A first half penalty was enough for Kettering to seal a victory against the Imps.
City kicked off the game and put the pressure on early with Richard Pacquette firing one narrowly wide from 25 yards. City kept the pressure on with Nicky Nicolau crossing a dangerous ball in and earning a corner which eventually came to nothing.
At the half hour mark neither team had created many chances with Lincoln enjoying the majority of the possession.
But a handball by Pacquette inside Lincoln’s 6 yard box gave Kettering the chance to go a goal up from the penalty spot. Aman Verma stepped up and sent Joe Anyon the wrong way neatly slotting it into the bottom right corner.
Lincoln City had a few chances to equalise before the break with Jake Sheridan skipping past Kettering’s defence only to blaze a shot over the bar.
The Imps were out early, eager to get the second half underway, hoping to start on the same positive note they ended the first half on.
Lincoln could’ve had their own penalty in the 54th minute when they had a player brought down just inside Kettering’s box, but referee Richard Wigglesworth deemed it unworthy of another spot-kick.
Kettering turned the tables in the final third forcing Joe Anyon to make some good saves to keep Lincoln in the game.
City manged to relieve the pressure in extra time but unfortunately it was too little too late.
The Imps will be disappointed with the defeat as they dominated parts of the game and created some great chances. Richard Pacquette will be hoping to keep in good form now that Sam Smith is confirmed to be out for up to 8 weeks with a fractured second metatarsal.
Manager David Holdsworth expressed his frustration after the match saying that he was “disappointed and shocked that we just haven’t got a result” he added; “the referee was atrocious, I think we should have had a blatant penalty” .
