City are all the better for the experience

Steve Tilson was finally able to call upon the services of some wiser old heads on Saturday and it showed as the team arrested the alarming series of losses in the fixture against Crewe Alexandra. In the end it was, not for the first time, a case of so near but so far as with a kind of inevitability the team from higher up the table were awarded a penalty which many regarded as dubious and which was duly converted by Clayton Donaldson. All this after City were denied what looked a clear spot kick when Julian Kelly was upended in the first half.

Lets not get too carried away though, not many of us would have refused a point prior to the game against a side that had not so much defeated Cheltenham but had kicked their doors in to use an expression doing the rounds at the moment albeit in a different connotation. With the Imps propensity to leak goals with a vengeance latterly many feared a new, unwanted record against an outfit that had scored eight last time out but, thankfully it wasn’t to be as the manager was able to draft in Paul Green and Clark Keltie to provide some welcome know how in what were probably swan song appearances from these two who are unlikely to feature next season. Not that these players would not be welcome in a Lincoln City squad but more that a club like Lincoln could not afford the luxury of players who can not largely play a whole season, or near enough.

As it was, despite conceding in the seventy-sixth minute having led for much of the game a point from this game at least gives the team heart and dispelled the notion that no further points can be gained from the remaining fixtures leaving the club hostages to their opponents should they start to garner points themselves. In the event, those below them did not, to any great extent gain ground over the Imps. Burton squandered another game in hand last Tuesday but won on Saturday against Cheltenham who are having a torrid time at the moment and are a point ahead of City. Barnet continued where they left off before the Mad Dog’s brief tenure in the managers hot seat, Bury putting paid to two of our rivals in the space of a week, but of course we play them next. Stockport really do look dead and buried at the foot of the table and lost to Shrewsbury. City need to gain one more point to no longer fear the Hatters overhauling them.

It is difficult to see that point coming in the next fixture, away at Gigg Lane but there again who among us would have put their mortgage on a point at Gresty Road? Let’s not forget Chesterfield were dispatched on this ground recently. No toys out of the pram this time from Steve Tilson;-

“It was always going to be a tough game but, I’m proud of the lads today I thought they’ve done fantastic.

“I think in this situation you need your players to be brave, play with no fear and I thought we’ve done that today. We knocked it around really well, created some good chances, we should have won the game, no doubt about it”

Play with no fear, where did we hear that before? Oh yes, Lincoln City Mad called for just that on Friday so no complaints from us. Indeed, just for a change we offer our congratulations on a job well done. In the words of a fellow fan in the Echo Stand. “Let’s ‘ave another!”

Reasons to be cheerful?

As we sit gazing out of the windows at stately Mad Manor whilst the sun is not exactly shining it’s quite bright, there is the prospect of some lovely time off next weekend. The grass needs cutting meaning summer can’t be too far away, oh and City have not lost heavily for several days so all’s right with the world until at least Saturday at three when the Imps will take on Crewe Alexandra.

Crewe are one of those sides who kicked around with City for long enough many seasons ago, with the likes of Bradford, Tranmere, Barnsley and indeed Grimsby and then they and the aforementioned clubs departed our milky way for galaxies anew. Tranmere and Barnsley are both still up there for all we know glittering away in the heavens and of course the Mariners fell out of their lofty orbit straight past us and into a black hole that we ourselves are trying to avoid. Crewe and Bradford are back with us in our humble constellation, a constant reminder that no club has a divine right to success and also possibly that it does not bode well to forsake a careful watch at all times for there is plenty of debris around to catch the unwary out and give them a nasty surprise. The legacy that the sainted Keith left us has gradually been frittered away but, such is the generosity of our rivals that, even now, a win would probably dissipate the clouds that have gathered over us and see us over the line for another wretched season to contemplate life anew next term. If only it were that easy.

