Just a little old blog when i charter my journey watching football and rebuilding my mental health and confidence while hopefully entertaining,educating and re-addressing the past.
Lincoln City's next home match is on the 12th of March and there will be a very special visitor. The FIFA world cup trophy! THE real one. Not the one that is presented to the winning team but the solid gold one that is kept in FIFA headquarters in Switzerland.
Just for Scottish football fans who read this, the world cup is played every four years by the best 32 teams in the world and is the biggest sporting event on the planet. Teams from all over the world enter in the qualifying section and the best progress to the finals which are this year being held in South Africa. ;-) England are the only British side there (as we have been ever since 1998) but Northern Ireland did themselves proud in the Qualifying section this time around.
The World cup is currently on a worldwide tour of 68 countries around the world in the build up to this years tournament. And the only stop in Great Britain is Sincil Bank.The next day it is off to France. Martin Peters who won the world cup with England in 1966 will also be there with the trophy. This is going to be a very special event to have the world cup at Sincil Bank so get down there when the Imps take in the Bulls. If you buy a ticket in advance you will be entered into a draw along with season ticket holders to have your picture taken with the trophy. Officially its all to do with our 125th anniversary,nothing to do with us being the only match on in the country on that day.
Quite a mixed week this week. Mondays "Highlight" was coming home to find that out the cat had crapped on the floor! Surely the Imps would cheer me up away at Port Vale the next day?.......
Port vale 4-0 Lincoln city
Glad we didn't go to this match and pay £20 to watch this sack of shit. It wasn't as much the fact we got beat 4-0 it was the way we got beat. Here's how the scoring went.
1 min Port vale 1-0 Lincoln City (Pearce O.G) 3 min Port Vale 2-0 Lincoln City 5 min Port vale miss a penalty (Pearce again) 16 min Port vale 3- 0 Lincoln city 68 min Port vale 4-0 Lincoln city
Being 0-2 down in three minutes must be some sort of record for city. Thankfully it didn't hurt our league position to much as everybody else around us failed to win. Ian Pearce had a few minutes to forget but he has done very well for us in the last couple of games (his is also our assistant manager and signed as a player in case of emergency) And you don't get a Premier league winners medal (with Blackburn) being crap. We always have a kicking at least once of a season so lets just draw a line under this debacle are look forward to Crewe at home.
Champions league Round of 16
Internazionale of Milan 2-1 Chelsea Its only half time with the second leg still to come but Inter have the advantage Jose got it spot on as Inter let Chelsea come on to the and hit them on the break with devastating accuracy and deserved there 2-1 win.
Inter haven't had much luck in the Champions league in the past few years. Last season even i would say they didn't do enough against Manchester United over the two legs. The season before Liverpool beat us although the way the crowd at Anfield got Marco Materazzi sent off for two nothing challenges after 20 mins or so left a bad taste in the mouth as Liverpool scored 2 in the last 5 minutes. Had we got the draw there i am sure we would have finished the job in the San Siro. This Inter side is much more balanced though.It will be tough in West London but i think we can get the draw to go through. If we go through i would take anybody in the next round apart from Manchester united maybe. Although i was delighted to see them beat AC Milan 3-2 in the first leg. Apart from them i really don't think Inter should fear anybody but lets get past Chelsea first.
Coming up
Saturday 27-2-10
Lincoln City v Crewe
Midweek Unsure at the moment, but watch this space blog fans. Only looking at doing one match but if all else fails on Monday Wednesday or Thursday Retford are at home in the Notts cup on Tuesday night.
Saturday 6th of March
One of the high points of the year, yes its the Central Midlands league football bonanza! Three matches in one day, a whole day of white knuckle excitement thrills and spills throughout Humberside and Lincolnshire! The games are...
Eastington United v Hutton Cranswick united Westella & Willerby v Kinsley Boys Louth Town v Nettleham fc
Lincoln will Be getting a good kicked away at top of the table AFC Rochdale.
Red hot action form last seasons groundhop from the match at Bullwell Town fc.
Weekend the 13th of March. Lincoln play Hereford United at home on Friday night so that opens up Saturday to do a random match. I am saving cash at the moment for the Scotland and Dover trips (more to follow soon) and moving from fortnightly to monthly pay. but depending on cash i could do one of these or not depending on what comes up really.
Lincoln United v Cammell Larid Carlton Town v Goole Shirebrook v Selby Gedling Town v Ibstock Greenwood meadows v St Andrews
I would say Lincoln united is the favourite at the moment, but things can change!
Hmm should the arrow be turned 90 degress anti-clockwise? ;-)
Grimsby away is the match of the season. Given the fact that Grimsby are deep in the do-do and the Imps had gained some breathing space from the relegation zone in recent weeks, the match seemed all the more important. The cods were ten points behind Lincoln in the table. Having both played 30 games, a Lincoln win would make it very hard for Grimsby to overtake us but a codhead win would drag the Imps back into it while closing ground on Torquay and Cheltenham, who are directly above our fishy friends in the standings. It was agreed on various Imps message boards, and by the Retford Imps on the way to the match, that the first priority was to avoid defeat at all costs. Another fact to consider was that before the match, Grimsby had failed to win in 22 league matches; another game without a win and they would set a club record for games without a win and it would be Lincoln that helped them do it! It has to be said though, even though they haven't won since god knows when, they haven't lost many recently and got a decent point at Notts County on Wednesday night. Despite that point Grimsby fans are still very worried about relegation as this video shows..
I was up early yesterday and had radio one on. Although the breakfast show is pretty crap in the week, the weekend show is much better. It even plays music! I have had texts read out on minor radio stations about football and other random stuff i don't know anything about (like fishing at 5.00 am in the morning on the way up to Glasgow to watch Rangers) Although Gav missed my moment of glory on that one as he was asleep! But I had never had a text read on on National Radio One... until yesterday morning! Basically they wanted to know what everybody was up to this weekend so Adam from Reford said he was off to watch the mighty Lincoln city beat Grimsby town this afternoon! Having Edith read it out made it a great start to the day and could it be an omen?
Edith Bowman- gave her support to the Imps!
If you want to listen to it again just got to the Radio one website and re-listen to Saturdays breakfast show between 7.20 and 7.30 it was read out after the Tunstall gutbucket that is Mr Robbie Williams' new song. From one Radio station to another. On the way to Grimsby we had BBC Radio Lincolnshire on. Their sports coverage on the Imps is first class with build up and commentary on every Imps match. Alas the rest of the station is aimed at the over 50's or so. The sports show starts at 2.00pm so before that we listened in in the hope that there would be news on the Imps before then. No chance. But on the plus side we did have Mr Elvis Presley's "all shook up" on, which was a big hit and was sung along to by the people in the front. (even as we walked to the stadium some of the our party were humming the King's hits) I was in the back guarding the homemade doughnuts. The big question was, would the Imps be all shook up and on their way to the heartbreak hotel? As with all Grimsby-Lincoln matches the Police were out in force to make sure any trouble makers would be doing the Jailhouse rock that night. Such are the Suspicious minds of both Humberside and Lincolnshire police forces. It was decided that for the next away match we needed to have an Elvis greatest hits CD for the car, well either that or Mike Snow, another BBC Radio Lincolnshire favourite.
On the way I received a text message wishing us a good journey to the "mecca" of Lincolnshire football. Hmm I didnt realise they had switched the match to Sincil Bank. It must be something in the water in codland ;-)
Seeing as we were at the seaside it seemed rude not to have some pre match fish and chips. The fish was fresh and nice but the chips were very average. Also they failed my important test; that being you should be able to lift the fish up so you can put salt and vinegar on the chips underneath, without the fish breaking. This test was failed miserably. Maybe thats why I didnt rate the chips. It filled us up though, and was good value for £3.90. I dont think this shop will be in the running for chippy of the season, nor will it be in the running for the worst. So with our bellies full we made our way to the turnstiles. Passing some Grimsby fans carrying their plastic fish into the ground.
Grimsby's ground is showing its age, although the club is looking to move. The stand to the right of the away end is the oldest stand in the football league; being built in 1913. Opposite that is the impressive two tiered Carlsberg stand, which is one of the best stands in league two. It must be a great view from the top of it. Opposite the away end is the Pontoon stand where the die hard cods hangout and where most of the noise comes from. We sat at the bottom of the away end behind the goal. A good crowd was expected as Grimsby and the local paper had a offer on for the match. A healthy away support was also present to cheer on the Imps to what we hoped would be our first away win at Grimsby since 2005.
After four minutes it looked that the win could well be on the cards. As Chris Herd gave the Imps the lead after good work from Drew Braughton. Herd nipped in to loop the ball over the Grimsby keeper although my contact in the Grimsby end said the keeper should have done alot better with it. As it was at the other end of the ground to us I will have to take his word for it. The first 15 minutes or so were fairly even with both sides looking to attack. As the game wore on though, Grimsby started to get the upperhand. As on Tuesday night City looked vulnerable on the flanks. Roughly on the half hour Grimsby had a free kick on the left. The cross on was a good one, and one which the Imps defensive failed to deal with. Rob Burch punched it straight up in the air and took too long to get up off the floor. Eventually the ball was bundled over the line. Some city players and fans claimed Burch was fouled but I thought it was poor defending and Burch could have and should have done better with the cross. That Grimsby goal was the signal for a few Imps and Grimsby fans to charge at each other over in the corner between the Carlsberg stand and away end. The fence between them held firm and order was restored. On the pitch Grimsby really had Lincoln pinned back as the Imps repelled several waves of Grimsby attacks. We were very relieved to get to half time at 1-1
I took a stroll around the away end at half time to get a few picures. The ref and his linesman changed their kits for the second half for some reason. The Imps were playing in the grey away kit which we felt clashed abit with Grimsby's home kit as the backs are white. I would have packed the gold and blue kit for this but what do I know. Moments after the restart the Mariners come back was complete as they took the lead; Grimsby charged down the Imps left flank, the cross was controlled by Lee peacock who made no mistake and smashed the ball in to give them the lead. The noise from the home fans went up another notch as they smelt blood. City didnt buckle though, and started to come more into the game as both sets of fans got behind their sides. The match was now going back and forth and was turning into one of the best games I have seen in ages. Brian Gilmour was pushed in the box and the ref pointed to the spot. Gilmour got up to take the spot kick. I couldnt look as he placed the ball on the spot just as i turned round he hit the ball straight at the Grimsby keeper but he reacted well to hit the rebound high into the net to make it 2-2 and sent the away fans behind that goal crazy! Moments later Chris Herd had what looked like a legal goal disallowed for a foul on the Grimsby keeper. The match at this point could have gone either way. On the next Grimsby attack Adam Watts and Lee Peacook both went for a ball with Watts coming off worse. As it was down in front of the home end the home fans at first gave him a bit of stick but it was soon apparent that it was very serious as Watts was given oxygen and was carried off on a stretcher. The Grimbsy fans gave him a round of applause as he was carried off; a sign that even in big derby matches like this there is a place for sportsmanship and respect for players of other clubs. It wasn't a nasty challenge, and somewhere in the league something like this happens every week. Watts was taken straight to the local Hospital where tests have since shown he has a broken leg. He is to undergo an operation in Lincoln hospital on Monday. I am sure everybody reading this blog will want to wish Adam a speedy recovery and thank the Grimsby medical staff for getting him to the hospital so quickly.
The oldest stand in the football league being used in England-Built 1913
Due to the lengthly stoppage 7 minutes of extra time was added. In which the Imps had an effort from assistant manager Ian Pearce headed off the line. Both sides had corners as the game went from end to end. In this situaton I always think Lincoln are going to throw it away and fuck it up. Right at the death the Ref waved away Grimsby's calls for a penalty when Chris Herd looked to have handled in the box. It did look a penalty but chris herd's goal should have stood aswell so it was even in that sense. At the final whistle the Imps fans celebrated while the Grimsby fans looked fairly down beat about it.
