A dominant display saw Lincoln United annihilate Glossop North End by five goals to nil as they continue to climb the Northern Premier League table.

The game had a mixture of everything, standout performances, academy debuts, goals galore and even a cameo from the brother of Timothy Fosu-Mensah, the Manchester United defender.

From the first whistle, as if a white and red striped switch was detonated, the game erupted into life.

Throughout the whole game, The Whites never gave their opponents a second to relax, with Jack McMenemy shooting wide after a smart move from Matthew Cotton just minutes into the game.

Relentless pressure from Rob Smith in the 11th minute caused a mistake from left back Arash Ahmadi, which led to United’s first corner of the game, and their first goal.

Set piece specialist Matt Cotton floated a delicate ball into the box, which was half cleared by Glossop, then headed back into the mix by Callum Foster, and McMenemy was the quickest to the second ball and managed to finish smartly past Dale Latham in goal.

Lincoln United terrorise Glossop’s defence. | Photo: Lincs Photography

Sam Wilkinson’s men were not finished there. Just two minutes later, after a smart ball into the channel from Harry Millard, both Cotton and George Asplin showed incredible tenacity to force defender Devon Matthews into another mistake in which Cotton pounced, and finished with a smart chipped shot over the onrushing keeper.

The two goals then set a precedent for the rest of the match, with United in total control.

It seemed as if they were able to pick and choose their moments to strike at the heart of the nervy Glossop defence, and with absolute precision. Surprisingly to some, the third goal didn’t arrive until just before half time.

With again, The Whites controlling proceedings, and playing some fantastic one-touch football at times. Ice-cool Cotton played orchestrator once again, as he sent a ball into the box which found the feet of McMenemy, who blasted past Latham to bag his second of the game and put United three to the good.

After half time, it was a question of, how many could they get? The answer? Two more, but it could’ve been twelve more.

United’s fourth came from wonderful individual play from Matthew Cotton, once again. Combining with Rob Smith down the right wing, he somehow managed to dance his way into the box, leaving defenders in his wake.

However, his original attempt was well saved by the goalkeeper, yet unsurprisingly, he was the quickest to the rebound, and managed to bag his second of the game too.

Matthew Cotton slots two past Glossop. | Photo: Lincs Photography

As for Glossop, the highlight of their outing was arguably Alfonso Fosu-Mensah’s cameo. Short, and relatively sour.

Yet, he posed the biggest threat to Lincoln United’s clean sheet throughout the game, with a few touches in the box, the closest any Glossop player got to keeper Michael Antkowiak the whole game.

17 year old Andy Janssen scores to make it 5-0. | Photo: Lincs Photography

Lincoln United’s fifth was no doubt the sweetest of the lot. After coming on for Rob Smith with 15 minutes to go, this was a real chance for academy prospect Andy Janssen to make a name for himself, against a very penetrable back four.

To no one’s shock, Matthew Cotton was directly involved again, collecting the ball at the top of Glossop’s 18-yard box and playing a searching ball, in the direction of Janssen.

The 17-year-old striker then confidently slotted the ball into the bottom corner, thus ensuing manic celebrations between himself and some fans in the crowd.

The win ensures Lincoln United and Matthew Cotton especially keep their five-star form up, as they look to chase the pack at the top of the league.

The win sees them climb into 8th with a visit from league leaders Loughborough Dynamo at home, on Saturday, November 7.

October 12, 2020 9.00 am This story is over 40 months old

Lincoln United Women’s kicked off their league campaign in style with a dominant 17-1 win over Sherwood FC, sending a big statement to the rest of the division.

The Whites dominated the possession of the ball throughout the whole game and it was very clear from the start that Sherwood would find it very difficult to keep up with Lincoln.

It only took four minutes for Abbie Murrell to register her first league goal of the season. A great run by Frankie Wilson from the right wing was completed with a pinpoint cross to Murrell, who showed her class with a brilliant touch and finish past the keeper.

Lincoln United Women’s scored 17 goals against Sherwood FC. | Photo: Lincs Photography

Against the run of play Sherwood’s striker Hannah Stredder broke away from the Lincoln defence after collecting a loose ball and confidently struck the ball past Rosie Davidson in the Lincoln goal to gain an early equalizer.

Lincoln quickly regained the lead from a Frankie Wilson cross which conveniently looped right over the Sherwood keeper’s head.

The second goal seemed to take the bite out of the Sherwood players as Lincoln United dominated the rest of the play.

It did not take long for Lincoln to score their third, three minutes after the second goal. Lauren Churcher’s through ball to Murrell left her one on one with the keeper again, only this time she decided to take the ball past her and slot it into the empty net.

It only took 20 minutes for Murrell to complete her hat-trick and score Lincoln’s fourth goal of the game. Murrell showed some tidy dribbling on the edge of the box before hitting a powerful low driven shot into the corner of the goal, leaving the keeper with no chance of saving the attempt.

At 4-1 up after 20 minutes it was always going to be a long game for Sherwood especially if Lincoln kept up the same intensity throughout the rest of the game.

Churcher nearly opened up her goalscoring account for the season in the 22nd minute with a well struck free-kick which clipped the post. However, four minutes later Churcher made no mistake with a curling attempt into the far post from the edge of the box after some smart link-up play between herself and Demi Barai.

Abbie Murrell certainly had her shooting boots on in this game as she struck a powerful longshot from 30 yards out into the top right corner of the Sherwood goal which was applauded by both sets of supporters.

The Whites found great joy from longshots and exploited this all game.

The skipper Kirsty Dalzell saw a deflected shot on the edge of the box from Barai land in front of her stride as she struck a sweet long-range effort past the Sherwood keeper to make it 7-1 after 33 minutes.

Lincoln were awarded a penalty in the 39th minute after the Sherwood keeper brought down Churcher in the box. After winning the penalty, Churcher stepped up and slotted a cool penalty in the bottom-left corner and grabbed her second of the game.

United managed to score two more goals before half-time, another long shot from Murell and a Churcher header, completing her hat-trick, saw the whites go into the break comfortably at 10-1 up.

A fantastic performance from Lincoln United Women’s. | Photo: Lincs Photography

Lincoln made a few changes at half-time to freshen up the squad.

The Whites managed to keep the high intensity that they had in the first half with an early second-half goal from Churcher. She found space on the edge of the box before striking a long-range shot underneath the crossbar to claim her fourth goal of the game and Lincoln’s 11th.

One of the second half substitutes, Olivia Smith, stamped her mark on the game with a long-range shot into the roof of the net with just her first few touches of the ball in the 55th minute.

Another second half substitute, Amie Barnes-Ford, added to the scoresheet as she took the ball past the keeper and confidently finished from close range.

Tracey Duxbury-Mead scored her first goal of the season after another pinpoint cross from Frankie Wilson and she took her time before slotting the ball through the keeper’s legs from close range.

In the 85th minute another substitute, Millie Seaton, followed in Holly Newman’s shot that bounced off the post to grab Lincoln’s 15th of the game.

Duxbury-Mead and Murell scored two goals late in the 90th minute to complete a dominant performance from the Whites in the opening league game of the season.

Sherwood battled hard in the first ten minutes, but Lincoln United’s quality showed after the second goal went in as they scored 15 without reply.

Lincoln United are hoping to continue their fine start to the league with an away trip to Sleaford town in their next game.

Report by Nathan Matthie

Meanwhile, Lincoln United men’s first team won 6-0 at Sutton Coldfield.

The Whites produced a ruthless display to score three goals in both halves.

The result means Lincoln seal their second win in style in the Northern Premier League south east division this season.

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