Harrogate Town vs Lincoln City - Match Report

Lincoln run riot at the Exercise Stadium

After a swift four-day turnaround from the 4-1 defeat to Championship side Sheffield United, it was yet another gruelling pre-season test for Town as League One opposition Lincoln City came away 4-0 victors in our penultimate home pre-season fixture. Two goals within 10 minutes meant an uphill battle for Weaver’s men in which the Imps proved too strong for with two late goals via Draper and Street.  

Town’s fourth pre-season game saw Lincoln City, our opponents in the first round of the Carabao Cup visit the Exercise Stadium in our penultimate home friendly ahead of the 2024/25 Sky Bet League 2 campaign.

Head Coach Simon Weaver opted for a reshuffle in the starting line-up, with just Foulds, O’Connor, Thomson, and former Lincoln man Jack Muldoon retaining their places from the starting team that faced Sheffield United on Tuesday.

As for the visitors, new signing George Wickens and Sean Roughan were the only changes from an otherwise unchanged side for the Imp’s from their previous game against Oldham.

Showcasing our impressive new third kit, Town made an exciting start to the match, putting in a strong defensive display early on to nullify oncoming Lincoln threats, with Duke-Mckenna clearing away an early corner and early pressure from Muldoon forcing Wickens to frantically clear the ball into the stands.

But it was the visitors who struck first merely five minutes into the 90, with Dylan Duffy holding off the Town defence to put Lincoln in front following a strong run to evade Town defenders and find the bottom right corner.

Three minutes later, the Imps' young player of the season, Sean Roughan, doubled Lincoln's lead by finding the roof of the net after striking a volley off the back of a Town deflection from a delicately weighted cross by Tom Bayliss.

Despite holding a two-goal deficit, Town grew as the half progressed with goalkeeper James Belshaw displaying composure to skilfully evade an onrushing Lincoln player within his own six-yard box. This kickstarted fluid passing from the back, with Cornelius threading a precise ball to Muldoon, who then found Thomson. However, Town gained no reward for this as Thomson's long-range effort from the edge of the area sailed just over the bar.

On the stroke of half-time, Town still couldn’t find a way through as well as Lincoln squandering a chance to close out the half when Darikwa failed to connect with an oncoming cross from the left.

Lincoln boss Michael Skubala made two changes after the half-time break, bringing on Jack Moylan and Freddie Draper in place of JJ McKeirnan and Ben House. Weaver waited until the 61st minute to introduce his substitutes, making six changes to try to inject some new life into the game and get some pre-season minutes in the tank for the squad.

With Town's fresh blood keen to make an impact the game started to open up. The substitutes created promising chances for Thomson down the right wing, while Josh March looked exciting through the middle with energetic runs and commanding tackles.

On the 75th minute the visitors put the game beyond Town’s reach making it 3-0. A loose ball from Town created space for Street to storm forward into the box, providing an easy pass for Draper to tap into an unguarded net which tripled Lincoln’s lead.

Ten minutes later, another error by Town on the edge of the area left Street clear on goal, allowing him to score the Imps' fourth goal to kill off the game.

Weaver’s men will have an opportunity to turn things around against the Imps on August 13th in the Carabao Cup. They now turn their attention to Middlesbrough’s visit to the Exercise Stadium on Wednesday evening, our final home match of pre-season.