A goal from Nat Brown during the second half was enough to see City's second string defeat Sheffield United reserves at Sincil Bank this afternoon.

A single goal from defender Nat Brown, and an excellent performance from goalkeeper Ayden Duffy, saw City's reserves record a hard fought win against the Blades' second string.

Included in the City line-up was Gillingham's Aaron Brown whilst Selby Town striker Bruno Holden got another chance to impress, having played for the second string three weeks ago against Hartlepool United. New loan signing Alex Morfaw was also handed a starting place following his arrival from Scunthorpe United.

Match report by James Lazenby at Sincil Bank Stadium:

On a cold but sunny afternoon it was the visitors who started the more brightly of the two sides when a through-ball from central midfielder Jordan Eagers looked to have put striker Dean Oliver clear on goal after just three minutes, but Ayden Duffy was quick to react to the situation and smothered the ball on the edge of his area.

A minute later and the visitors created their first attempt on target. Some excellent build up play from Eagers in the middle of the park and left winger Keith Quinn saw the latter square the ball to Oliver who was free in the box, but his shot was parried away to safety by Duffy.

From the resulting corner right back Adam Chapman found himself unmarked at the back post but volleyed his effort well wide of the target.

Seven minutes into the half and a Nat Brown free kick saw Owain Warlow pick the ball up on the left hand side of midfield. The Welshman played the ball into the box but Ollie Ryan was beaten to the ball by goalkeeper Jamie Annerson.

Ollie Ryan was in the action again just a few minutes later when his curling shot on the edge of the 18-yard box had the Blades' goalkeeper beaten, but his shot flew inches over the bar.

Fifteen minutes on the clock and after some good work from midfielder Lee Hendrie, the England international played the ball out wide to full back Travis Binnion who cut inside and struck what looked to be a goal bound effort from the edge of the box. However, Duffy was quickly down to his right and pulled off a great save to keep the scores level.

City's defence came under some more pressure from the visitors but the back four kept solid throughout the barrage, with the commanding Duffy performing well.

With 26 minutes gone the Blades forced two successive corners, but Duffy was there once more to relieve the pressure for the Imps by collecting the second corner.

Duffy had trialist Aaron Brown to thank in the 33^rd minute after his interception in City's penalty area prevented Oliver from opening the scoring. Brown's clearance ran out for a throw-in which was taken quickly by the Blades. A cross into the area by Keith Quinn was met by the oncoming Liban Abdi but his low effort was magnificently saved by Duffy. The deflection fell into the path of Lee Hendrie whose fierce low drive from eight-yards looked to be heading for the back of the net only for Duffy to yet again make a great save.

With five minutes remaining until the interval, some neat interchange down the left saw a cross from Travis Binnion met by Nicky Law in the box, but his header was easily collected by Duffy.

It was City who finished the stronger of the two sides when a deep cross from Warlow was kicked out for a corner. The set piece was cleared only to Nat Brown on the edge of the box who played the ball wide to Ollie Ryan. Ryan jinxed past one defender and delivered a cross to Liam Bull who was unmarked in the area, but the youngster fired over from an acute angle.

HT: IMPS RES 0 SHEFFIELD UNTIED RES 0

Both sides were unchanged as they came out for the second half and the Imps forced their second corner of the game almost straight from kick off. Dany N'Guessan, who had had a quiet first half, used his pace down the right flank to force a corner. Warlow took the corner but the ball was easily cleared by the Blades' defence.

52 minutes gone and the Imps, who had defended on the back foot for the majority of the first half, took the lead. Ollie Ryan was brought down five-yards outside the visitor's box. Warlow whipped in a dangerous cross into the six-yard area and NAT BROWN was the first to react and took a touch before placing the ball past the goalkeeper into the bottom corner of the net.

Five minutes after the restart and the tall figure of Goran Slakovski came off the bench to replace Liban Abdi, and his first touch almost saw him set up the visitor's equaliser after he nodded the ball down from a free kick into the path of the on-rushing Nicky Law. However, Law couldn't keep his effort down and the ball fizzed over the bar.

The Imps were beginning to settle following the goal and loanee Aalex Morfaw was starting to pull the strings in midfield.

Dany N'Guessan made way for scholar Gary King just after the hour mark and in the same minute the referee produced his first card for the afternoon; a caution to City trialist Bruno Holden for a professional foul.

Gary King's first real contribution to the game saw him put Liam Bull clear on goal but goalkeeper Jamie Annerson did enough to deflect the ball out for a corner with his legs.

The game started to become somewhat open with City's opponents pushing for the equaliser, but the Imps stayed solid and focused. In search for that leveller, the visitors made another change with Dean Oliver making way for Aymen Tahar with 20 minutes to go.

The final ten minutes saw a number of changes made by both sides with Jordan Eagers replacing Kyle Walker for the visitors and Kern Miller and Martin Pembleton coming on for Nat Brown and Bruno Holden.

The visitors forced some late pressure but the City defence kept resolute, with Kern Miller making two vital defensive clearances.

FT: IMPS RES 1 SHEFFIELD UNTIED RES 0

MATCH FACTS

LINCOLN CITY RES
1 Ayden DUFFY
2 Jamie McCORMACK
3 Aaron BROWN
4 Adie MOSES
5 Nat BROWN
6 Liam BULL
7 Dany NGUESSAN
8 Alex MORFAW
9 Bruno HOLDEN
10 Ollie RYAN
11 Owain WARLOW

subs
12 Gary KING (for N'GUESSAN 62)
15 Martin PEMBLETON (for HOLDEN 87)
16 Kern MILLER (for Nat BROWN 89)
13 Ross CHERRY
14 Adam HEWITT

GOALS: BROWN (52)

BOOKINGS: HOLDEN (62)

SHEFFIELD UNITED RES
1 Jamie ANNERSON
2 Adam CHAPMAN
3 Travis BINNION
4 Jordan EAGERS
5 Maxime CHANOT
6 Sam WEDGBURY
7 Nicky LAW
8 Lee HENDRIE
9 Dean OLIVER
10 Liban ABDI
11 Keith QUINN

subs
16 Goran SLAVKOVSKI (for ABDI 56)
15 Aymen TAHAR (for OLIVER 71)
12 Kyle WALKER (for EAGERS 80)
13 Marc FURNIS
14 Matt LOWTON

MATCH OFFICIALS

REFEREE: D Coote
ASSISTANTS: N Hair and M Swift
FOURTH OFFICIAL: C Barraclough