So in summing up we could have won and we could have lost. I would always take a point away from home and this one maintans the ten point gap to the drop zone. So the big question is will this fixture be on the calendar next season?
If Grimsby keep playing like this then they can turn the corner, but they really need to beat Maccelsfield Town on Tuesday night. The Imps aren't out of it by any means but have improved since the new year. Two other relegation candidates meet on Tuesday night as Torquay and Cheltenham play. Lincoln will fancy their chances of getting something at Port Vale. Barnet, Hereford and Bradford are also still in the mix. Darlington look doomed already. In a way I want Grimsby to stay up, so we can have more matches like this with atmospheres like this. This was the most even Lincs derby I have seen and one of the best games i have seen in league two for some time. The first game between the two sides was crap but this was the total opposite to that. We also look foward to the derbys more than the other matches, I mean who can excited about playing at, or going to, Stevenage? The only local team we could gain next season would be Mansfield and they seem hell bent on throwing away their chance to get into the conference playoffs.
Admission £16 Programme £2.50 very good 8/10 Food - fish and chips 7/10 Ground 5/10 Imps performance 8/10 Imps man of the match - Ian Pearce
If anybody wants to leave Adam Watts a message of support then join this facebook group
In my eyes, out of all the sides in league two, this season the Imps have had more in common with Darlington than any other. Since i have been watching Lincoln there has only been one season when swords did not cross. Their fan base is of very similar size to ours. We were the first two sides relegated to the conference back in the 80's (also both winning the championship and our league place back at the first attempt, a feat that is rarely achieved this days) We have both been in administration in the last ten years. Also we have both had a period challenging at the top end of the table over a number of seasons without having that little bit extra to get over the finishing line and into league one. At the moment we are both in the bottom third of the table with Darlington adrift at the botttom and staring relegation in the face. Both clubs are also lead by former Premiership players cutting their teeth in management for the first time (at club level in Darlingtons case)
Last time i was up at Darlington the picture was far more rosy for the home side. It was early in the 2007/08 season and Darlo were flying at the top of league two. Fast forward a couple of seasons and its all change; the money seems to have run out. The Tin shed bar we went in before the match that day has been shut down. It was by far the best bar in League two. It has been replaced by one about half the size on the other side of the stadium. The club shop now seems to be about a third of the size it was once was and has a very limited range of goods on sale. In the early 2000's Darlo swapped their fantastic old feethems Stadium for this new "state of the art" out of town ground. And while it is a fantastic stadium, the question has to be asked, why build a 20,000 seater ground when you get home crowds of 3,500 max? It was very eerie walking around this vast stadium with so few people around. Tonight's crowd was about 1,600 with 148 from Lincoln. Add in the biting north east wind and you had a very strange atmosphere bordering on the depressing really. I loved Feethems; bang in the centre of town, near the railway station (direct trains from Retford!) and great pubs nearby. How many Darlo fans must yearn to be back there. A real ground with character.
The journey up to Darlo is simple enough and we got there in plenty of time. After paying a gut churning £5 to park up we had a walk around the ground to get the tickets and badge from the club shop and a quick pint in the sports bar. Darlo are one of those clubs that make you buy a ticket from a window then hand over the ticket at the turnstile. Not sure why when the crowd is as low as it was tonight but there you go. The Sport Bar was very smart, it was more like a town centre pub than a football clubhouse. There were a good collection of pennants and pictures of Darlo teams from the past on the walls along with some great art work incorporating the clubs badge and the town's historic connection with beginnings of the British Railway system. We made our way to the turnstiles and went in the the ground. I don't know what the temperature was, but it can't have been much above freezing. Since it had been a case of come in from work, get washed and changed and off to football, we headed to the food counter. Between the three of us we ate three different flavours of pies, a cheeseburger, and two pizza pods. I wont name names as to who ate how much, but I only had one pie(meat and potato) all evening! oh and half a hot chocolate!
any spare seats down there mate?
Another sign of Darlo's cost cutting was evident in the fact that they removed the large video screen; the one that replayed their goals against us a couple of years ago again and again on as we left the stadium. Where it once sat is just a empty concrete space with a few broken seats near it.