Is Scott Spencer our man for all seasons? He has said:-

“If I am selected I will give it my all for the manager, the club and the fans. I am going to go out there and give it my all and fight for every ball until the final minute”

Blimey! Is this the same Scott Spencer who ballooned the ball over the bar when it was easier to score or the one who got two in the recent reserves clash against said Mariners? Let’s hope it’s the latter because we could do with fighting talk like that.

That wily old campaigner Dario Gradi is urging his team on:-

“We need the performances to match the words and the challenge for them now is to win all five games and see where that takes us”

He knows, as do all managers in his position that it is about selling season tickets for him now. Lincoln City have other concerns. To those travelling, probably more in hope than expectation, maybe our team will surprise us. We’re due something surely. To the players Lincoln City Mad would say to you; cast off your fear, rise above your weariness. Make that run, insist on that ball, take that shot. The Americans say of the British that we are a people who stumble at every hurdle bar the last. It’s meant as a compliment. Be the players that saved the Imps and you will always be remembered for it. The alternative is not to be contemplated.

Just when we wanted to be wrong we were right.

Reading the Echo on Friday morning those of us at Mad Towers who had feared the worst thought perhaps we might have been over pessimistic in our assessment of City’s chances against Gillingham. The fans panel seemed to be more or less unanimous in their belief that the Imps would gain at least a point to ease the mounting pressure on our beleaguered team. How we wish the panel had been right and we wrong as City slumped to yet another humiliation and yet another new low. Our goals against column looks like the aftermath of the Somme and it takes a real effort to turn up at Sincil Bank to watch each new debacle with little thought of a draw let alone an elusive win and meanwhile all that is keeping our leaky ship afloat is the continued failure of our rivals, Barnet excepted who are doing this season what they did last. They have been derailed though by the loss of their manager, Martin Allen taking up the reins at Notts County . Despite that rare bit of good news, if we can be so heartless as to describe it thus, at this rate if the ceiling doesn’t fall in this season it will next as, despite the clubs up beat salesmanship, season ticket sales for next term surely will be nothing to write home about. The constant chopping and changing of managers, not that the latest change can be laid at the clubs door and more particularly the huge turnover in player personnel takes its toll on the budget.

Even that chirpy chappy Steve Tilson is now showing signs of losing his cool if the latest interview on BBC Lincolnshire is anything to go by and, rather as the government is finding out it’s only the other guy’s fault for so long and reasons start to look like excuses after a while. Were the players who have gone or lost their places that bad? Are their replacements better? Fans will have digested the gory details of the latest defeat either by seeing it for themselves or in the press or on the net so we will spare you any further distress.

Ashley Grimes, it has now been announced, will miss the next two games through suspension and of course we will miss him but, valuable though his contribution has been and we would not wish to belittle his very substantial contribution to the cause this season the considerable loss of Delroy Facey becomes more and more apparent as the season progresses, City’s form has simply been in meltdown since his injury.

We now look forward, if that is the expression, to away games against Crewe and Bury. Crewe lost at Barnet so will be in the mood for retribution (oh good) whilst Bury won at Northampton which at least kept the Cobblers below us but of course they will not want to do us any further favours at Gigg Lane. Readers of a nervous disposition will not wish to relive the game at Sincil Bank when Bury gave us the complete run around to win five nil in the first of a series of catastrophic performances fans have had the misfortune to witness. Perhaps it is really is darkest before dawn. It’s certainly inky at the moment. Hopefully the manager knows the way out of this very dark place we have got ourselves into.

End game

Until very recently, when the weather picked up it was easy to get lulled into a false sense of confidence about City’s survival prospects but now there are just six further opportunities for the acquisition of those elusive four points and even then the Imps would not be safe if those below them in the table had a dramatic turnaround in fortune unlikely though that may seem. Barnet are making an effort though, perhaps it is all the practice they have had in recent times. City are again mired in a slump and it’s difficult to see them putting that right this coming weekend. Nor does the remaining fixture list give an awful lot of reassurance, after Gillingham come Crewe and Bury away followed by Cheltenham, home, Oxford away, surely they won’t be so unintentionally generous on their own patch as they were at Sincil Bank and then we finish up at home to Aldershot. Frankly, your 50p would be better off on something, anything in the Grand National than on the Imps to prevail of their own accord although most of us in our heart of hearts expect them to still be around in League Two next year but it will be no thanks to the clubs efforts.

