Lincoln City 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Forestieri nets as the Owls beat the Imps
Wednesday visited Sincil Bank in their first friendly in front of a crowd of the new campaign. The Owls, who we’re showing off their returning blue and white stripes, just edged a close encounter thanks to a neat Fernando Forestieri half-volley early into the second half.
The first chance of the game fell in favour of the League Two side. Chapman played the ball down the line for Eardley. Eardley weaved his way past Tom Lees before floating a ball to the back post where John Akinde saw his powerful header caught by Keiren Westwood.
Moments later, Akinde had another chance to open the scoring in similar fashion to his previous chance. Eardley swung in a cross towards Akinde at the back post but the striker diverted the cross wide of the upright.
Wednesday finally woke up and the championship outfit had their first chance of the friendly twenty minutes in. Sam Hutchinson sent a looping ball over the top of the Imps backline for Adam Reach who managed to hit his effort over the keeper but also, over the bar.
The home side then saw another chance pass them by. Lee Frecklington and Chapman’s interchange of passes allowed space to open up for Bruno Andrade who was picked out by Chapman. Andrade took the ball out of his feet but frustratingly saw his long-ranged effort caught by the diving Westwood.
After the half hour mark, Wednesday won a corner when Ash Baker saw his cross deflected behind by the leg of Waterfall. Baker took the corner short to Adam Reach however the chance was waste as Morgan Fox headed over the bar from Reach’s perfectly executed cross.
John Akinde was showing plenty of promise to his new employers, after joining City from Barnet this summer, but he couldn’t find the touch needed to open his account for the Imps. Akinde rose highest in the box to glance Frecklington’s free-kick wide of the target.
The final effort of the half fell to the visitors. A good passing play in midfield allowed Hutchinson to pick out the run of Baker and dink the ball over for the Welsh wing-bank. Baker headed past the keeper and across goal but Wilson managed to race back and clear it off the line.
The half-time whistle sounded with both teams goalless at Sincil Bank.
Wednesday completely changed up their team for the second half, including an appearance for prospect Fraser Preston. He almost had instant impact too when he latched onto Liam Palmer’s through-ball minutes after the restart. Preston cut back across the body of his marker and whipped in an intended cross for Nuhiu which was vitally intercepted by the Lincoln keeper.
Four minutes later, Joey Pelupessy saw his wayward first time strike fly high and wide from the edge of the box.
The Owls opened the scoring in the fifty-fourth minute. The move started from a Cameron Dawson goal-kick which was brought down by Liam Palmer. The Worksop-born full-back gave the ball to Atdhe Nuhiu who flicked it onto Preston who subsequently, picked out Palmer further down the line as he had continued his run. Palmer then switched the ball to the left-hand side of the box for Fernando Forestieri who brought the cross down before volleying across the ball and into the bottom corner. This was his second goal in pre-season after scoring in a behind close doors match against Bury, which the Owls won 3-0.
On the hour mark, Matt Rhead held off his marker before playing it out to a Lincoln City trialist. The trialist sharply turned past his marker and took aim from about thirty yards but he saw his shot ricocheted of the face of the stand.
Lincoln had two big chances to equalise in the closing stages.
Firstly, Anderson broke into the Wednesday final third and threaded the ball through the box to another trialist who opted to use his right foot and curled an effort just wide of the far post.
In the last minute of added time, a trialist escaped his marker and broke through one-on-one with Cameron Dawson however the shot-stopper spread himself as he pulled the trigger and superbly blocked the shot with his foot.
The final whistle went to confirm Wednesday’s win. They next face Mansfield Town on Tuesday 24TH July.
Attendance: 5,846
Goals: Forestieri (54’)
SWFC: Keiren Westwood (Cameron Dawson); Ash Baker (Liam Palmer), Jack Lee (Frederik Nielsen), Tom Lees (Daniel Pudil), Jordan Thorniley (Joost van Aken), Morgan Fox (George Boyd); Adam Reach (Barry Bannan), Sam Hutchinson (Joey Pelupessy), Alex Hunt (Fraser Preston); Lucas Joao (Atdhe Nuhiu), Marco Matias (Fernando Forestieri)
Unused Subs: Connor Kirby, Jack Stobbs
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