What a day, what a team, what the hell happened?

Hello all.

Today my growing indifference towards Lincoln City FC continued as City lost to Alfreton Town......Alfrebloodyton Town. It's a far cry from our days as a club that was regularly chasing promotion from League Two during the early years of this millennium and almost ironically, this extremely poor performance came just hours after I had bought a DVD copy of Lincoln's 7-1 victory over Rochdale from a charity shop. I already owned the DVD but my copy was scratched to fuck, so I couldn't watch that anymore.

So on such a miserable day for Lincoln City, I have decided to remind you all about arguably the last truly great performance the club put in.

First I'll give a bit of a back story.

Lincoln had been in the Playoffs for the previous four seasons but missed out each time. The fourth of those defeats saw Keith Alexander (RIP) leave the club and he was replaced by his former coach John Schofield, with John Deehan as manager.

Under Schofield and Deehan the Imps went from a side famed for their long ball tactics to the best footballing side in the division. We were the highest scoring team in the country, we were the last team in the Football League to lose (going unbeaten at the start of the season until September 16th) and we were blowing teams away.

The Imps were challenging at the top of the table and fighting it out at that time with Swindon and Walsall for top spot, and City's 5-0 win at Barnet a week before left the Imps breathing down the necks of the top of the table sides. A midweek defeat on penalties to Grimsby in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy came inbetween the game at Barnet and the match at Rochdale, but that was not an indication of things to come.

So that leads me nicely onto the game.....below is my original match report from my website.

Breathtaking City SMASH Rochdale

By Nathan Jackson
October 21 2006


City beat Rochdale at Sincil Bank as a Forrester hat-trick, coupled with braces for Stallard and Hughes bagged a 7-1 win. It was an afternoon that most Imps fans will never forget as seemingly everything went well for the Imps. The only disappointing thing is that City didn't go top.

City kicked off the match but as usual, it was the opponents who started the brighter with some neat passing moves failing to get past the Imps defence. The pitch had been heavily watered before hand and doing that almost gifted Rochdale a goal as Lee Beevers chased a loose ball back but slipped, allowing 6ft 8 striker Morike Sako through on goal but Beevers recovered just intime to stop him shooting and City won a goalkick.

Doolan, making his 500^th appearance, was then lucky not to go into the book following several poor challenges on Mayo. With a few minutes and City had a free kick, Eaden played the ball to Stallard, he inturn played it to Amoo who tapped it into the path of Jamie Forrester and he was free on goal, the keeper didn’t come out and Forrester smashed it to his left and into the net for his 5th goal in the space of 15 days.

It was City who were well on top at this point and it wasn’t long before it was 2-0. A long ball forward looked to be about to be cleared by City’s summer trialist, Lee Crooks but out of nowhere, Lee Frecklington took the ball off him and crossed across the box where Stallard shot from a narrow angle and it entered the net, going past a bewildered Wilks on the way.



Jamie Forrester
Scored three goals against Rochdale
One of his three hatricks that season



It should have been 3 within 2 minutes when Frecklington again crossed the ball to Stallard but he could only shoot just over the bar as City looked to extend their lead. Mayo fouled Stanton on the right wing and despite appearing to win the ball easily, the referee decided to award a free kick. Lee Crooks stepped up and swung the ball in, City couldn’t get the ball clear and Alan Goodall appeared out of no-where and volleyed the ball past Marriott and into the net.

All of a sudden, like so many other times, City’s defence suddenly started to panic and Nat Brown was the next to slip on the pitch as Sako again pounced on it. He ran towards Marriott with Goodall also running with him but Sako was greedy and shot himself but it was easily claimed by Marriott who barely broke a sweat trying to get to the ball. Just like the Rochdale teams of the past, they tried anything to get an advantage and Dagnall fell over in the area with Brown nearby and claimed a penalty, luckily the ref was having none of it.

Having been on the back foot for around 10 minutes, City finally managed to come back into the game when Ryan Amoo’s shot was blocked by Gilks, however, the ball popped up and was heading into the net before James Sharp headed it off the line. Chris Dagnall was booked for kicking the ball away.

With City fans getting extremely nervous, the ball was hoofed up the field by Stallard and Jamie Forrester ran with a defender but the goalkeeper came running out and appeared set to get it, however, Forrester put his foot forward and tapped it past Gilks who collided with his defender and Forrester had the simple task of tapping into an empty net to make it 3-1 just before half time.

Rochdale produced the final chanceo of the game when they again broke through 1-on-1 with Marriott but again, they could only hit the ball straight into Marriott’s hands again and the half came to an end.

Surprisingly Sako, the one Rochdale player who looked threatening in the first half, was substituted and was replaced by Keith Barker just as the second half was about to start. Eaden gave away a free kick but Crooks’ cross was easily cleared by City and within 4 minutes, Stallard picked up the ball on the right and with City through 4 on 2, he assessed he options before squaring the ball to Forrester who had another simple tap it for yet another hat-trick but credit goes to Stallard for not being selfish and supplying Forrester with the ball.



Mark Stallard
Scored two goals against Rochdale



Frecklington sent a shot wide with 56 minutes goal before an unexpected source gave the Imps a 5^th of the day. Eaden played the ball to Forrester and the man, in search of his second 4 goal haul of the season played the ball into the path of Hughes who in turn, sent a right footed thunderbolt into the net for his 2^nd of the season.

Mayo could have scored his first of the season but he sent his close range shot over the bar. Rochdale made a substitution as yet another player who almost joined City in the summer, joined the action as Darrell Clark came on for James Sharp. For the third time this season, the referee had to go off as he wandered off to the changing rooms, to be replaced by his 4^th official and a steward had to take over in his role.

Within 2 minutes, Eaden was again involved as he played the ball to Ryan Amoo, the midfield ran to the edge of the box before passing it to Stallard who hooked the ball into the net and it was 6-1 to the Imps in what will more than likely go down as the easiest game the Imps will have during the season. Chris Dagnall was replaced by Clive Moyo-Modise for the visitors. Within 30 seconds and Forrester hit the bar.

It turned into a very comfortable afternoon for the Imps and it wasn’t long before it became 7-1 as Stallard’s cross was met by Hughes for his 2^nd as he easily beat Gilks. Frecklington was denied a shot on goal as Goodall got in the way.

Forrester’s number was then held up as he was replaced by Leon Mettam, leaving the field to a standing ovation from all fans in the ground, including the Rochdale fans. In added on time, Frecklington was replaced by Gritton who almost instantaneously provided Mettam with a chance to score but he couldn’t keep his first touch in play.

The game came to an end with one of the loudest cheers you’ll hear in a while.

THE AFTERMATH

City gained national attention because of this victory, especially as it followed on from the 5-0 win at Barnet the week before. Seven days after this match and Lincoln won 1-0 at Swindon Town, that despite being second best by a country mile on the day, and that meant that for the first time since 1997, the Imps were top of the table.

The stay at the top didn't last long though as three league defeats in November saw City fall away and despite getting back in the title chase in January/February, a poor end to the season saw City fall into the Playoffs and eventually lose to Bristol Rovers.

Since then the Imps have been on a slow decline, have been relegated and lost more than half our games in three of the five seasons since.