Lincoln City Football Club

There were three changes to the City starting line-up for this Skrill Premier game at Gateshead with Nat Brown, Charlee Adams and new youth loanee Koby Arthur replacing Luke Foster, Dan Gray and Danny Rowe.

City kicked off and both teams took their time to settle into proceedings with the opening 10 minutes spent mainly in the middle third with the high number of throw-ins being a notable early statistic.

The first goalmouth action came in the 12th minute when Nick Townsend was able to smother a cross into the box after Todd Jordan was pulled up for a foul close to the touchline.

Townsend easily held the game's first effort at goal, which came via Craig Baxter from 25 yards on the quarter hour mark, whilst a foul on Josh Walker by Jake Sheridan saw James Marwood force Nick Townsend to palm out for a corner. John Oster's low delivery was fired well wide by Jamie Chandler though.

A very scrappy opening period continued with neither goalkeeper severely tested as the half-hour mark came and went so it was a goal out of nothing which opened the scoring; a 34th minute cross falling to Jack Lester who duly swivelled before volleying on the turn past Townsend from just outside the box.

Ten minutes later Gateshead doubled their advantage when Chandler met another centre from the home left and, with the linesman's flag staying down, he easily volleyed home.

HT: GATESHEAD 2 IMPS 0

Whilst the home side emerged unchanged, there was a switch for the Imps at the interval with Jon Nolan replacing Koby Arthur.

The change paid immediate dividends when, less than two minutes after the restart, Sheridan advanced down the right and after his low effort was palmed away by Adam Bartlett, there was NOLAN to blast the loose ball into the roof of the net.

Play switched to the other end where Lester was felled by Thierry Audel who earned himself a booking for his troubles.

Audel almost made amends when he fizzed a volley a foot over the bar whilst from th next attack Miller had a shot charged down before a scramble saw the hosts somehow clear the lines.

City had created more in the opening 10 minutes of the second half than in the entire opening period and shortly after the hour mark Ben Tomlinson won he first corner with Newton's deep delivery seeing Brown muscled out by Ben Clark.

Gateshead's first change saw Rob Ramshaw replace John Oster in the 63rd minute and from a City free-kick seconds later, Jordan prodded over after a free-kick caused problems for the home defence.

Carl Magnay for Josh Walker was Gateshead's second substitution, this coming before Brown was forced to defend a quick break forward which saw JJ O'Donnell skip pst the challenges before setting up Chandler.

City continued to enjoy the better of the second half with the hosts bringing on Ryan Noble for the tiring Jack Lester in the 73rd minute before Tomlinson and Mendy were crowded out by the home defence.

Tomlinson's frustrations got the better of him shortly afterwards when a needless tug on Curtis's shirt saw him pick up his 15th booking of the season. Curtis was also cautioned for squaring up to the City man.

Two minutes later Gateshead restored their two-goal advantage when, after skipper Clark surged forward, passes were exchanged before substitute Noble found the top left corner of Townsend's net.

A cynical block on Sheridan earned Clark a booking as the Imps looked for a response with Bartlett tipping over Newton's resultant free-kick. Before the corner was taken and headed wide by Miller, Danny Rowe replaced Jordan.

Just before the Fourth Official indicated that a minimum of three minutes were to be added on, Audel was shown a straight red following a challenge on Chandler with the Frenchman looking despondent as he trudged to the dressing room.

FT: GATESHEAD 3 IMPS 1