10-man Stanley
Lincoln 2-0 Accrington
LEAGUE TWO LINCOLN ......................... 2 STANLEY......................... 0 BY SHELDAN KEAY
ACCRINGTON Stanley suffered defeat at Lincoln City on Saturday after they were forced to play over 45 minutes with ten men.
A Matt Green penalty along with a goal from Matt Rhead earned Lincoln the win, after Stanley controversially had Farrend Rawson sent off.
That red card has since been rescinded after a successful appeal from Accrington.
Reds boss John Coleman was unhappy with the decisions that went against his side, but still felt there were positives to be taken from the game.
“The lads showed desire and on another day we may have got something out of the game. It was a classic away performance in the first half. Aaron Chapman made a good save for us but we didn’t hurt them enough,” he said.
The standard of refereeing this season has been nothing short of appalling. We’ve been on the end of around 14 major decisions that have been proven wrong.
“If football wasn’t such a passion of mine, you’d ask yourself why I keep putting myself through it. I may as well pack up.”
It was a fast start to the match at Sincil Bank, with Stanley going close when Billy Kee tested opposition goalkeeper Josh Vickers from distance, before Rhead fired a shot over the bar at the other end.
Accrington tried to implement their passing style of play but found it tough to carve open the Lincoln defence.
Reds stopper Aaron Chapman was then needed on a couple of occasions to keep out Green and ensure the match stayed goalless.
Controversy then struck on the stroke of half-time when Green raced into the box and was adjudged to have been fouled by Rawson, despite it looking like it wasn’t the case.
The referee had other ideas and pointed to the penalty spot, and decided to send Rawson off, reducing Stanley to ten men in the process.
Green then converted the spot kick himself to make it 1-0 at the break, much to the anger of the Accrington team and manager Coleman, who felt that the worse challenges in the match had come from the Lincoln team.
The Reds now had to play the rest of the match with 10 men, but they went close at the start of the second half when Jor-