Athletico Lincoln 0-12 Travellers Rest

After a promising display against Crown and Arrows last week, Athletico Lincoln were brought crashing back down to Earth with an embarrassing 12-0 defeat at the hands of the imperious Travellers Rest.

Athletico were immediately on the back foot, finding themselves 2-0 down inside the first twenty minutes. Things went from bad to worse during the remainder of the first period, with the visiting side heaping constant pressure on the home defence. By half time the scoreline had reached 7-0. The prospect of a double figures goal tally was becoming frighteningly real.

The second half saw a marked improvement, as Athletico, buoyed by some inspirational words of wisdom from interim manager Freddie Warner, concentrated on damage limitation. It wasn’t all one-way traffic after the break though, and Jack Guest came close to opening the home side’s account with a delicate lob that clipped the outside of the post. There was even a rare foray forward by right back Callum Gibson, who saw his vicious 30-yard strike narrowly clear the crossbar.

Normal service was resumed shortly after, however, as Travellers Rest poured salt on the lovable losers’ wounds by increasing their lead to 12-0 by the final whistle.

It was a dejected Athletico Lincoln that trudged off at the final whistle, and there is plenty of hard work to be done on the training ground before the visit of league leaders Black Swan in two weeks time.