Bursting with pride.

There was a time, all the time I supported Lincoln City basically, until now, when great cup nights under the lights, was a preserve of, well anybody but us. I’m going way back here but Yeovil Town and Hereford United spring to mind but there were many others, enjoying their day in the sun, lapping up the limelight then settling back to their own modest existence. Me? I’ll just sit under this tree thanks. Cup run? Not for me, I wouldn’t know what to do.

Well that was then and this is now. Just as Burton Albion used a cup run to catapult themselves up the leagues and stay there so City have invested their winnings from football fortune as Danny calls it, in the form of a training set up and promotions and last night they were at it again as the club look to cement their place in league one and, who knows, reach even higher?

Recent away games have shown the Imps are at a distinct disadvantage compared to nearby clubs in that stadium limitations have a bearing on the income that can be generated. Rotherham United and Doncaster Rovers were able to take advantage of City’s amazing away followings by offering as many places as we could sell but, as last night showed even a sold out game did not produce a totally full stadium, the gate would have been over 10000 otherwise, so nights like Wednesday become even more important to the club in terms of revenue and with that the ability to compete in league one.

That’s a rather hard headed appraisal of what was really a celebration of everything that is good about City at the moment. Last night wasn’t about money, it was about pride, pride in our club, which has been through the bad times and survived. Pride in our board who have resisted the temptation to go for broke and instead risk the accusations of lack of ambition by saying no, we’ll pay our way, live within our means. Pride in our supporters. It must have been great TV for Sky. I don’t know whether you watched the Newport game the night before. It was as flat as a pancake unlike Sincil Bank last night. Pride finally and most importantly in our players who entertained us royally, gave us an amazing performance which overcame the defeat and left Everton, the great Everton, so relieved at beating us that they, frankly, made fools of themselves, some of them, not all.

For a couple of our players you do wonder whether they too could ply their trade at the top. All of our players acquitted themselves well. Not for them the kick it long and run after it mentality. Danny Cowley wants his players to perform a certain way and that is what they’ll do. Yes, Everton were silky smooth, I was really impressed by them but I was really impressed by us too. I’m sure there were more than a few Toffees supporters this morning thinking league one is not a bad standard, not bad at all.