Your correspondent is usually a glass half full merchant so sorry to sound so downbeat but Steve Prescott was all over the back page of the Echo on Thursday encouraging us all to renew our season tickets and to get the best deal that would mean paying up by 9 May, that’s two days after the end of the season and one of those days is a Sunday. Season tickets go on sale next Monday. How many will buy then one wonders? All this is leading (honest) up to next season when no doubt we will all be fired with enthusiasm once again in the expectation that the Imps will be up at the right end of the table and challenging for a play off spot at least. Given that we know now that the manager will at best have no increase in his budget for the forthcoming term and presumably when the long suffering supporters vote with their feet when it comes to season tickets and casual attendees will wait to see how the team start off before putting their sandals away and turning up it is difficult to see any prospect for a big improvement save that most fans are still of the opinion that we have a very good manager and assistant but you know what they say about sow’s ears?

On to the here and now and City face Gillingham on Saturday. Gills are only eighth in the table so that’s all right then (stop it!) but City got their season off to a start at the Priestfield stadium back in August with Cian Hughton (remember him?) scoring to give the Imps a much needed win. Imps manager Chris Sutton (remember him?) said before the game;

"Ultimately, I am the manager and I have to carry the can for the results, but ultimately I want to do well here. It's not a job that's particularly highly paid, but that's not a grumble because it shows I am not in it for the money. Basically I am here because I want to do well and because it's a good club. Do I want to be manager of Lincoln for the next 50 years? With respect, no, I don’t. But what are the chances of me moving on if I don't do well at Lincoln? None, that's why I want to be a success. Management is tougher than it's ever been, because you never get the time.”

It’s a funny old world isn’t it?

Is it safe to come out yet?

It was always going to be a tall order of course such was Rotherham United’s superiority over Lincoln City over many, many games but the manner of Friday nights capitulation to the Millers, to be humiliated on our own patch and to have to listen to the jibes of their jubilant fans is very hard to take. Before we are accused of sour grapes let it be said here and now that Rotherham United were superior in every department and fully deserved the enormity of their win.

The people of our neighbouring county are of course well known for extolling the many virtues of Yorkshire, usually from a safe distance from it. We, in Lincolnshire smile indulgently and let it go, we have our rolling Wolds, our beaches and our market towns, our pleasant relaxed way of life and of course our beautiful city, our diversity. Our county is the North, appropriately, in the North, Southerly in the south (well almost) and Midland in the West. We are proud of our football team, well we were. Lincoln City’s struggle over the years somehow encapsulates the way we live, our isolation, we are unfashionable, forgotten even, yet those that come to visit often come away entranced by our Lincolnshire homeland.

On Friday night we played one of our nearest neighbours and our team gave the supporters of the Millers the opportunity to denigrate us, as had Chesterfield before them, another garden spot if ever there was one, in the most dismissive terms. Those of us that write about the Imps are committed fans, we buy our season tickets, and we try to find something good to say even when in reality there is little good that can be said but that “performance” made even the most diehard fan question his or her sanity. Once fans are gone it will be a long time, if at all, before they are back.

A defeat by six clear goals equals Lincoln City’s worst home performance. It could have been even more catastrophic and all connected with the club must shoulder their share of the blame. City went into this game with a boy in goal; the alternative was a goalkeeping coach. Let’s hope the experience hasn’t scarred him for life. Whose bright idea was it to drop Danny Hone, who had forged a good partnership with Adam Watts in the centre of defence? Who thought it would be beneficial to leave out a player in Jamie Clapham, a vastly experienced player when we knew we would be playing not only a very good team but one galvanised by losing their manager and on the end of a five-nil thumping themselves and replacing him with a player that has barely figured under this manager?

This column would prefer to only single out players for praise rather than criticism but in Patrick Kanyuka we have to make an exception. He put in a performance so abject that his most telling contribution was to get himself sent off in the most unprofessional manner possible. City, down to ten men at this point, improved considerably after the inclusion of Hone.

We now find ourselves looking over our shoulders again. March was always going to be tough but City have failed to garner the points needed to ensure survival in winnable games. They must now seek to gain them in some unpromising looking fixtures. Those two Aunt Sally’s Barnet and Stockport gained points, Stockport even won. Have we now reached a point when despite all the good and hard work to get in a decent position we are reliant on other teams failing to gain the necessary points rather than us rescuing ourselves? It rather looks as if we might.

A hunted quarry is dangerous prey

Not long after writing last Sunday’s appraisal of Lincoln City’s failure against Stevenage your scribe was looking at some Rotherham United offerings on the net and was surprised to see that Millers manager Ronnie Moore was under some pressure from fans, aided and abetted by the media in view of Rotherham’s position in the play off places as opposed to the automatics. Chance would be a fine thing! The Sheffield Star reported last Monday that the Millers manager looked set for crisis talks with the chairman over recent poor form. Things got so bad that when the Star attempted to quiz Moore about the situation the Rotherham chief walked away from the Stars reporter. A few hours later and Moore was no more so to speak, sacked by the Millers. They clearly do things differently up in South Yorkshire, City fans would give their eye teeth to be flirting with such disaster but the club have clearly set their sights on greater things.Whether this development will make an iota of difference to Fridays result time, as usual, will tell. Rotherham now find themselves outside even the play off positions. If the Imps are going to win this one though it will be the first time in twenty five attempts for our hapless heroes so no one is holding their breath.City are boosted by the availability of Ashley Grimes who looked as if injury might get the better of him earlier in the week. Grimes is walking something of a tightrope though as he is one booking short of a ban so he may understandably have lost a little of his usual edge. Grimes was quoted by the Echo earlier in the week as being agreeable to making a permanent signing for the Imps. Yes, it’s that time of year again!Season ticket holders can take advantage of a special offer to purchase a second ticket for a friend for just a fiver. The club will hope this promotion will galvanise Lincolnians as gates have been on the slide this season. Our friends in the North will no doubt head South in numbers, expectant of extending their impressive unbeaten run against City and should be in their usual raucous good voice so City could do with all the support they can get.In a fast moving week, for Impdom and elsewhere in the county news seeped through that keeper Trevor Carson was to be recalled, this story has been doing the rounds for a while but he has now gone, taking his TV and x-box with him, much to Julian Kelly’s chagrin, we understand. The manager will presumably be on the phone looking for a replacement as the alternative is Muzzy, no offence intended. Meanwhile the Imps have signed midfielder Tom Kilbey from Portsmouth until the end of the season. Is he any good between the sticks? Joking aside, City are short in this area, Luke Howell having perhaps made his come back a little too early and still no real news on Clark Keltie’s return to first team action.Tilson was philosophical on the goalkeeper situation;"Sunderland were well within their rights to recall Trevor – that's football," said the manager"He has been fantastic for us but his club had a 24-hour recall clause and it's their prerogative to have him back."It's not fantastic timing for us and it leaves us in a bit of a pickle but we'll have to see what we can do."I've put in a couple of calls and not got anywhere so far but I'll do my best to get someone in. These things are here to test us."Meanwhile Danny Hone warned that Rotherham will not be best pleased to have been thrashed by Chesterfield;"You always expect a backlash when a team has lost 5-0 in their previous game,"We’re way ahead of you Dan!

Right then

Hopefully that is the end of disorder on this blog. I can now keep it up to date. I have been doing some other writing, helping out with the revived Deranged Ferret but that can't be on here till the Ferret has gone out but please do subscribe as it is a fund raising effort for the Imps. Thank you.