Lancaster City in another frustrating stalemate against Radcliffe

Lancaster City once again had to settle for a draw despite having several chances to break the deadlock at home to Radcliffe.

It’s a third draw in four games for the Dollies, who once again had the chances but struggled to capitalise.

City were comfortably dominating in the first half but just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.

The second half was a lot more even with chances for either side.

An attendance of 268 turned out to watch the match last night, and saw City create numerous chances in the first half, applying more pressure as the half went on, but they couldn’t find the finishing touch.

After the break, Radcliffe came forward more often but the Dolly Blues still had a few decent chances. Neither keeper was really troubled in the second half.

A lot of City’s good play came from Jake Connelly and he won their man of the match award.

Mark Fell took the positives from the game.

Speaking to the Lancaster City website, he said: “We played magnificently well in the first half, we were brilliant – we did everything but put the ball in the back of the net.”

He was very pleased with the defensive display too, adding “Jordan (Eastham) has not had to make a save again, we never looked like conceding even when they came onto us late on in the second half.”

Fell is getting slightly frustrated, however, with the lack of goals his team are getting.

“It’s becoming an issue, there’s no doubt about that. You can laugh about it but it’s not funny. Ultimately we’re sat on the points we’re on because we’re not converting chances. But what we did do today is create good chances, we smothered Radcliffe and kept them in.”

Fell revealed it was initially a struggle to name a 16-man squad – eleven starters and five substitutes – for the game.

“At 6pm we were struggling to put 16 out and that’s because we had two fitness tests on two players. Dom Lawson, who we were keen to get out there, had a little problem so we ended up putting him on the bench. We didn’t play with a number nine tonight because we didn’t have one.”

The boss hinted towards signings in the attacking areas.

“Nico (Evangelinos) is now probably a couple of weeks away with a problem – so do we go into the loan market and get something? Do we bring something in permanently and make them scrap over places? Do we get (striker) Enoch (Likoy) back? His injury is a frustrating one.”

Lancaster City will head to Gainsborough Trinity, another team who have drawn three of their first four matches, on Saturday, once again looking for their first victory of the season.