5 Memorable Days Following Lincoln

Hello all

For the last three months I've relatively enjoyed my Saturday afternoons but that is about to be spoilt by the re-introduction of Lincoln City. However, this isn't going to be a blog where I slag off the Imps, instead I am going to look back on five of my favourite trips following Lincoln City, what made them good days and various other aspects of the day.

Please note that these are not necessarily in order of preference.

So....here we go.

SCUNTHORPE UNITED 1 LINCOLN CITY 3 - 2003/4 SEASON

Brian Laws - Is actually quite a good manager, it's
just a pity he's a bit of a prick.

Back at this time the Imps were awesome. We had just come off of the back of a season where we had been favourites for relegation and made the Playoffs, and that season included beating local rivals Scunthorpe United in three of the four meetings.

At the time the Imps and the Iron were sharing a bitter rivalry and the Playoff games had both been heated affairs, not helped by Brian Laws' (Scunthorpe manager) antics during the first leg, when he invaded the pitch after Scunthorpe scored their third goal, antagonised the Stacey West Stand and refuse to shake Keith Alexander's hand at the end of the game.

Despite a slow start to the 2003/4 season, the Imps were starting to kick into gear by the time that City visited Glanford Park in October 2003. To say the Imps dominated would be an understatement of the highest order. I make no exaggeration when I say that we could, and probably should have scored six or seven that day. It was one of the most one sided games I have ever seen in my life.

For my match report from my old Lincoln City site - CLICK HERE (please note that I have not edited that link since the day it was written)

It was just an awesome day to be an Imps fan and that fact that Scunthorpe fans were even applauding our team said it all. We were just vastly superior to Scunthorpe at the time, which seems very bizarre now given that they had spent virtually every single since at least one division above us.

Lincoln ended the season in the Playoffs, whereas Scunthorpe, who were regulars in the promotion hunt, were almost relegated. They would also comically sack Brian Laws, only to then hire him back three weeks later. Both would be involved in the promotion hunt the following season and Scunthorpe won promotion to League One, whereas City lost their second Playoff Final in three seasons. The last League meeting between the two was a 2-0 win to the Imps in March 2005.

GRIMSBY TOWN 2 LINCOLN CITY 4 - 2004/5 SEASON

So I was walking to the train station after this game and the following conversation just took place....

Them : "Lincoln are fucking shit."
Me : "We're shit and we just beat you 4-2, so what does that make Grimsby?"

He sheepishly went quiet. It was a strange walk back to the train station as there was me, a lone Lincoln fan, in a march of Mariners fans, and yet other than that nothing was said, infact one group of Grimsby fans, who even admitted to being part of Grimsby's firm, walked with me to the train station to, in their own words "make sure I got back there without any trouble," and they weren't even heading there themselves....it was quite bizarre. I don't think that would happen these days, especially after the thread about me on "The Fishy" a few weeks back.

This was all back in the days when the Imps had good fortunes against their county neighbours but when the two sides met in January 2005, few could have predicted how much of an impact it would have on Lincoln's season. City went into the game struggling to maintain a Playoff push and the fact that no-one was scoring on a regular basis at that point didn't help. The Imps were on the outskirts of the Playoffs but were playing poorly and were struggling to beat some very poor sides, which for a side which contained a lot of players who have since gone on to play in the Premiership and Championship, is pretty shocking.

Yeo scoring the first of his three goals against Grimsby
Those three goals sparked Yeo's only truly consistent
goalscoring form of his Lincoln career.

Grimsby on the other hand were on the back of two relegations in a row and were lower midtable. Their season was pretty much over already, not in danger of the drop but no-where near escaping midtable.

For my match report from my old Lincoln City site - CLICK HERE (please note that I have not edited that link since the day it was written).

Few Lincoln fans in attendance wouldn't fail to have this on their favourite away games and it was a near perfect day for City. Things would move on massively from that game for the Imps as Simon Yeo, who suddenly entered the only period of his Imps career where he was consistently scoring, fired the Imps up the table and into the Playoffs, although City would again lose out, this time to Steve Tilson's Southend United.

Grimsby on the other hand continued to have a nothing season, finishing midtable. The clubs would go on to meet several times over the next few seasons. City's 5-0 win at Sincil Bank in the 2005/6 season was the only game they didn't lose of the four meetings that season, whereas a 2-0 win in December 2006 would turn out to be the last time at the time of writing that City have beaten Grimsby, since then the Mariners have had excellent form against the Imps and have won more than half the meetings that the sides have had in all competitions this millennium.

RUSHDEN AND DIAMONDS 1 LINCOLN CITY 4 - 2004/5 SEASON

The main thing I remember about this game, or at least before it, was that I went there with a torn ankle ligament. I had been playing football just before the coaches were due to leave and I stupidly decided to shoot with my right foot (I'm left footed) but completely lost my balance and, long story short, fucked my ankle.