Lincoln started much the better side actually putting a few passes together and looking quite sharp. Darlo looked nervous at the back, but then, so did City when the home side came at us. Then came the goal. A shot from about 25 yards was fired in Imps Keeper Rob Burch got down to his left to make what looked like a routine save only it wasn't. as he parried it i can only think he thought it was going out for a corner. Instead the ball squirmed the wrong side of the post and trickled into the net. It has to go down as a keeper goof but as i well know you can make 5 or 6 great saves then goof up and all people do is remember the goof. After that goal you could see the confidence drain out of city as we we hung on for halftime.
The second half saw us waste 3 or 4 great chances, Gilmour had one cleared off the line, Lenny missed a great chance just seconds after coming on. Herd had a couple of efforts well saved, but it seemed like it was going to be one of thoses nights. The Darlo keeper had spent all night time wasting, taking time over goal kicks etc etc so it was no suprise when five minutes added time was added. Further time was added due to more time wasting and late subs from Darlington. In extra added time the Imps won a free kick which was lumped into the box and Danny hone grabbed a priceless goal for the Imps. Much stick for Darlos keeper followed. As soon as Darlo kicked off the ref blew the whistle! Fantastic!
Addmission £18 Programme £ 2.50 Badges £2.50 food Meat and potato pie -£2.50 Chicken Balti pie - £2.50 Steak and kidney pie - £2.50 Pizza pod -£2.50 Cheseburger - £3.20
Ground 8/10 Match quality 4/10 Imps performance 6/10 Man of the Match - Danny Hone!
This was one of thoses nights that made it all worth it! Even though i went more or less straight from work and got about 5 hours kip i still went to work with a huge smile on my face the next day. You just can't get this thrill following a premiership side based the other side of the country and watching the game on TV. 125years ago Lincoln city were formed to provide entertainment for the people of Lincoln and the surrounding area, for the team to represent the city against others, and to make the city proud. This brief was meet with flying colours tonight.
When you are scraping about at the bottom of the league you don't want four away games on the trot. However that is what the Imps have faced over the last couple of weeks, this being the third of them. And you don't really want to be visiting the side with the most home wins in the division but again this is what the Imps were doing this afternoon. Nor do you want both of your first choice centre halves out injured either (which, surprise surprise, is the situation the Imps find themselves in at the moment). So all in all i wasn't very confident of getting anything other than a 3-4 goal defeat this afternoon.
Waiting to be picked up we saw the Retford Branch's of Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United supporter's buses leaving for there matches. We can't fill the car for Imps games at the moment but we say its quality support that we have, not quantity so there! Chesterfield are getting a new stadium next season so this was to be our last trip to their Saltergate stadium. I can't say i will miss the place. Not the ground itself, I like the old fashion style stadiums as oppose to the modern sterile new ones with plastic fans and no atmosphere that are cropping up all over the place (Doncaster,Burton,Northampton etc etc) Its more the fact that i have been to watch Lincoln play there three times and the most i have seen us get is last seasons 1-1 draw. In fact the other two visits 98/99 0-3 and 2007/08 1-4 would probably make my top ten worst Lincoln performances without too much trouble. Sods law the one time we won recently was in the 2000/01 season when we won 2-1. We didnt travel.
Its only a short journey to Chesterfield and the ground is in the centre of town. We were politely told by a club steward we couldn't park in the disabled car park but he pointed to were we could park. It was £3 to park in the school car park behind the away end. As we drove in Baz noticed the bearded wonder of Derbyshire was directing the cars, as we got closer though we noticed that actually he had no beard! Maybe time for some new contacts. I was tempted to address the car park attendant by saying something like "Ahh my man are you the bearded wonder of Derbyshire we have travelled from afar to see and seek information about where we can park our motor car" but i was told to shut up by my fellow passengers because they said i would have sounded like a dick!
