Lincoln. City 3, Plymouth Argyle 2
City made it two home wins in a row to start the season with a 3-2 win over Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.
A goal in the first half from Tom Bayliss and a second half brace from James Collins (pictured above) set City on their way to victory.
Argyle staged a late fightback with strikes inside the final 15 minutes from Owen Oseni and Xavier Amaecui, but their hopes of rescuing a point were ended when Brendan Wiredu received a second yellow card for simulation.
Michael Skubala made four changes to the side that defeated Harrogate Town in the Carabao Cup last Tuesday, with Freddie Draper rewarded for his strike against the Sky Bet League Two side with a start.
George Wickens returned in goal, with James Collins named in the attack. Meanwhile, Conor McGrandles was selected to make a milestone 150th appearance for the Imps.
City took the lead on six minutes after Bayliss capitalised on some hesitant Argyle defending to rifle home a low first-time effort from the edge of the box.
City doubled their advantage on 59 minutes when Reeco Hackett won back possession on the left flank and stood the ball up for Street at the far post. He forced an excellent reflex save from Ashby-Hammond, but he could only push the ball out to Collins, who capitalised on the rebound from close-range.
Seven minutes later, City had the chance to put further daylight between themselves and the visitors when Wiredu handled in the area and was shown a yellow card. Collins stepped up from the spot and made no mistake, sending Ashby-Hammond the wrong way to make it 3-0 to the Imps.
The Imps were well in control and could’ve added a fourth when Ben House saw his powerful drive beaten away by the keeper, before Street saw the rebound blocked.
The visitors pulled one back with 12 minutes left when Amaecui played Oseni through on goal and he kept his cool to slide the ball past Wickens to make it 3-1. And just seconds later, it was 3-2, when Amaecui bent the ball into the far corner inside the final 10 minutes.
Argyle were piling on the pressure in pursuit of a leveller, but their task was made harder with four minutes to go, when Brendan Wiredu was shown a second yellow card for simulation, after going down in the area, with that effectively ended his side’s hopes of grabbing a point.
City head coach Michael Skubala conceded the end of the match was more nervy than it needed to be, but praised City for the character they showed to get over the line and quality on display to put themselves into such a commanding position.
“For 70 minutes we were fantastic. We had complete control of the game and the lads executed the gameplan brilliantly.
“We knew how they were going to try and play and we knew how we could hurt them and the first goal was ‘on-script’ in that regard.
“We had complete control of the game and were deservedly ahead. We made it a little bit harder than it needed to be at the end, but we got over the line with the three points.”
Picture: Vaughan Photography
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