Stylish City banish another bad memory.

One of our group told us that Jack Payne was with us on loan, that he wasn’t our player. In my heart of hearts I knew that wasn’t correct but what made it believable at the time was, well, we don’t sign players like Jack Payne do we? We’re Lincoln City. Very occasionally we get a player like Jack and we spend a while drooling then he goes back to his club or someone like Norwich City sign him.

When I got back home I checked, yep, he was our player. In fact I spent quite a while in a daze after that game. Radio Lincolnshire had tweeted me asking if I’d come on later so I was wondering if they would ring. They didn’t so I put the Man City game on the TV and mused on what I’d just witnessed. It was like one of those day dreams that I guess we’ve all had. City get taken over by a millionaire, appoint the right manager, get promoted and start playing wonderful football as we sweep up the leagues to the championship.

Except this isn’t a day dream, it’s really happening. Not the championship thing although that’s the next step and, for me, on yesterdays evidence we’re playing championship football already. This is happening and I can’t quite believe it.

Yesterday we put another episode in our lives in a locked box because we’d rather not think about it, two episodes in fact as both are inextricably linked with Southend. The play off final defeat and the relegation from the football league at the hands of Southend’s Steve Tilson. They’re welcome to him except they’ve consigned him to a locked box themselves. Good. I don’t want to mention his name again.

I was expecting a tough game yesterday, just like I was expecting one last week and the week before. Did we get one? We certainly did at Rotherham and against Southend it started off like it was two evenly matched teams. For my money it was champagne stuff. Southend were playing some good passing football and City were too. In fact I’ll go so far as to say I don’t think I’ve ever seen such good quality football from any Lincoln City side and I’ve seen a lot.

Graham Taylor’s team was functional and powerful rather than silky smooth. Colin Murphy did not believe footballers at our level could pass the ball with any consistency so didn’t try. Allan Clarke, remember him? He was brought in to play on the deck more, didn’t last five minutes. Keith Alexander, ever the enigma played some really good stuff then got sacked and returned playing a different brand altogether and John Beck, the winning was everything to him and he didn’t care how that was achieved, no he really didn’t. John Schofields side played some lovely football but, as always with us, it couldn’t last.

So to yesterday. Once again everyone put in a great shift. It didn’t take a genius to pick out Payne as the man of the match he was simply superb. Josh Vickers didn’t have his best game ever but a clean sheet is just that. Talking of drooling, what has happened to Harry Anderson? After months, seasons watching him run down blind alleys and cul-de-sacs the ball has finally dropped. At his feet usually. Shacks is back, with a goal and it wasn’t necessary to disappoint Cian Bolger to accommodate him as Bozzy was needed to cover for the rejuvenated Michael O’Conner in midfield. My cup runneth over. It’s taken the best part of sixty years of mainly pain and heartache to get to this point. I’m loving every minute of it.