Seven wins out of eight since Christmas has returned a feel good factor to The Scholars Ground – but the fact that they even had the chance to play the game was down to some amazing efforts by the ground staff.
The pitch had already suffered heavy rain during a midweek cup tie with Walsall and torrential overnight rain on Friday saw the ground staff at work from the early hours on Saturday morning to even get the game through an early morning pitch inspection.
That was passed but a thunderstorm and hailstorm in the half-hour before kick-off made for further headaches and many staff and supporters manned pitchforks and cricket outfield machinery to soak up the latest downpour.
Kick-off eventually came 15 minutes late, still in pouring rain, and Lincoln were the first to draw blood with an 11th minute left-footer from Sean Cann that fizzed past Ryan Price into the corner of the net.
Nick Wellecomme had an early effort ruled out for offside but it was he who levelled the scores on the quarter-hour mark. Jono Gould – in his first league start since April – turned on the gas to motor past several defenders before slipping a neat ball through to the striker who finished confidently from close range.
The Scholars suffered an injury blow to Jack Farmer just shy of the half-hour but it was Chasetown who continued to dominate the game after their equaliser and took the lead with the last kick of the first half when the impressive Luke Bottomer drove home a sweet finish for his first goal for the club.
It took the home side just ten minutes of the second half to increase what proved to be an unassailable lead. Danny Bragoli’s corner found the head of an in-form Richard Teesdale and the centre back powered the ball off the inside of the post and over the line.
Heavy rain fell again with 20 minutes to go, but Chasetown made sure of the three points and removed any doubts the referee may have had about the state of the pitch with a killer fourth goal in the 76th minute. Wellecomme, who netted twice in midweek versus Walsall, got his second brace of the week with a clinical finish which left Lincoln keeper Robert Peet comprehensively beaten.
Peet did have the last say though, as with Wellecomme clean through on goal and hoping for a hat-trick, the keeper did well to prevent a cheeky chip from finding the net.
The Scholars remain in 12th with a couple of wins between themselves and ninth place and nine points required to reach the play-offs – although nine of the 11 teams above Chasetown do have games in hand on Craig Harris’ men.
Chasetown: Price, Farmer (Robinson, 28 mins), Beckett, Slater, Halsall, Teesdale, Bottomer (C Smith, 84 mins), Bragoli, Wellecomme, Bennett (Stephens, 75 mins), Gould. Subs not used: S Brown, Watson.
Lincoln United: Peet, B Brown, Brooks, Wright, Batchelor, Barnett, Modest (Bowden 79 mins), Clarke (Dye, 56 mins), Langham, Holden, Cann (Newberry, HT). Subs not used: O’Halloran, Burrows.
Click below to see more of Dave Birt’s pictures from the game:
