Great Expectations.

 

I was listening to BBC Radio Lincolnshire after the match on Tuesday. I was tuned in anyway as I turned the sound off on ifollow and listened to their commentary instead of the one provided. It sounds like that was a good idea judging by some of your comments.

Anyway I was dreaming away, a bit ecstatic if I’m honest and not really paying all that much attention when up came what I presume to be BBC Humberside and the interviewer was absolutely slaughtering the Hull manager at the way they played, the result, the players performances. It was quite an eyeopener considering they had just held the league leaders, the team that had knocked them out of the FA Trophy the week before.

We then had played an interview with Ipswich Town’s assistant manager I think it was. Not quite so overt but ditto really. You were rubbish tonight was the theme, why aren’t you top of the league?

Why aren’t they top of the league? Or Sunderland or Portsmouth or Peterborough for that matter. It’s not as simple as that is the honest answer as City found out when relegated. We were showing no sign of climbing out of the mire when we were there, look at Stockport, Wrexham, York. Big or relatively big clubs all of them, certainly in the context of non league.

Compare and contrast with Lincoln City. No one was questioning Michael Appleton on Tuesday as to why we’d “only” drawn with Hull. Personally I was delighted, I dare say you were too. In the wider context delight probably isn’t the word. Disbelief possibly sums it up better.

For quite some time I subscribed to the big club, why aren’t we winning games mindset when we were down there. It amuses me no end to think what the likes of Hull, Sunderland and Ipswich think when they see little old Lincoln looking down at them. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in the Ipswich boardroom or any of them for that matter.

And yet it isn’t rocket science is it? I’ll qualify this by saying it does help when the board of directors can sanction an £800000 cash injection but the secret, apart from that is complete harmony between chairman, board, investors, management and fans. Supporters who understand the term and support the club, not just the team, through thick and thin. A team fashioned with due regard for the economics of the situation and in a sustainable way. Oh yes, and the best manager in the league by a country mile. One that’s tried and failed at various clubs and for various reasons but now, I sincerely hope, has realised that he’s come home and is in this enterprise for the long haul.

That’s about all really except to say, well, isn’t life grand?

City top previous effort.

 

Last time at Gillingham turned out to be the sort of game Lincoln City struggle at. I suppose it was a compliment of sorts but Steve Evans’ men shut up shop and City failed to get the shutters open, going down by the odd goal.

Would it be better this time? The answer of course is score an early goal and let them worry about us.

When it came it certainly wasn’t after a spell of sustained City pressure. Against the run of play would be more accurate but it was a very cute goal, in front of the Sky TV cameras and showed how far the Imps have progressed and, on last nights evidence, Gillingham haven’t. You couldn’t fault them for effort though, they kept going in the face a penalty, converted this time and two other goals, three if you count the disallowed one that shouldn’t have been.

For me it was the quintessential away performance. It shouldn’t make a difference, home or away, in the absence of a crowd but somehow it does. There is the inconvenience of a long journey in the case of Gillingham but other than that teams seem to go for it more if they are at home, which Gills did, but they didn’t have enough to get past City.

I heard some fans complain that the Sky pundits favoured Gillingham. I didn’t detect that and I thought they were complimentary about the Imps style which I suppose was brought into focus playing an opponent employing rather more British tactics if I can call them that whereas City are playing the more continental, if that’s the right description, game favoured by most coaches in league one at the moment.

That would seem to infer that Steve Evans is the dinosaur and the big Apple the enlightened thinker. I couldn’t possibly say but our old adversary did manage to get himself in the referees book and it was said in commentary he’d had more yellow cards this season than any of his players which does seem to point to the sort of combative outlook he’s always employed, which is something you wouldn’t expect of the usually reserved Michael Appleton.

Needless to say, on reading the report in today’s paper the referee was responsible for Gillingham’s travails although Evans did have the grace to praise City. Is the old bluffer losing some venom?

Whether he is or isn’t is no concern of ours, City return to the top of the league and, having played on the Friday now have a little more down time to contemplate the latest, massive test against Hull City. Life’s anything but dull.

Lincoln City go through on penalties. I kid you not.

 

Hands up everyone who thought, when the referees whistle signalled the end of the match, right that’s it then. City, in the shape of Jorge Grant, and before him John Akinde, had been the very model of spot kick consistency then all of a sudden those dead certs became less so and then on Saturday not one but two spot kicks went unrewarded.

The game ebbed and flowed, an apt description of a match almost played underwater by the end. Both teams were changed, not a lot but both showed, despite the state of the pitch and despite the changes, why they were first and second in the table.

City took the lead courtesy of Harry Anderson, relishing a start which is a bit of a change to the usual programme, before Hull came in on the tide and threatened to sweep the Imps out to sea. If I had an editor they’d be saying that’s enough coastal metaphors but you get my drift. (That really is that)

So to penalties. To be specific a masterclass of ineptitude although it started off alright, James Jones netting with ease. Alex Palmer gave a hint of what was to come as the competition descended to farce. We can blame the conditions but I’ve seen better efforts at under 12 level.

Then, two, three I suppose moments of grit, determination, bravery and skill. Anthony Scully up next. Michael Appleton revealed afterwards he had placed Scully in the line up to see what he was made of. Large amounts of winning stuff was the answer. You know who was next in City’s penalty roster, for the same reason, Grant, next to face his destiny. If there had been fifty thousand in the stadium the pressure could not have been more intense. Like Scully, Grant confronted his demons and banished them. After Brennan Johnson showed the precocity of youth it was then up to Alex Palmer, the coolest man in the ground, to break Hull hearts and send City one game away from Wembley and possibly a chance for Michael Appleton to banish his Wembley hoodoo too. Roy of the Rovers surely couldn’t have had a script as corny and yet here we are, disbelieving as we watch on our computer screens or listen to our radios but, yes, this is really happening.

Alex Palmer said after the game he thought he should have saved all the penalties and his manager agreed. Me? I can’t remember a thing, a gibbering wreck well before that point.

 

 

 

The better team? Forget it.

 

The times I heard an opposition manager say, on getting beaten by Lincoln City, we were the best team, we played the best football. One in particular now doing rather well in league two springs to mind. I would say to that, who has the points? Well on Saturday City looked the best team and certainly played the better football but did we get the points, no we didn’t. Did we deserve the points? No, we didn’t because, despite all invitations to do it, including two penalties, City did not get the ball in the onion bag as Brian Clough was wont to say, not to mention Lincoln City legend and all-round good egg, Chris Ashton.

Is it a disaster? No. Is it a setback? Not really provided City do what they have all season and bounce back and go on another prolonged points gathering exercise. Was it a surprise? I wouldn’t say so, we always seem to struggle against Doncaster Rovers these days.

The Imps will move on, no doubt about it, in fact looking at the news of comings and goings this week as the transfer window closes City seem to have their eyes on next season already whilst keeping a close eye on this one. For the club, whilst the defeat is a bump in the road life goes on and business continues.

Talking of which I and no doubt many more of you got notification today of the forthcoming AGM for shareholders only followed by a fans forum. It’s probably just as well this event is going to have to take place on line as I’d imagine the club has little idea how many shareholders are going to want to take part with a very large increase in the number of them. For new shareholders, effectively owners of the club, this will also be an opportunity to find out how the AGM works.

Anyone expecting the meeting to be a bit like a fans forum may be a bit disappointed as it’s nothing like that. The club hierarchy will be there and any questions, about the running of the club, finances, likely stadium improvements, this is your opportunity to ask them. You will also vote to appoint directors, approve the accounts and hear what the clubs accountants have to say about the figures. If you want to find out what the manager thinks about tactics for the next fixture, what players are training well you’re at the wrong meeting. You can ask that at the fans forum.

Don’t necessarily expect an answer though.

Much improved Cobblers still no match for Splendid City.

 

Northampton Town were almost unrecognisable from the rag tag army that took on Lincoln City at the Sixfields stadium a few weeks ago where they conspired to get booed off by their own supporters after an abject performance that suggested a long hard winter ahead.

Cobblers started off in some style justifying City fans fears that three points was far from a foregone conclusion but thoughts that they couldn’t necessarily keep up their searing pace began to be justified as City refused to bend to Northampton’s will and eventually clawed their way to another three points.

City are unbeaten in six now and show no signs of being unable to maintain their grip on the top spots as maybe some pundits were expecting but the next few games will show if the Imps are the real deal.

Maybe they will, maybe they won’t but theses are exactly the sort of games that have to be put to bed if promotion is to be achieved and City showed their appetite for the fray is undiminished as they leave the Christmas programme behind and the nights draw out.

Cobblers were perhaps still shell shocked from the battering they received before Christmas and they certainly showed there is more to their game than the kick and rush tactics they employed last time out. I said at the time, as did several Imps fans, that I refused to condemn them for their approach to the game the last occasion the teams met but it has to be admitted, as was often said of the Imps that they were good at what they did. That was usually a very backhanded complement but the fact remains that City often prospered from their pared back tactics and it was no use complaining when teams were beaten by City’s version of the game. That was then though and Northampton’s version was nowhere good enough to live with City and the new improved even thoughtful approach wasn’t either.

Michael Appleton made some changes to personnel and tactics for this game. Did they work? Well three points says they did and when all said and done that is all that matters.

Will they stay the course? All you can say is we are about at the halfway point and City are joint top. Whether they can stay there may be clearer this time next week but whatever happens the Imps are in some exalted company and I would not imagine some of the rivals round about us and particularly their fans will be particularly enamoured to be rubbing shoulders with us.

Those of us of rather less tender years will remember that this is not the first time City have looked out at the prospect of second tier football. It didn’t happen for us last time but I don’t recall City being anything like as ready to make another leap forward under the great Colin Murphy with the club almost in a state of civil war and the hierarchy unwilling or unable to make the necessary investment to make progress happen. In these unprecedented times City are a model of harmony compared to those now distant times and whilst it would be a seismic shock to the league one football fraternity not to mention our own supporters, I certainly wouldn’t bet against us.

 

 

The Imps and Posh went to sea in a beautiful red and white boat.

 

It looked for some time like City would get soaked too but they eventually steadied the ship and despite what Posh's manager said, well he would wouldn’t he, were a little bit unlucky not to take all the points.

I watched the Sky offering and at one point their camara showed Posh manager Darren Ferguson sat in the stand texting. Wonder who to? Are you watching this, how the hell are we not leading any more perhaps?

Well after the start they made you do wonder yet all along I was thinking, they can’t keep this up all game and indeed they didn’t and it was City, given the wounds they had inflicted upon Peterborough, who surely were the most aggrieved at failing to extract maximum points.

That they didn’t probably rests on the shoulders of one of City’s most reliable performers and most reliable penalty takers, Jorge Grant. That other spot kick specialist, John Akinde got all sorts of grief, wrongly in my view, when he fluffed one, at Notts County but there was none of that, quite rightly, yesterday when Jorge had a rush of blood. He’s still pencilled in as a possible player of the season in my book and many others too I’d think.

This game had the sort of top of the table clash feel I didn’t get from the other battles against the leading sides, the sort of game, now were banished from the stadium, you’d feel most comfortable watching from behind the sofa as Peterborough, predictably, started at full speed leaving us all wondering if we’d ever get the ball and successfully hang on to it.

City did eventually get in the game and gave as good as they got but, for me Tom Hopper was a big miss and the game surely cried out for Harry Anderson to get on one of his raids testing tired Posh legs later on. Well they weren't available and it's no use crying over spilt milk. It was pointed out in the analysis on tv that City’s possible achilles heel is the size of the squad and that of course is a worry.

However one door closes and another opens and Morgan Rogers came on and gave us a glimpse of what we may be getting in the weeks to come. Gary Hutchinson said on Matchday Live that Rogers wasn’t a shoo in for the Imps but after that cameo I wouldn’t be surprised to see him grab a place in the starting line up before long and he’s going to take some shifting once he’s in.

An honourable mention for Anthony Scully who took the Sky man of the match award, Radio Lincolnshire gave it to Jorge Grant. Both were stand out players but I was pleased to see Scully get his accolade after probably his best performance in red and white.

Later on in the evening I watched Hull and Sunderland grind out a turgid one-all draw, the ideal result for us and wondered, not for the first time in these almost unprecedented times if that little imp high up on his perch in Lincoln Cathedral has got his red and white striped shirt on again.

Ready or not. Here we come.

 

Danny Cowley had a saying he used quite a lot. Oh, this club or that club, they’re a year ahead of us, or we’re two years from them. I suspect what he meant was, don’t expect too much just yet. He was wrong of course or at least he didn’t mean that at all because the goodies just kept on rolling in.

Yesterdays win against Wimbledon was just the kind of performance that brings rewards. City were certainly not at their best but had a bit too much for their opponents. That’s the way it goes usually. Very few sides are totally dominant all the time, to be successful you often have to be a bit better, have a bit of luck, don’t make so many mistakes.

As for being ready, who is? Listening to Clive Nates on BBC Radio Lincolnshire yesterday his attitude seems to be, you get promoted, we’ll worry about the finances. It’ll be a worry too. We were a big fish in a small pond in non-league, not that we always behaved like it. In league two City were still a sizeable animal, thanks largely to said Mr Cowley, a forward-thinking board, investors who aren’t afraid to invest and you, my dear fellow fans, turning up in the numbers you have.

Now in league one we’re a relative minnow and worse than that we fans sit at home so you get a double whammy of less income, at a time its desperately needed and our vocal support, that I hope also plays a part. To get promoted yet higher would surely blow the fuse. It would mine.

Talking of Clive Nates, it was my birthday recently and I received a happy birthday message from him. Now I’m sure a lot of you will say, don’t flatter yourself, so did I. In a modern business it’s not that difficult to do that sort of thing although I’d imagine quite a lot of clubs would be too grand or would regard their supporters as cannon fodder and not wish to dirty their hands communicating with the hoi polloi but not our Clive. Furthermore it was not a standard message delivered at the push of a button in the office because when I replied wishing him and everyone at the club a Happy Christmas I got a reply to that. What sort of chairman would find time, on Christmas Eve to wish a happy birthday to one of thousands of supporters? The best sort I’d say. In a time of, to put it bluntly, charlatans taking over football clubs, I could name some but won’t, stripping those clubs of their assets or running them into the ground, how lucky did we get landing Clive Nates in these uncertain times? Very very lucky gets nowhere near.

As to the game, I suppose we should at least touch on that and I’m glad I spent a tenner to watch it on i follow rather than do as I usually do and listen to the commentary on the radio. I’ve noticed our commentary team get a bit of stick lately but, come on, sat there in reception as a result of the current travel restrictions producing a commentary as good as that watching the game on i follow just like we were I say well done. I know some of the sports team follow me on twitter so may read this so I say again, well done.

I say well done to our team too. Wimbledon were none too shabby, they won’t have to play many teams as good as us and I think they’ll be alright. It was good to see Alex Woodyard again, he’s lost his way a bit, but I’d have him back. It’s a salutary lesson in his case, taking the Peterborough United shilling and then realising the grass isn’t always greener. Oh, and Ollie Palmer scored against a former club. Imagine my surprise!