Lady luck smiles on the Imps. At least someone’s on our side.

City drew again. Once again there were mitigating factors that made it possibly point gained rather than two dropped. All our fellow contenders bar Bury lost. Interestingly, Notts County dealt one of them, Forest Green Rovers, quite a hefty blow. I was quite upset about that but then I read the reasons, the pitch, the ref, who else? Oh yes, the players. That Mark Cooper eh? Got an answer for everything as long as the answer isn’t Mark Cooper.

Talking of hefty blows, Northampton seemed to not be averse to dishing the treatment out, Freck was body checked which is a polite way of saying clattered, for which not even a free kick was awarded despite the fact it looked deliberate and in due course the player was forced off. A more cynical type than myself might well surmise that was a deliberate ploy and it certainly worked. Before the sending off Buchanan felled Anderson in front of the dugouts and was booked, one of several Cobblers. Was Andersons own lunge retribution? It wasn’t that thoughtful but it was certainly red. Danny tried to argue that point without too much conviction. Later in the game Buchanan committed another transgression and the referees hand went to his pocket only to emerge cardless as, presumably, the referee realised he’d been booked and it would mean a sending off.

I don’t like to moan about referees in this blog as I’ve been to too many games as a neutral where the crowd have been incensed about a ref who I thought was doing ok. What I do object to, and this isn’t the first time this season, is a referee deciding pre game that we are a large and demanding crowd and he is going to avoid any accusations of being a homer by not giving the decisions he should in City’s favour. I hope the assessor will be pointing out to Mr Salisbury that he wrongly waved away a possible penalty when Cian Bolger was hauled down and an absolute stonewall handball, both of these incidents he saw. Together with last weekends masterclass in favouring the underdogs a less forgiving judge than myself might come to the conclusion that there is a conspiracy against us.

It did occur that, had a penalty been given both our regular spot kick specialists were off the pitch, Frecklington no doubt nursing considerable bruising and the excellent Akinde having run himself into the ground. At least the referees reluctance to see justice done saved City the task of finding another taker.

As it happens the Imps gained another point on the pack, with the exception of Bury who continue to impress. At least when we were all shouting at the referee we weren’t directing our anger elsewhere or indeed at our own number and I sincerely hope that everyone now realises that no one will help us in our quest bar ourselves, quite the reverse in fact. The crowd were excellent yesterday, loud and partisan. That needs to continue to the end of the season.

As the advert says, enough of the nonsense.