Lincoln City 1 Scunthorpe 0

Last updated : 07 September 2002 By Footymad Previewer

Lincoln City kept among the Division Three leaders after a hard-fought victory over neighbours Scunthorpe.

The Red Imps although second best to United for most of the game, did just enough with the scrappy game decided by a 43rd minute set-piece move. Richard Logan sent over a long throw from the right and the Iron defence was left standing as Ben Futcher nodded home.

Lincoln should have added a second goal in first-half stoppage time when Futcher presented Dene Cropper with the easiest of chances, but the striker sent a weak shot straight a Scunthorpe keeper Tom Evans.

Scunthorpe dominated the second half and midfielder Wayne Graves spurned a good chance to equalise on the hour when he put his shot wide from a good position.

Lincoln keeper Alan Marriott saved bravely at the feet of United's Steve Torpey and then blocked a 77th minute goalbound shot from Nathan Stanton.

United's substitute Jamie McCombe beat Marriott seven minutes from time only to see his header cleared by defender Paul Mayo.

Scunthorpe manager Brian Laws said afterwards: "We had the lions share of the game. I'm disappointed we've ended up with nothing. I thought we defended really well and we had Lincoln penned in their own half for the last 45 minutes.

"Their keeper was man of the match which shows how much we were on top. We got lots of crosses in, but we just couldn't finish them off. I can't fault the players for the effort they put in, we deserved more."

Lincoln manager Keith Alexander said: "We had to hang on in there but in the end we got a decent result, the lads worked well together and I thought we were good value for our win.

"We played some good football at times and we showed plenty of determination."