Due to Northwich beating league one Charlton Athetic in round one,and the Imps struggling a bit in League two, this game was chosen to be screened live on ITV 1, because of this it was an early kick off (12.30).
I have been doing nights recently so i was wide awake sat 4.30 am however there always seems to be other imps fans on facebook at that time of the morning to chat to including the "mr big head of security on the stacey west section of Sincil Bank. He wasnt travelling to the game but he told me to keep an eye out for any news on the big story at sincil bank at the moment.
After their impressive debut at the Grimsby Town match, I got some cherry blue bon bons from the sweet shop at the corner of West street. I then got some sandwiches from the best Sandwich shop in Retford; Bacons
The sandwiches here are fantastic, they are proper traditional sandwiches, no fancy crap no poncey sauces and different types of bread. The bread is some of the nicest you will ever find and at £1.10 for a cheese roll it is great value. If you get the chance try the lamb burgers they are fantastic!
The bazmobile set off from Retford at about 9.15 am the journey over to Northwich was one of the most bizzare we have ever been on. It was spitting with rain when we left then as soon as we got to the other side of Sheffield we were greated with a blanket of snow at least 1 and a half inches deep. Then as soon as we came out of the hills the snow on the ground disappeared and we were greated with lush green hills and fields.
let it snow let it snow let it snow!
Northwich play in a new stadium on the outskirts of town in the middle of an industrial estate. There is plenty of parking around the ground and at only £2 they aren't ripping you off like some car parks near football grounds do
A big following was expected from Lincoln due to the clubs' great gesture of putting on free coaches for the fans. Normally Lincoln take between one and three coaches to the away games, today that number had swelled to seven and to our surprise they had got there before us!
As seems to be the norm, the away end was over the other side of the ground to where we had parked. This gave us the chance to check out the stadium. The main stand has clearly had a lot of money spent on it. We called in the clubshop but sadly they had sold out of badges. I was quite glad to get out of the clubshop due to a couple of screeming kids in there. The clubhouse doubles up as an Italian resturant and was very nice, probably the best i have seen this season and is easily up to league standard. Baz said that the toilets were very smart so thats another tick, we didnt have a drink as it was about four deep at the bar.
First point of call when we got into the ground was to check out the food. There was a bit of a wait but it gave us chance to chat and view the stadium. We had tickets for the terrace which let us go either behind the goal or to the bit on the side. We decided to go on the uncovered bit behind the goal so we may be seen on the tv! Yes we are sad! If it rained we could always shoot over to the side of the pitch and go under cover where the majority of Lincoln fans were.
I must say that for a non league ground i was a bit disappointed with the food. I had a cheeseburger and a tea which came to £3.50 which wasn't too bad. The bread was nice but the burger was only average with the tea being quite poor.
Baz said that the chips were a bit greasy. If you want a second opinion on the chips then if you see this chap below, ask him, because i saw him carrying 3 trays of them away from the food counter,(i am not saying that they were all his!) he then beat me in the camera dual!
This picture doesnt do the female steward justice, she was nice enough to stand back while we had the picture dual and she seemed to be enjoying herself; a definite contender for female steward of the season, more like her would be very welcome at football!
We positioned ourselves to the right hand side of the goal to watch the match. Scott Kerr kept his place in midfield and it was good to see Adam Watts playing after his injury last week against Grimsby. Chris Herd on loan from Aston Villa made his debut for us and did very well.
As you would expect with a strong vocal crowd behind them and the TV cameras being there the home side had the better of the first ten minutes. The tactics were set early on. Any free kick or throw in was to be launched into the box towards their huge centere half. This had caused Charlton all sorts of problems. The Imps counter to this was to place our Kano Smith in front of the centreback and big Janos behind him and overall this tactic worked well for the Imps.
Chris Fagan gave Lincoln the lead with what was our first attack of the game; a well hit volley, because we were low down we didn't get a great view of it, but from talking to people who saw it on tv it was a good finish. The rest of the first half was uneventful with Northwich using the longball and the Imps keeping the ball well and making Northwich chase it. Just before halftime Baz went for a drink and said that the girl behind the food counter thought we were a greedy bunch as the Imps fans had eaten alot more than they expected!
Just before the second half I had to go to the toilet, I had that sinking feeling in my guts that any man who has been out at night before and had a large kebab will know all too well. Maybe it was the Elvis records they played at halftime that set me off, i dont know.
Anyway i missed Northwich's equaliser and a minute later Jamie Clarke's goal to give us the lead again, these things happen, well to me anyway! The Imps were strangling the game more and more as Northwich tired. Jamie Clarke added a third after a great through ball from Scott Kerr set him up (Kerr in fact set up all three goals)
The Imps played out the rest of the game to reach the third round since 1999!!
One last thing,when we got back to the car somebody had placed a leaflet under the windscreen wiper (not just ours) advertising gym equipment!!!!! Like Baz or myself need any of that!
Admmission £12
Programme £ 2.50 very good section about Lincoln 8/10
Ground 8/10
clubhouse 9/10
Imps performance 7/10
Man of the match Chirs Herd- won everything in the air
A message from my bowels....
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