Any hopes we had that the first home game of the season would bring with it a new optimism and finally shake off the hoodoo that was pervading proceedings at Sincil Bank were swiftly shattered as Kidderminster Harriers performed a smash and grab raid, departing Lincoln with all three points following a now typical defensive hash up that left players and crowd wondering how the hell that happened. It would be churlish to suggest the result was somehow unfair as Kidderminster did look a halfway decent set up, though hardly world beaters and, as City started to huff and puff in the second half, having started ok, wouldn’t put it any more than that but as the game wore on the Imps looked increasingly unable to turn the game around.
Manager Tilson did attempt to rescue matters with a triple substitution, which together with one from Kiddy would have been funny had it not been for the fact that City were well and truly chasing the game at that point, the fourth official all fingers and thumbs trying to get the electronic board to work and no one any idea what was going on as the seconds ticked by. Those six minutes of time added on might have been largely attributable to that incident as much as Kidderminster’s, perhaps understandable, time wasting which eventually let to their ‘keeper being booked. The Imps began to look more and more ragged as did, it has to be said, the officials and it really was no surprise that our heroes could not snatch victory from the jaws of defeat or even get the goal that would have rescued a point and City now boast an unenviable home record of played one lost one which, if you tally in last seasons home performances which of course we shouldn’t, makes for uninspiring reading.
All of the above leads; again we shouldn’t be doing this, to conjecture as to whether we have the right man at the helm. Let’s hope these negative thoughts can be well and truly dispelled with a good performance against Wrexham on Friday. Let’s face it; those of us a little longer in the tooth will remember that our last foray in to non league football took some time to get going. The trouble is, the team really needed to get off to a good start to bring the less committed fan into the ground and give the board some financial muscle to fund reinforcements. They’re not going to stir from their armchairs if they think it’s the same as last season which it looks like at the moment. It’s worth saying though there was none of last seasons lethargy and lack of commitment about last nights show, indeed there was much to be optimistic about. Josh Gowling is obviously inspired by the captaincy and let’s hope it brings about a transformation in him such as we saw with Delroy. He certainly needs to cut out some of the errors displayed last night and when he does fans will hope to see a career relaunched in his case.
Steve Tilson, speaking to BBC Lincolnshire was concerned the players had showed some nerves in the home opener. Surely though, part of the attraction of signing for Lincoln was the prospect of playing in front of larger than average crowds and they must be aware that there would be expectation from the faithful much as we tell ourselves that there is a long and demanding season ahead of us. Fans must always believe that there is the possibility of glory ahead even though we keep those expectations to ourselves? At the moment those notions are well and truly on the back burner.
Well, as they say tomorrow is another day, or rather the day after tomorrow and the players will not need reminding that a win against Wrexham will ease those negative vibes. At least we’re not in the same position as you know who!
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