A lot has happened to the Imps since we last graced the third round of the Cup. We had three Chairman, seven managers (plus two three caretaker managers) been relegated, been in administration, had 5 failed playoff campaigns including two final defeats, changed the club badge, made Sincil Bank an all seater stadium, seen Boston United join and leave the league, and the return of the old enemy Grimsby Town to our league. In 1999 Lincoln were in what is now league one Grimsby in the Championship.
Else where i was still living at home, out nearly every night in either Jenkins club (sadly missed) or the Anchor; playing in Local darts league in Retford(i was never late for work but then again i didn't start till 8 so i could get away with it)
In the charts this song was sitting proudly aloft at the top of the charts....
Back in 1999 The Imps faced Sunderland at home and lost 1-0 to a deflected goal that went in off the post. Gavin Mccann got the goal that day and as fate would have it was on the Bench for Bolton 11 years later to face the Imps. He was also on the bench in 99
ticket from the last time the Imps made the third round of the FA Cup
The Weather in Great Britain has been dreadful over the last few weeks. Bolton lies in Lanchshire which meant going cross country in the snow. We left in good time and it was just as well that we did as traffic was crawling over the M62 Motorway at snails pace. Although we had enough cheese sandwich's and doughnuts to keep our energy levels up. The beauty of games like this is that there is no pressure on us to beat a team three leagues above us. Imps chairman Steff Wright was interviewed on the national sports radio about the game and what it meant to a club of our size in terms of raising our profile and the cash we have made through out our cup run. Only on 3rd round cup day would we get this kind of coverage on national radio. Quite rightly Chris Sutton was praised for getting us to the third round showing that the only way forward is for us to back Chris and his plans. There will always be one or two who wanted "their man" in charge but i feel 95% of the Imps fans who follow us all over the country see what Chris is doing and like his plain talking and honesty. How refreshing is it to be signing players from Clubs like Aston Villa and Fulham instead of Clubs like Forest who give us injury prone players or ones that are never going to be strong enough for league two. England's crushing victory in the 2nd test match in South Africa was also a talking point on the radio. Its always nice to give our former colonies a good thrashing to show them what they are missing out on.(we wont mention the fourth test).
We pulled into Bolton's ground at just gone two and paid £6 to park the car. There were a lot of Imps fans about. We had sold 1400 tickets before hand but fans could also pay on the gate so a good away following was expected. Credit to Bolton for lowering the prices for this match to £13 for season ticket holders (for both clubs) and £15 for others. Which is cheaper than most clubs charge in league two (cough cough Notts County, Bradford city).
Bolton v Arsenal in the Premier league will set you back between £27-£35 with our seats being £27. The club shop had all the normal stuff you would expect from a premier club including fake nails for the ladies. Badges were a very reasonable £2 and were of good quality. The Programme was a watered down version of Boltons normal league version but only cost £1. It was ok but i was little disappointed that they didn't do a normal issue but with the crowd only expected to be a third of what they get in the league I could see why they did this.
As we went from the clubshop to the turnstile we passed the queue for the people paying cash on the gate and it looked quite long to say in was about 2.30. About halfway through the first half Imps fans were still coming in the ground. Bolton had to open up the top tier of the away end to get everybody in. In the end 3,100 Lincoln fans were in the crowd from a total of just over 12,000. The fallout about who's fault it was that so many fans missed some of the game was the talking point for the week or so after the game on various message boards and the local press. Bolton blamed Lincoln and the Lincolnshire police for underestimating the number of away fans who would turn up paying cash on the day, Lincoln blamed Bolton for not opening enough turnstiles for cash paying fans (three)
My view is that a number of factors combined to create this mess. Firstly if we are fair nobody expected 3,000 Lincoln fans to turn up. After selling 1400 tickets in the build up to the game most people, me included, thought we would have just over 2000 fans there. The bad weather also played a huge part as i am sure many fans would have arrived earlier and got into the ground on time if driving conditions were normal. But for their part Bolton should have realised at 2.30 that they needed to open more turnstile's. So draw your own conclusions boys and girls. There was hardly a queue at the ticket turnstiles and we were in the ground in a matter of minutes.
I was still full from my cheese sandwich and doughnuts en-route. My three traveling chums however were still hungrey so they each tucked into a pie and all three recieved 7/10. The seats were still wet which was a downer, but there was plenty of toilet to be paper to be nicked to dry the seats with. The view was ok and the legroom was fine.
Lincoln had a much changed line up from the Chesterfield match. So it wasnt a suprise that Bolton took total control early on. The home side had sacked Gary Megson in the week so the Bolton players had a point to prove to any potential new managers watching on. Lincoln chased and hassled Bolton but no suprisingly didnt see much of the ball although we managed to limit Boltons shots on goal. I dont know much about Boltons normal starting line up so i have no idea if it was there strongest side or not. In games like this the underdog just has to battle away chase everything like mad hope the big side has an off day and then try to nick a goal,As the half went on The Imps forced a couple of corners and started to see more of the ball although Bolton were different class when it came to passing the ball around.
HT 0-0
After getting to the break even we were starting to think that we may, just may, nick a draw here and get a reply back at Sincil bank. Bolton had other ideas though as they took the lead shortly after halftime when a ball across the box was turned into his own net by Moses Swaibu. Own goals are killers at the best of times but it must be even more soul destroying to score one then look up at the giant replay screens and see it again..and again. We dont have giant screens in league two and to be honest i am glad as i was getting fed up with all the adverts the Bolton were churning out throughout the game.
A minute later it was game over. Somehow we lost the ball from the kick off Bolton raced down the left, knocked it in for Chung-yong lee to pick out the top corner perfectly. That passage of play showed the difference in quality between the Premeiership and League two. One minute we are thinking we can get a replay then a minute later its game over.
This opened the game up and Lincoln with nothing to lose took the game to Bolton who were content to play on the break. Chris Herd and Scott Kerr took control of the midfield and drove the Imps forward. Herd forced the Bolton keeper in to a number of good saves and the Imps forced a flurry of corners. Fitness levels began to tell though as the game went on and Bolton added further goals in the 82nd min and the very last minute of added time to give the score a one sided look that didnt tell the whole story of the game.(this was backed up by the radio reporter after the game and the national press on Monday)
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There was chaos in the carpark after the game with only one entrance open. We got out at about 5.45 an hour after the final whistle which lead Baz to tell the car park guy to "come on sort the cunt out you twat for fuck sake!" we got through and didnt suffer any "old boy blind side attacks" like we had at Telford in round one.
All in all it was a good day out and nice to see how the other half of football live in the top division. I just hope it isnt another 11 years till we get to the third round again.
Addmission £13
Programme £ 5/10
Badge £2
Food -pies got a combined 21/30
Ground 7/10
Imps performance 8/10 seems odd for a 0-4 scoreline but i thought we did ok.
Imps man of the match- Chirs Herd
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