Neighbourly thoughts at Christmas

Lincoln Correspondent bemoans lack of local action.

Your correspondent spends his working days toiling away in the pleasant market town of Boston and is sometimes asked when he is going to write an article on Boston United. It is not the role of the Lincoln correspondent to write about United but with the Pilgrims riding high in Blue Square Bet North maybe there wil come a time when the Lincoln City and Boston once again lock horns as they did in the not too distant past.

Lincoln City have never occupied a position in the league that justified a tag of "giant" but when Boston United gained league status a few seasons ago and therefore equal status on the radio and in the local paper, fans of the Imps had to re appraise their view of their place in the football hierarchy. Ask any Pilgrims fan who his most deadly rivals are and he will almost certainly cite Lincoln but that is not really the case with Imps, they will state Grimsby or Scunthorpe, Notts County, Peterborough or Mansfield, indeed when Boston started to mount a promotion campaign that was to lead to promotion to the football league their results were read out at Sincil Bank and cheered, sometimes even when Boston had won!

Having said all that attendances for games against Boston were the best for some considerable time, apart from the play offs and nowadays are very rarely attained. Many fans would like to see a return to those titanic tussles of seasons past . Alarmingly City have lost fixtures against Peterborough, Notts County, Hull and Scunthorpe for reasons of those clubs success and good luck to them. Perhaps even more surprisingly Mansfield and especially Grimsby Town have been lost due to on field failure. It's customary for neighbouring fans to gloat at the misfortune suffered by their nearest and not so dearest but those thoughts soon evaporate when Christmas comes around and the Boxing Day clash is Port Vale away followed by Shrewsbury at home. Very local! Don't blame the fixture computer too much though; there just aren't any truly local games for Lincoln at the moment. It's come to something when the nearest fixtures are Chesterfield followed by Rotherham, even then those sides constantly threaten to desert the Imps as both sides are are at the right end of the table.

So from this Lincoln City supporter to our local sides who find themselves in the unaccostomed role as non league teams and to our friends in the South, we've had our fun at your expense and very much wish to have you back to resume our traditional rivalries in the near future. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to football fans of whatever hue. May you enjoy your football and continue to support your local team and to Lincoln City fans in particular all the very best this Christmas. Maybe one day we'll even play a game of football again. Up the Imps!