Greens Slip To Semi-Final Heartache

The Greens battled away for much of the contest, but were simply undone by the better side on the night as Lincoln United flexed their title-favourite muscles in front of 237 spectators at The MKM Ground. The Greens cause was no doubt hindered by the absence of a string on ineligible players, and the writing was on the wall after Tobias Liversidge and Jack McMenemy had punched the Whites into an early 2-0 lead, with the Greens woes compounded in the second half through further strikes from Liversidge and McMenemy again which was added to by Ted Gibbons solitary strike.

Player/Managers Tom Ward and Nathan Arnold were forced into five changes from the side that defeated Hucknall Town 2-1 in United Counties League Premier Division North action over the weekend, the headline of which saw Liam Flitton absent after 76 consecutive appearances for the Greens – his place taken by back-up stopper, Liam Tunstall. The other four changes saw the ineligible trio of Latrell Patterson, Jake Henderson and Gregg Smith drop out the side, while the injured Kyle Watkins also missed out. They were replaced by Issa Gaye, Akeel Francis, Max Ward and the returning Tom Siddons who made his first Greens appearance since the quarter-final victory over Holbeach United in November. There were also places on the bench for duel-registered Finlay Armond, winger Kofi Gonsalves and Max Ward who returned after sitting out the weekends encounter with Hucknall through injury. Visitors Lincoln United meanwhile were also forced into changes, five in all, for similar reasons to the Greens. Ify Ofoegbu and Bradley Wells were the victims of ineligibility, while Jack McGovern, Harry Millard and Evan Payne dropped to the bench – the five incomers, Ted Gibbons, Jake Park, Elliott Dye, Tobias Liversidge and Sean Wright.

The Greens began confidently at The MKM Ground and created many of the early half-chances, the most notable seeing Charlie Ward’s effort well blocked by Jake Park on the edge of the box. The Greens first half began to unravel shortly after when Jack McMenemy latched onto a long punt forward, beating the onrushing Liam Tunstall to the touch allowing him to slot the opener into an empty net after 13 minutes.

Just seven minutes later and the Whites had doubled their advantage when Tobias Liversidge was on hand to dispatch a neat direct freekick into the bottom corner beyond the outstretched dive of Tunstall to give the Greens a mountain to climb. That advantage could well have been extended to three as the Whites stretched their muscles, Tunstall this time producing a fine save to deny McMenemy who’d broken free following Ted Gibbons set-up, but for most parts, the Greens continued to keep the Whites at arm’s length, though without offering much at the opposite end of the field.

The Whites continued their onslaught in the early minutes of the second half and they could have added a third when Ted Gibbons broke free but could only scoop into Liam Tunstall’s hands, before the Greens stopper was in action again a minute later, tipping over Tobias Liversidge’s wayward cross. The Whites did not have to wait much longer for their third though – two minutes to be exact – with Gibbons make the most of a ball over the top to slot the ball between Tunstall’s legs and put the Whites out of sight.

The Greens did initially respond quite well though, Tom Siddons forcing Whites keeper Jack Steggles into a fine diving save to deny his powerful strike, but any hints of a comeback were firmly extinguished just before the hour when the Whites bagged their fourth – McMenemy again making the most of a long ball over the Greens backline to steal in and square for Tobias Liversidge to tap home at close range.

With that, the game slowed down a little, though it was the Whites who continued to push for more, Liam Tunstall pulling off another fantastic stop to tip aside Callum Foster’s header, before producing another fine stop at close-range to deny McMenemy who’d been fed through by Ted Gibbons. The Greens continued to fight on though, to their credit, and could well have had one back when Kofi Gonsalves broke into the box only to drag wide, while Ryan Lennon left Leo Priestley in twist only to fire straight into the hands of Steggles. There was still time though for the Whites to add a fifth to apply gloss to the scoreline, and it was the lively McMenemy who bagged it, capitalising upon a tiring Greens back-line to slot comfortably beyond Tunstall and wrap up a convincing victory.

The Greens return to league action this weekend with a quickfire return fixture against last weekends opponents Hucknall Town. Kick-off at the RM Stadium on Saturday afternoon is at 3PM.

Words: Oliver Atkin