Kidsgrove Athletic put in a five-star performance see them beat Lincoln United 5-0 away from home.
Two goals each from Anthony Malbon and Kingsley Adu-Gyamfi, as well as one from Kyle Diskin, ensured the Grove moved up to 15th in the league table.
On the bench for Kidsgrove Athletic was Jimmy Phillips, who had recovered from an injury he picked up in pre-season, and Dom Kurasik who had returned to the club following his time in Australia.
The first 15 minutes or so of the game were scrappy with the Whites playing a high pressing game as they allowed the Grove no time or space on the ball. It allowed the hosts to have the first shot on goal when Jack Wrightwick saw his shot well saved by Kieran Harrison with his feet.
Lincoln did have the ball in the back of the net after just seven minutes of play when Danny North was played in. However, despite beating Harrison, the linesmen had his flag up for offside.
At the other end, Lee Williamson had a glorious chance to open the scoring when Diskin put the ball on a plate. However, the former Blackburn Rovers man put his effort over the bar.
Despite the five goals, the games main talking point came on 29 minutes when Lincoln defender Mark Gray was shown a straight red card for a rash tackle on Adu-Gymafi.
The sending off allowed the Grove to get a real foothold in the game and they finally broke the deadlock just before half-time. Alex Morris went on a surging run before shooting from just inside the area. His shot was blocked and, seemed to be going out for a corner. However, Diskin nipped in and was able to slot the ball past Tom Nicholson to give the Grove the lead.
After the interval, Kidsgrove came out all guns a-blazing and, it took them less than a minute to get the second goal. A corner was whipped in by Williamson and, after a bit of a scramble, it fell to Malbon who slammed the ball home.
Kingsley Adu-Gyamfi was next to get himself on the scoresheet on 52 minutes when he scored from a Diskin cut back, it allowed the Grove fans to start dreaming of a cricket score.
The supporters didn’t have to wait long for goals four and five. The next one came on 57 minutes when Malbon got his second of the afternoon when Gyamfi turned provider to Malbon to slide the ball home past Nicholson who was rooted to the spot.
Goal five came just three minutes when Williamson’s cut-back was turned in by Adu-Gyamfi for his second of the afternoon.
The Grove had chances to add to the five they had with Morris forcing a fine save out of Nicholson, Kyle Blake headed over the bar. While Anthony Malbon thought he had completed his hat-trick when he hit a sweet shot that rattled the crossbar.
At the other end, North had a chance to pull one back for the hosts. However, the effort went wide of Harrison’s far post.
It was the first time since last season that the Grove scored five in one game which was against Runcorn Linnets. While the last time they scored five on the road was at Rushden and Diamonds back in January 2017 when Kidsgrove won 5-2 with Malbon scoring a hat-trick.
After the game, I spoke to Ryan Austin to get his thoughts on the game.
Kidsgrove Athletic: Harrison, Hart (Murphy, 46), Morris, Hall (Blake, 69), Duffy, Butler, Diskin (Phillips, 65), Thompson, Adu-Gyamfi, Malbon and Williamson.
Unused subs: Jennings and Kurasik.
Lincoln United: Nicholson, Turnbull, Smith, Horton (Goodard, 51), Gray, Jacklin, Burdett (West, 36), North, Millard (Williams, 57), Wilson and Wightwick.
Unused subs: Tingle and Jarman.
Attendance: 157
