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?

City stop the rot. Would you believe it?

 

After the last two defeats I posed the question, have the wheels fallen off the Lincoln Loco? Saturdays result, more to the point, Saturdays performance would seem to suggest no. Just as it takes more than a couple of defeats to end a promotion push and for that matter a couple of wins to make a bid for better things, to quote a well worn cliché, it’s a marathon not a sprint.

Of course, just as there are those for whom the slightest drop in form or missed pass signifies certain disaster there are those eternal optimists who believe continued cheerleading will overcome every setback and the extension of the Selenity stand will miraculously give us a stadium fit for the championship. Fortunately our board of management are of the view that club should always seek to move forward or, as with riding a bike, if you stop pedalling you will eventually fall off.

After Saturday I’m certainly more optimistic of City’s chances. Squad members being unavailable are, well, unavoidable, the Imps run a small squad, that increases the pressure. The biggest minus, unless there is some good news to follow, is the injury Jorge Grant is suffering. He didn’t convince me that he would be back before the end of the season. I hope I’m wrong.

On the other hand, certain players are really coming good. McGrandles, Hopper and Edun continue to excel. Palmer was more assured as was Montsma and there was further good news. Morton is back and showing every likelihood of a really strong and effective end to the season, Poole continues to impress and Bramall has overcome that iffy start to show us why the manager put his faith in him.

I could go on, players are coming back, improving and putting in some sparkling displays. What a difference a week makes. When you add in the return of Bridcutt, surely not all that far away, in fact all the walking wounded with the exception of Grant and, sadly Harry Anderson who limped away from the warm up, you have to be optimistic about the run in. I firmly believe a fully fit squad will be the match for any of the teams in this division. Even without the three I’ve mentioned it’s a good outfit.

I suppose I’d better mention Saturday’s game and I thought it was a good win insofar as they’re all good but against a solid team like Crewe, with a savvy, experienced manager and a decent league position, for a newly promoted club it was a good one to win. I have to admit that the fixture said continuation of the run of poor results to me before the game but City were having none of it. I suppose if you watched the game again, which I haven’t, you’d get the impression of a very good top of the table side dismissing a mid table hopeful.

That’s what it was of course but it was a world away from the capitulations we’ve seen lately and even before that there were signs that a blip was on the way. There will be no sterner test of whether the promotion bid is back on track than tomorrow and yet for some reason I seem to have regained some of my confidence.

Imps hit the buffers. Is it the end of the line?

 

Most of you will either remember or will have heard of a player called Stuart Bimson. For those who don’t he was a combative full back known principally for his corner kicks. In a modern game where few players can usefully put a ball in the middle he’s something of a throwback. In fact he was that even when he was playing. Then, as now we had a reputation as a rowdy and partisan crowd, we had the siren and together we, players and crowd, struck fear in many a defence.

Bimmo as he was known was certainly not the sort of chap to have his pint spilled after the match, in the days when players had such a thing. You’d want to be pretty quick with a replacement, that’s for sure.

Anyway, in my working life I had dealings with Bimmo or rather his solicitor who had obviously had plenty of experience heading out Bimmo’s corners. Something went a little wrong with the transaction we were dealing with. Not a lot but the great man was not best pleased. “My clients usually sunny disposition has temporarily deserted him” His lawyer stated, with supreme irony. It all got sorted out but that stayed with me and it occurred to me last night.

I do normally have a sunny disposition. Maybe Bimmo did when playing with his children or taking his wife out to dinner (in the days when we did that). Last night it deserted me too and it occurred to me that this time, maybe, the bounce back is not going to come and this may be the end of the promotion push. We cannot, after all, complain about the repast we have been given, even if we did have to watch it on TV.

We don’t know that of course. It does really depend on how many players recover from their injuries and how soon. There’s no doubt in my mind we have a team capable of getting promoted, probably as champions. That team is visibly depleted, other teams know it and at the moment we struggle to even score let alone win a game. As we saw on Saturday the margin between winning and losing is slender. For some time against Plymouth, City looked as if they would coast the game. That old habit of finishing games strongly, seeing out the match, last minute goals, it’s all a memory though.

At the moment I’d settle for any old tat, boring nil nil, anything to break this cycle. Morton is back, sort of. Jackson is back, sort of. Add in Bridcutt and Grant and maybe we could be back in it. Frankly we could do with a good old snow storm and a couple of games off, to get some freshness back. Even that though brings it's problems, such is the lack of time available. I look out of my window however and see the snowdrops and crocus’s and, yes the daffodils to follow. I’d got in the habit of looking skywards and saying somebody up there likes us. If there’s is anything up there the message surely is, that’s your lot, you’re on your own now.

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City lose. It’s not the end of the world.

Scores of Lincoln City fans woke this morning to the realisation that the world had not ended as a result of losing at that graveyard of Imps hope, Plymouth Argyle.

City went behind, yet again to an early goal and clawed their way back into the game from two goals down courtesy of Conor McGrandles and two penalties for Hor Hay Grant who seems to have regained his touch from twelve yards only to collapse at the end as Plymouth shook off City’s dominance and claimed all three points. Cue meltdown in some quarters.

Yet, as the dust settled on a pulsating match the Imps are still in the automatic promotion places albeit somewhat stunned by the experience. The paucity of the squad is starting to be reflected in the results though as City did not really have the reinforcements that would have capped a stirring comeback as Lincoln City seemed to have regained their mojo in a thrilling mid-section of the game but were unable to secure the three or indeed any points for their endeavours.

As everyone knows the Pilgrim Fathers commenced their adventure in Lincolnshire but as far as Lincoln City are concerned, once again the city of Plymouth, having stopped City’s cup journey have now put a spanner in the works of City’s promotion ambitions. Not content with usurping Boston, Lincolnshire’s rightful claim to be the jumping off point of the Pilgrims epic trip to the new world Plymouth Argyle have put the kybosh on City’s unbeaten away run but not, surely their wider ambitions despite the setback. At five o’clock on Saturday though  it was difficult to get things in proportion and realise that City’s prospects are far from thwarted.

If City are to pick up the pieces and finish what they’ve started then yesterdays performance gave all the pointers needed. Stop the ridiculous powder puff defending at the start and cut out the unforced errors. Easier said than done I hear you say. However it’s all good preparation for surviving at the level they strive to reach. In the championship the vast majority of the slips City are making which lose them points, will be punished severely all day long and will lose them games. Just like yesterday.

  

City avenge an insult you have never heard of.

When I sit down at this keyboard to write about a Lincoln City game my intention is to write an account of that game as it happened, honest. Thereafter it’s in the lap of the Gods. I ramble on for a bit and I think, I don’t know what all that’s about but its taken an hour to write so I’ll publish it.

Perhaps Picasso used to sit down expecting to paint a picture of a lovely girl but what emerged on the canvas looked like something dredged from the Marianna Trench, with two heads, one of which protrudes from the lady’s bottom. Anyway, as usual, I digress. Wigan Athletic v Lincoln City.

Long ago in a land faraway (Lincolnshire) Lincoln City were trying to revisit the glory of the Graham Taylor years and had taken on as manager Sam Ellis, a much loved centre half known principally for his penalties. The resultant kick was either avoided by the goalkeeper much in the way you and I might avoid a train as it sped past a level crossing or possibly the ball, goalkeeper still attached, ended up in the back of the net with the keeper wondering if he had attempted to save it or the ball had simply passed straight through him.

Sam had some little success in his earlier managerial career but, sadly, as is usually the case when a manger finds himself at Lincoln, success was conspicuous by its absence and Sam was duly sacked. This was a great shame as Sam really was loved by the fans, think Gareth Ainsworth, and his reputation was well and truly destroyed by the episode.

City had playing for them at the time another revered defender, one Colin Greenall, we may even have voted him player of the season but, upon Ellis’ sacking Greenall announced he had no intention of playing for Lincoln City, he had been playing for Sam Ellis and he wanted a transfer. He was duly dispatched to an outfit which had only just emerged on our radar, Wigan Athletic. I think it was Greenall who subsequently lined up for the Latics at Sincil Bank to quite the worst reception I have ever heard for a returning former favourite.

To say I was stunned that Greenall had left Lincoln to go to a minnow such as Wigan Athletic was something of an understatement. Mind you, I was similarly stung when Graham Taylor left for another small time outfit, Watford. I wonder what happened to them?

I suppose my love affair with Lincoln City can be summed up in the words of Supertramp. “Take a look at my girlfriend, she’s the only one I’ve got. Not much of a girlfriend, I never seem to get a lot.”

Those of you with longer memories may recall not all that long after Greenall accepted Wigan Athletics shilling, twelve pieces of silver might be more accurate, they were taken over by Dave Whelan late of JJB Sports who basically built the magnificent (apart from the pitch) edifice they play in today and bought them a place in the top division. You may gather, I do not approve of such dealings and sure as eggs is eggs, once the money disappeared so did their place at the top table. They are on a downward trajectory which will not stop at league one, provided they don’t go bust.

All of which brings me, you may be surprised to, learn to yesterdays game for which I had invested £10 for the luxury of moving pictures to go along with my BBC Radio Lincolnshire commentary. I opted for the radio, placed in front of the TV rather than the home punditry provided by ifollow but unfortunately the commentary was about a second before ifollow and I found myself groaning, once when Wigan scored and again when I saw the pictures. Similarly I cheered at the goals and again when I saw them.

My friend said he was watching the home offering in it’s entirety and it was ok so I switched off the radio and listened to the delusional conjecture of yet another pair of supporters who thought their team should be in the championship at least and, once again, following the lead of Sunderland, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Charlton and Hull believed the fact they had to play the likes of Lincoln City was, well somewhat beneath them. They did say we looked dangerous though and when we scored, twice they had it confirmed.

So there’s your match report. City dragged themselves over the finish line. The feared drop out of the promotion places did not materialise but it was a tired looking group that trooped off the pitch. It’s the same for everyone though and with a young squad, you’d hope their prospects for recovery might be speedier than some.

I wish our team good rest and thorough recuperation. They’re going to need it.

City won’t be at Wembley-just like us.

 

I was remarkably relaxed about the penalty shoot-out. Over confidently as it transpired. Despite the gushing platitudes of the Sky pundits, who seem to believe Sunderland’s place in league one is some monstrous miscarriage of justice, I thought City looked every bit the league one leaders with a very measured game that I'd imagine most of us expected. On that lovely pitch, City passed the ball around with accuracy. The statistics for the first period of the game had the Imps ahead on possession, not that it matters a jot but nevertheless they did.

The first half was pronounced a damp squib by the panel, I don’t know what they expected. I imagine they thought City would approach the game like some wannabe non-league outfit giving it everything they had before the roof caved in, leaving Sunderland to serenely negotiate the remainder of the game once they’d put five past us.

Of course, it didn’t play out like that. You could see the signs there as City increasingly desperately tried to hang on to their lead and then the dam broke. Just the once.

Thereafter it was the dreaded penalties. Did City look discombobulated? I didn’t think so. People will point the finger at Remy Howarth, or triallist A as I like to call him, but not me. For my money it is all about goalkeepers and Alex Palmer got a hand to most or was it all of them? Unfortunately Palmer was unable to get more on any of them and It’s Sunderland who go to Wembley without support.

I would have liked this young side to get to the national stadium. I would have liked the club to get the prize money. I wouldn’t put it any more forcefully than that. City have bigger fish to fry and can now approach the task in hand with a single vision. For all Sky TV’s fawning, City go into the final approach in considerably better shape than Sunderland. One day, maybe the Imps will get the recognition they deserve. Last night I felt like Bournemouth fans must have felt, performing in the premiership but everyone expecting them to drop off their perch. They did of course, eventually but I bet they enjoyed the ride.

So good luck to Sunderland in the final, I’ve a feeling they might need some. We go on towards a horizon few of us have been over and few of us expected to see. Sky TV thought we were the poor relations. Maybe we are. Personally, I couldn’t care less.

City almost win and nearly lose. That’s the point.

 

The main talking point from Lincoln City’s unaccustomed Sunday evening bout with Accrington Stanley was a rare Alex Palmer howler letting in Stanley to take the lead. Or was it the team changes which some of us thought upset the applecart. Or the missing Liam Bridcutt, or Radio Lincolnshire’s amateur hour disaster of a commentary?

I did begin to wonder if it was the week we let the kids take over the club as time and time again we lost commentary and watched the pictures on ifollow to the accompaniment of jingles, local radio staples and Michael Hortin at one point shouting a despairing No! Fans temporarily lost the football plot and began suggesting what might be the next unwanted interjection. Things can only get better was the best one in my view.

Things needed to improve on the pitch too if City were to get anything from this game, which was starting to look unlikely as Stanley got into the groove impressively playing an uncharacteristic more direct style which left the Imps struggling to get in any type of rhythm themselves.

Poor Cohen Bramall was having a debut he definitely wont look back on with pleasure and I was beginning to wonder if Michael Appleton might revert to the usual full back pairing at half time although presumably Appleton has plans for Bramall and Poole going forward and to get hauled off at half time would surely have a devastating effect on both players. As it happens Bramall got a bit longer and Poole came off towards the end. Hopefully no harm done.

As we all know, City not only equalised but got themselves into an unlikely, dare I say even unwarranted lead, although I’d have taken the win. As it happened Accrington scored a late equaliser that few could deny them.

All the talk on twitter after the game was on the changes with the accepted wisdom that there were too many and if they were made with the Wednesday Trophy game in mind, should have been made for the game against Sunderland, the possibility of a Wembley final again surely not as important as promotion to the championship.

I’d imagine that’s the way the manager thinks too although he has in mind other considerations. It’s not as late as we perhaps think in the season and City are going to have to use their squad to the full. Better to experiment against Stanley who perhaps weren’t going to offer as stern an examination as Sunderland? How wrong can you be is what I think, with the benefit of hindsight.

It’s important too, as we say to ourselves, been there, done that, to realise whilst we have had the joy of seeing our team win at Wembley a certain Mr M Appleton has not. He will maybe think to himself I can give the fans what they want and myself what I want. Let’s hope City don’t fall between two stools but, after all he’s done for us, we can’t begrudge Michael Appleton a go surely?