Day 68

The Lincoln Under 18s cranked out another win. How about that? They're now third in their group, after four games. It was 16-year-old Luke Weaver who stole the show this time, with a goal and a strong defensive display.

I opted for an unchanged lineup against Cambridge. Kanouté, Power, and new-boy Halstead all took places on the bench, along with Koroma and Park. I hoped that Russell could pull out a repeat of his performance from last week.

Olembé was named our key player by the match pundit, while young central-midfielder Luke Berry got the nod as Cambridge's man to watch.

I told the boys to control the match—we're favourites, so we should attack, but I don't want to let them sneak a goal on the break.

We created a few early chances, capitalising on the opposition's lack of confidence, but failed to turn them into anything.

Olembé forced a fine save on 18 minutes, with a vicious strike from a tight angle. Then two minutes later he had another chance from straight-on. This time the keeper had no chance; the powerful strike shook the back of the net.

Shuker had a chance to double our lead just before the break, but the forward took too long to pull the trigger and was tackled. One-nil at half time, we looked a sure-thing to win.

Olembé's dominance on the left wing continued in the second half. Jackson dragged him down in the 54th minute, resulting in a yellow card, while his teammates looked to have no answer to the Cameroonian's mazy runs.

Russell played in Shuker on 63 minutes, but the forward was once again wasteful—he fired his shot straight into the Cambridge keeper.

Then disaster struck in the 69th minute. Jackson evaded an Olembé tackle before charging up the right wing. His cross met the boot of Stephen Sterling, then ricocheted off Josh Gowling and past our hapless, wrong-footed keeper.

We took the game to them. Shuker fired over the bar from a free kick, then I subbed Alan Power in for Chris Atkinson to give us more midfield creativity.

Gowling did just enough to prevent Marriott from sneaking Cambridge ahead with ten minutes to play, after the striker broke free chasing down a through ball.

Back at the other end, Koroma raced onto a Shuker flick and found himself in a one-on-one against the Cambridge keeper. He buried his shot, giving us a dramatic lead late in the game.

Cambridge weren't out of it yet, though. Stirling found the back of the net with an excellent free kick from 25 yards out in the 90th minute.

We threw more men forward, recklessly pushing for a win. Our efforts earned a couple of injury-time corners. Gowling sent a header over the bar in the 93rd minute, with what proved to be the final chance of the match.

I have no idea how we managed to throw away the points in that one. Two-all in a match we should have won—both in terms of player calibre and performance on the pitch. And with Olembé pulling out a vintage performance. These kinds of results could cost us dearly come the end of the season.

Gowling will sit out the next few games. He made some important contributions for us, but his mistakes cost us a win.

2,632 fans showed up to watch the game. The stadium was just one-quarter full. That's pathetic.

In other news, Paul Robson resumed full training, so we have our back-up right-back available again.