Good Friday-or Fright Night?

At least, now that elusive win has been attained, fans can look forward to a home game for a change with the visit of Stockport County. It’s a Bank Holiday too so the potential is there for six lovely points and a few days off to boot. If only life as an Imp was that straightforward. Following the Hatters visit, Darlo away is next so by Monday night our season could be well and truly launched or we could be back wondering where our next win will come from. Or something in between.

Steve Tilson will have been wearing a very satisfied look this week as well he might as his double substitution immediately changed Tuesdays away game in the Imps favour with two very neat looking finishes from Kyle Perry followed, as usual by a late goal, Anyon possibly unsighted as Telford got what turned out to be a consolation but this sort of thing has really got to be eliminated if City are to do well this season.

From rags to riches Stockport will be no pushover but in reality their new moneybags status has not propelled them much higher in the league than the Imps and, as Tilson pointed out in the Lincolnshire Echo today a large bank balance did not prevent Fleetwood taking a beating in the week either. The manager believes the key to success for City is an unbreakable team spirit although it does help that, for the first time in a considerable period the team does possess goal scorers and by possess we mean they are actually our own players as opposed to loans which makes a pleasant change. The jury is still out on our defensive capabilities though, particularly to the end of games where City’s ability to see out the match is questionable, well perhaps hopeless might be a better description particularly compared to, say Kidderminster who left the Imps chasing shadows in their quest to turn around the recent game. Indeed, teams in the division we now find ourselves in seem very happy passing the ball around, in contrast to our own heroes. Let’s face it; we couldn’t do that to any great degree even when we had a decent side, apart from a brief flowering under John Schofield.

Sorry to harp on about the old days but team togetherness is probably the single most telling attribute in a successful side, particularly at our level. When you look back in our history the Taylor, Murphy, Beck and Alexander teams all had it in abundance and it remains to be seen whether the present management have the necessary welding abilities but Tilson has made more than a few references to his desire to foster it at Lincoln. Mind you, given the lack of cash at the club he would say that wouldn’t he?

Let’s hope the recent home form hasn’t put off the faithful and there’ll be a good crowd at Sincil Bank tonight to see if City can make it two wins on the trot. Fingers crossed.