It must have been a sign of my dedication at the time that I didn't go to hospital, no, I instead went to the game and it must have been quite a sight to see a guy (as I was at the time) just hopping around Northamptonshire without the aid of a crutch. I assure you that hoping around for long periods of time is very tiring....especially to the top of a stand......god knows how the hell I managed to hope up that away end.

After a lot of hopping I finally got to settle into the ground to watch Playoff chasing Lincoln do battle with relegation threatened Rushden and Diamonds. I had a Kidderminster supporting friend at the time and he also had a keen eye on the result as they were fighting with Rushden to avoid relegation. Lincoln on the other hand were still in the fight for automatic promotion.

For my match report from my old Lincoln City site - CLICK HERE (please note that I have not edited that link since the day it was written).

Lincoln would go on to make the Playoffs but fail again, whereas Rushden would avoid relegation at Kidderminster's extent, but it would only delay their own relegation, which was confirmed a year later as they went down with Oxford United. Rushden and Diamonds went out of business in 2011.

As for me, I eventually went to hospital after getting back home, checking in at around midnight, nine hours after I had torn the ligament. Simon Chanter had stayed with me whilst I was waiting for a taxi, and I don't think I ever actually thanked him for that.

Drewe "Elbows" Broughton would later go on to play (and I use that term loosely when it comes to drew) for the Imps and City joined a long list of sides to be relegated with Drewe in the team.

BARNET 0 LINCOLN CITY 5 - 2006/7

By the time Lincoln City headed to Barnet in the 2006/7 season, the best footballing side in the division had already broken three club records that season. This was only in October and the Imps had recorded their best ever start to a season, as well as recording the longer run of consecutive away wins and home draws (six each). It was turning into a great season to be a Lincoln fan, at that point anyway. We were playing by far the best football in the division, and combined with the fact that a lot of teams were expecting us to play the hoofball from Keith Alexander's reign, we stunned a lot of teams.

I could have chosen any number of away games from this season. A 3-1 win over Wycombe, 2-1 at Peterborough's side full of former Lincoln players, management and coaches, a 1-0 win at Swindon to go top of the league, a 2-1 win at league leaders Walsall on TV or an excellent 2-2 draw at Milton Keynes Dons in a game that had everything (and I do mean everything - Last minute goal, a red card, a scored penalty, two missed penalties, amongst numerous other things.

I had travelled down with my friends Andy and Nigel, and I was also doing the videos at the time. Nigel refused to predict scorelines so Andy jokingly said "Nigel thinks it's going to be 5-0," ..........

For my match report from my old Lincoln City site - CLICK HERE (please note that I have not edited that link since the day it was written).

That win was the first of two in a week that saw the Imps score 12 goals as we beat Rochdale 7-1 at Sincil Bank the following week (we'll ignore the 0-0 draw with Grimsby in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy inbetween) and City were just brilliant. Things wouldn't last though as City ended the season very badly and only just made the Playoffs, losing out to Bristol Rovers.

TORQUAY UNITED 2 LINCOLN CITY 3 - 2009/10 SEASON

When you're on a coach for six hours to go to an away game, you know you've got to make your own entertainment and that's exactly what we did. There's one Lincoln fan who literally doesn't listen to what you're saying and will just give a generic answer, and when we asked "Are you going in the seating or in the terrace?" the response we got was simply "Yes".....so from that point onwards, no matter what the question, we jokingly said yes to everything.

Davide Somma - 9 goals in 14 appearances in a Lincoln shirt
Not bad for someone who a lot of people slagged off before he
had even played a single minute for the club

Both sides went into the game in the relegation battle, although City had a brilliant chance of survival with numerous impressive loan signings, including Aston Villa's Chris Herd and Leeds striker Davide Somma, who came to the club without a goalscoring reputation but would soon establish himself as a force to be reckoned with. Looking back on it, Chris Sutton may have been tactically shit, but he did get us some good players at this club....well....on loan anyway.

Anyway.......for my match report from my old Lincoln City site - CLICK HERE (please note that I have not edited that link since the day it was written).

Both sides would eventually survive quite comfortably that season, and the Somma move was beneficial for everyone. He near enough single-handedly kept City up towards the end of the year, he went back to Leeds and they knew they had a striker who could score, and Somma himself would go on to make his international debut soon afterwards, although he would get a serious injury that would halt his progression at Leeds. Chris Herd also went on to feature for Aston Villa's first team on several occasions.

Much like Rushden though, Lincoln's relegation had only been postpone as the club were relegated a year after Somma had saved us.