British Gas Business Football League Premier Division
Saturday 18 November 2006 - The Vic Couzens Stadium - kick off 3.00pm
half-time: 1-0 result: W3-2 attendance: 327
team: Evans, Rollo (c), Green, Coupe, Holland, S Jones, Rogers, Hogg, Zarczynski (Phillips 76), Partridge (Clarke 83), McKeever. subs not used: Pritchard, Davidge, York.
man of the match: Scott Rogers
scorers: Holland (45), Zarczynski (58), Partridge (68)
bookings: Hogg (29)
officials: M Chester (Hettlesham), R Galey (Lincoln), P King (Lincoln)
league position: 1st form: WdWWWW next match: Taunton (SPC) (H)
Report taken from by Richard Gadsby

They say revenge is a dish best served cold and so it proved for City on an icy afternoon in Lincolnshire.A thoroughly deserved victory, which was far more convincing than the scoreline suggests, was made all the sweeter by the fact that Stamford had performed a hit and run victory at Twerton Park in the reverse fixture less than three months ago. City had arguably deserved something from that encounter after being caught cold in the first half and then frustrated by a backs-to-the-walls Stamford display but there could be no doubt who was in charge this time out. For 80 minutes, John Relish's side were in irresistible form. They made a good, in-form Stamford side look very ordinary and goals by Chris Holland, Arek Zarczynski and Scott Partridge had already won the game when some late sloppiness allowed a belated comeback. In fairness, the hosts deserved a goal for refusing to give up the fight even when defeat became inevitable but 3-2 flattered Stamford rather than City.

The first half simply belonged to the visitors. After a Garath Pritchard shot from the edge of the box and a good Stuart Wilson run, both in the opening ten minutes, there was only one team in it. City set up camp in the Stamford half but only started to create clear chances with 15 minutes to go. Scott Partridge, Scott Rogers and even Matt Coupe all tried their luck only to be denied by the acrobatics of keeper Martin Kearney or by defenders desperately hurling themselves at the ball. In the end it was the old combination of Holland and Mark McKeever that unlocked the Stamford defence. Lewis Hogg, who minutes earlier had been lucky to escape a second booking after wrestling with Pritchard on the floor, won a free-kick wide right of the Stamford penalty box. McKeever's outswinging set-piece found Chris Holland 16-yards out who drilled a low, hard shot into the bottom left corner for his fifth goal of the season. Pritchard almost equalised straight from the restart when a curling 20-yard effort was destined for the top corner only to be pushed away by a fine-finger tip save from Paul Evans. The half-time whistle blew soon after and the question going into the break was: Had City made the most of their dominance? The short answer was no - but in the end in didn't matter.

The second half proved much tighter but, as sometimes happens in football, City ran away with it anyway. Wilson was desperately unlucky not to level the scores just five minutes in when his low shot beat the keeper, hit the near post, rolled along the line, hit the other post and then fell kindly for Coupe to hoof to safety. It proved a turning point, and minutes after that narrow escape City doubled their lead. A McKeever corner was poorly dealt with by the Stamford defence and this time Arek Zarczynski was on hand at the back post to blast into the roof of the net with a controlled finish from close range. The Polish striker thought he had made it 3-0 when he turned and finished from the edge of the box only to see the effort ruled out by a very late flag and he then failed to hit the target with a free header some eight yards out. When City did make it three it was more than worth the wait. Zarczynski switched play from left to right for with a great first time pass to Rogers who then played a superb weighted ball through to the on-running Partridge. The striker only had one thing on his mind as he burst into the box and his powerful shot found the bottom left corner from a tight angle for a fitting finish to the best move of the game. Still Stamford fought on and the game swung from one end to the other. The hosts eventually got the goal their endeavour deserved when Jim Rollo missed a simple defensive header from a long clearance to allow Jason Turner in for the simplest of finishes. With virtually the last kick of the game Scott Taylor made it 3-2 after rifling home a corner but there was barely enough time for the kick-off before the referee blew for full-time.