock ticked into its 82nd minute and shortly after this switch the ball was nicked off Stallard's boot by Futcher as he prepared to turn and shoot after bringing the ball under control with his chest.

A surging run forward from Frecklington then saw him dragged to the ground from behind by Scott only for referee Oliver to deem the challenge to be fair and waved play-on.

It wasn't long before City pressed again with Amoo winning a corner which led to a throw-in on the opposite side and when this was hurriedly hacked clear a crude challenge on Amoo by Woodthorpe gave the Imps a chance from a free-kick on their right. Woodthorpe escaped a second yellow card and after Kerr swung the ball in Frecklington saw his low drive clip a team mate before going out for a goal kick.

At the other end, and with just 90 seconds on the clock, Beevers was on hand to clear the ball after Adams escaped the offside trap. City's reply saw Brown fly in to head a Kerr free-kick wide of the mark in the first of three added minutes whilst Scott picked up a deserved yellow after holding the shirt of Kerr as the pair tangled in the centre-circle.

A City corner in the dying stages which was headed behind by Futcher proved to be the final action of the game with City having to settle for a share of the spoils despite dominating for the majority of the game.

The draw did, however, bring the five-game losing streak to an end with the Imps quite rightly receiving a warm reception from the 175 travelling fans at the final whistle.

FT: BURY 1 IMPS 1

MATCH FACTS

LINCOLN CITY
1 Alan MARRIOTT
14 Ryan AMOO
2 Paul GREEN
6 Nat BROWN
5 Lee BEEVERS
25 Hamza BENCHERIF
11 Scott KERR
26 Jamie HAND
19 Louis DODDS
10 Steve TORPEY
18 Ollie RYAN

subs
4 Adie MOSES (for BENCHERIF 68)
9 Mark STALLARD (for TORPEY 75)
7 Lee FRECKLINGTON (for DODDS 82)
8 Jamie FORRESTER
17 Dany N'GUESSAN

GOAL: KERR (19)

BOOKING: BENCHERIF (48)

BURY
1 Jim PROVETT
2 Paul SCOTT
3 Colin WOODTHORPE
4 Ben FUTCHER
5 Dave CHALLINOR
6 Paul MORGAN
7 Steve HASLAM
10 Andy BISHOP
11 Brian BARRY-MURPHY
16 Nicky ADAMS
19 Andy MANGAN

subs
9 Glynn HURST (for BISHOP 73)
12 David BUCHANAN (for BARRY-MURPHY 78)
8 Richie BAKER
14 Andy PARRISH
20 James DEAN

GOAL: SCOTT (24)

BOOKING: WOODTHORPE (71), SCOTT (90+3)

MATCH OFFICIALS

REFEREE: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
ASSISTANTS: Steve Cook & Steven Rushton
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Steve Creighton

ATTENDANCE: 1,690 (175 City supporters)