Rampant City summon up the ghost of season past.

Lincoln City got off to a flyer this afternoon against a good Exeter City side who gave every indication they might make the play off lottery despite losing. The Imps set about their task with relish. Until the Grecians scored that is. Talk about taking the wind out of your sails, City looked devastated and it might have got even worse if Exeter had scored again instead of rattling the goal frame. It took some time to get back in the game although I felt Lincoln always looked the better side.

Like Grimsby before them Exeter were felled by the old one two. It was one two three for the Mariners but Exeter are made of sterner stuff than them. Nevertheless not many teams come back from two goals in quick succession but somehow Exeter did and it looked like a win at Carlisle on Monday was going to be imperative. It probably still is but City looking every inch their last season’s selves refused to settle for the point and treated the best attendance of the season to their best performance of this season and perhaps many more besides, we were exhausted just watching.

I don’t jump to conclusions about City’s players and I never leapt on the bandwagon of criticism that some players have endured. Those self same players are now becoming heroes and quite rightly so but I just hope that the praise now raining down on the heads of, particularly Matt Green and Ollie Palmer is received in the spirit in which it’s offered and not in a jaundiced way. These two in particular represent, for me the spirit of the age and it’s remarkably similar to the never say die attitude that propelled the club out of the pit of despair they were in and into the (relatively) elysian fields we’re now enjoying. The players are different, the ethos the same. The only constants are ourselves the fans and the Cowleys and, in this week of yet more uncertainty about them it is their motivation that is propelling the team forward but I like to think we’re playing our part.

As to the Cowleys we’re just going to have to get used to it. I don’t think they’ll be going to Ipswich if only because, as a result of their efforts Lincoln City really do offer a more stable platform for continued success than many other seemingly more glamorous opportunities and you only had to look at today with a whisker short of 10000 in the ground and the financial stability that is not the lot of many managers. Not many clubs would enjoy the sort of support City are now producing. Perhaps more tellingly let’s think back to the Crewe debacle. What was the City fans reaction to that? More noise. These things don’t go unnoticed.

On we go. I’ve just got a feeling there are many at today’s game who, after that feast of football entertainment might fancy a bit more before the weekends up even at the expense of a long trip north with work in the morning.