A nice bit of sparring before the main event.

No shortage of material in the press in the build up to this season’s finale which would be fun if it wasn’t so serious. Gary Simpson was on This is Lincolnshire with a headline “It’s in Hyde’s interests to help Stockport by beating Lincoln City”. I’m not so sure of the reasoning for that, when all said and done Hyde are a professional football club although of course we are talking about a team and a manager wanting to win a game which is a world away from deliberately losing to help a neighbour.


Simpson stated the team will maintain a solid state of mind, although what affect his words will have on his charges is another matter:-

"There is obviously more on the game for us than there is for them, I just don’t want us to be frightened of it. We have to remain how we have been – positive."

Simpson expanded on his theme but says he still hasn’t made up his mind on how to approach the match:-

"We could look at it and say we are going to block it up against Hyde,"

"But you could say the best form of defence is to attack these ("these" presumably Hyde) because they can concede as well.

"In my head I want to go and be positive, that’s how we have been all they way through.

"I thought it would go down to the final game and I have maintained that since I walked through the door.

"I am just focusing on what we want to try to do. If we are positive and get the right result it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. It’s in our hands."

Meanwhile Stockport’s reporter on the local rag sounded disconcertingly confident when interviewed on BBC Radio Lincolnshire this morning although that was maybe for outside consumption, the Manchester Evening News headline, “Glory days are gone as Stockport County stare into the abyss” perhaps reflecting the local view of the potential catastrophe lurking round the corner for a club relegated along with City from the football league.

The Evening News deems Lincoln City barely worth a mention in their piece, concentrating on Hatters recent past as a stark reminder of how far and how fast County have sunk of late and their man did confirm to BBC’s Rod Whiting this morning that the Imps are the best paced of their rivals to survive. That doesn’t make things any easier as we impatiently wait for judgement day.