Memories are made of this.

 

I couldn’t help but think back to that FA Cup run the other night and that wonderful day at Ipswich, a town I’d never been to. In fact we made a weekend of it. My first impression was it wasn’t a very big place, about the size of Lincoln by my reckoning and yet this club had operated at the very highest level of English football, successfully.

Of course you do wonder if Ipswich Town ever could scale the heights again as the nature of club ownership has changed so much. I thought how friendly everyone was and, settling down to a table in a pub near to the ground, the total lack of any animosity.

We were little Lincoln City then, no threat to them and I remember feeling quite intimidated at the size of the stadium. They must have drawn support from the county and beyond to fill that place, it’s very traditional and I got the feeling of being quite cooped up. The fact that we were so numerous was a factor too but I thought of it as a marvellous day out made even better by the fact that we didn’t lose but sure it would all end in a few days at Sincil Bank. Little did we know it was the beginning of the story, not the end.

So, back to Portman Road this time as equals, well in fact, now we occupy a higher league position although in many ways we are behind them. We certainly don’t boast an awe-inspiring stadium like that although many of us love Sincil Bank. Personally I think there’s an awful lot to do either in LN5 or elsewhere and even if we did reach the top, which I’m not expecting, we wouldn’t need anything like Portman Road, which reminded me of Goodison Park in many ways, it would be like Rotherham or Doncaster.

I digress. I thought City were, is the word unlucky? No I think unfortunate. The Imps looked the better side, I would say that wouldn’t I? Sadly City didn’t have the wherewithal, troops or mind to press on to get the second goal. Had that been scored, I don’t think there would have any way back for Ipswich. However, pushing on may have resulted in a loss and we’ve seen how easy it is to slip to that result.

Mick Mills, on Radio Suffolk, who provided the commentary on ifollow ventured the view a draw was a fair result. I thought that at the end of the game but I’m not so sure now. Just as some clubs and their fans see defeat by Lincoln City as something that really shouldn’t befall them as they’re far too grand for the likes of us, I sometimes think we ourselves are usure how far the club has come in the last few years. Yes, you don’t approach the LNER Stadium with any kind of awe although, when we’re back we do generate much more of a big match atmosphere than we used to. That’s before the game starts.

Anyway, here we are. That’s another big test passed, sort of. I notice Michael Appleton is relishing the big games to come. It’s a good chance to put the cat amongst the pigeons and put a dent in another supposedly big clubs’ ambitions. I needn’t worry then. Who am I to argue with the Big Apple?