By Nathan Jackson
August 19 2006

For the 3rd time in 4 games this season, Marriott conceded all realistic shots on target against him and it's time to change. Many now feel that Simon Rayner deserves a shot in goal after out-performing Marriott in the pre-season gams and the fact Mazza simply hasn't performed.

In this world, there are many things that are over-rated, Star Wars, the Simpsons, 24, Eminem, Julia Roberts, England’s chances of winning tournaments, Real Madrid, Sudoku and given his average performance so far this season, Alan Marriott. If you count the amount of realistic shots on target against Marriott (realistic as in has a decent chance of going in) and then look at the amount of goals that Lincoln concede, you’ll see that the numbers are pretty similar. Whenever Lincoln play a game now, I personally feel that the opposition will score whenever they push forward because Marriott simply isn’t good enough anymore.

In recent years, Marriott has been the undisputed number 1 goalkeeper at Sincil Bank, mainly because Keith refused to play anyone else in goal, so much to the extent that for around 99% of the games under Alexander, there wasn’t a substitute goalkeeper on the bench and that has made Marriott complacent. He seems to have developed the idea that he can let in as many goals as he likes and he won’t get replaced and the signs are definitely there.

So far this season, the Imp’s have played 4 games, conceding a total of 5 goals with further disallowed at Hereford. That wouldn’t seem too bad until you take into consideration that the 4 opponents have managed just 8 decent chances on goal between them. Infact, if you take the Hereford game out of the equation then Marriott has conceded every single realistic shot against him this season and it was the same in pre-season. Regular substitute goalkeeper, Simon Rayner was the first choice during the majority of the pre-season and did really well for the majority of the time however, in games that he was replaced by Marriott, City went on to struggle to get result.

The Leicester City game is a prime example of this. Rayner was in goal for the first half and City cruised to a 3-0 lead, Marriott replaced him at half time and within 3 minutes, Leicester had pulled 2 sloppy goals back and it eventually finished 3-3. Against Liverpool, Marriott played around 25 minutes before going off injured and in that time, Liverpool had one shot on target and unsurprisingly, it was a goal. However, when Rayner replaced him, despite conceding a goal himself, went on to make several world-class saves.

Marriott has always been a keeper prone to making stupid mistakes but in his time at Sincil Bank, only Alan Buckley wasn’t afraid to drop him when he wasn’t playing well and that’s simply got to chance. Marriott has an easy ride these days simply because he thinks he is irreplaceable but someone who has conceded 85% of the realistic shots against him simply isn’t good enough and even though there are only 4 games gone, I think it’s time for him to be replaced.

Marriott hasn’t kept a good clean sheet for a while, yes he’s had several games where he hasn’t conceded but that’s only because the opposition either didn’t have a shot or didn’t get a realistic shot on target and you’d have to go back to the 5-0 win over Grimsby, ironically the last home victory for the Imps, to find a game where Marriott actually had shots to save and managed to keep a clean sheet. However, before that game, you’d have to go all the way back to last September and an away game at Bristol Rovers where Marriott kept a clean sheet after being under pressure.

Granted, we’re still unbeaten this season but it won’t be long until Marriott’s seeming inability to keep decent shots out will cost the Imps because there are much harder teams in this division than the 4 we’ve played so far. Yes, we’ll lose eventually, there’s no doubt about that but the manor of defeat might be the questionable part because if we lose 1-0 to the opposition’s only shot on target then Marriott hasn’t done his job. A goalkeeper is paid to keep shots out of the goal and other than the odd game here and there over the past 12 months, Marriott hasn’t been doing that and it’s about time he paid for his inability to save a shot.

City face Scunthorpe and Mansfield in the next 7 days and this is the perfect time to give Rayner a chance but the question is, do Schofield and Deehan have the guts to drop a goalkeeper who isn’t doing his job?