I bought the programme from one of the sellers outside the away end then we took a stroll around the ground for old times sake. I must have been asked at least twice if i wanted to buy the programme from various sellers around the ground. Baz and Fleech bought a sandwich from the shop outside the ground and reported the baps were very nice and good value. Baz went for the egg mayo at £1.50 and was very impressed with it. (i had stuffed my face before i left.)
This place gets a thumbs up from the Retford Imps!
large cob for Oxby
We checked out the club shop/portacabin. Badges were on sale for £2.50 but i wasnt too impressed with the designs of them, plus i already have a Chesterfield one so i didnt get one. We decided to go in the away seating section at £18. It was £16 to stand on the open terrace but with the weather being a bit crap it was worth the extra couple of quid. Plus the view was better.
Saltergate is your basic bog-standard 1970's type of ground; seating along both sides, with a covered terrace behind one end for the home fans and an open terrace behind the other end for away fans. In my view the entrance fee is about 3 quid more than it should be for the facilities available, but there you go. The site is set to be turned into housing once the club move next season, but in a nice touch the centre circle will be kept as a lawn in the middle of the development. I can imagine one or two fans of a local club who play in yellow and blue coming to have a look at the lawn and having a quick tinkle on it in the dead of night on it!
The red and white army behind the goal
Lincoln's second choice centre back combination of Danny Hone and Moses Swaibu were up against Chesterfield's front pairing of ex Imp Martin Gritton and the man who had scored against Lincoln for four different clubs Barry Conlon, who is on loan from Grimsby Town. The early exchanges were pretty even with neither side able to string three passes together and both Keepers not having a great deal to do. Just as it looked like we were settled Chesterfield took the lead with a great strike from outside the left hand side of the penalty box from about 25 yards out. Rob Burch in the Imps goal would have seen it late but to be honest i think he could have got closer to it. Some Imps fans treat him as if he is Dino Zoff but i think he is no more than a good league two keeper. It looks like he will be gone in the summer, it will be interesting to see if he gets the Championship move some Imps fans think he will get. I think that maybe he can be first choice at a league one side but not a starter in the championship.Thats not to say i think he's crap, he's not, not by a long way, but i do sometimes think he is one of those players who can do no wrong in the fans eyes.
For the rest of the first half the Imps were second best by along way. Facey up front wasn't holding the ball and when he did no support arrived from midfield. It was depressing stuff. So much so that i decided to comfort eat and get a cheeseburger (£3.20) we were all pretty glad to hear the half time whistle.
The Imps pile the pressure late on
The second half started much the same as the first with Chesterfield's long ball over the top causing the Imps problems. I was glad it was Gritton they were aimed at because had Chesterfield's top scorer been fit he would have had a field day. The hosts doubled their lead when Conlon scored for his FIFTH club against us when the Imps yet again failed to deal with a corner. I said to Baz that this could well be a 4-5 goal hammering. To be fair to Lincoln, we started to get stuck in and took the game to Chesterfield for the rest of the match. Swaibu made it 2-1 with a great chip from outside the box and it was game on. The Imps brought on new signing Steve Lennon from Rangers and he ran the show with the home side unable to get near him. In the last few seconds a cross was sent into the box with a couple of lincoln players inches away fom making it 2-2 alas it wasnt to be
Chesterfield's mascot Chester the field mouse!
The defeat was lessened by Notts County's 1-0 away win at Grimsby which left the Imps still with an 8 point gap to the drop zone and with a game in hand. That game in hand is on Tuesday night away at rock bottom Darlington who had a great win over high flying Rotherham United at home typical! We will be there however so C'MON YOU IMPS!
Admission £18 Programme £2.50 Chesterfield normally do a good issue and this was no different 7/10 Food Cheseburger £3.20 7/10 Baz rated the bovril highly at 8/10 Match quality 5/10 Ground 7/10 Imps man of the match Steve Lennon
The third round of the competition was played this week. Three matches were postponed because of the weather. Eastwood Town the highest ranked side in the draw needed extra time to see off NECL side Arnold Town 3-1. Holders Retford United dispatched fellow Unibond premier side Hucknall Town 3-0. The shock of the third round was Gelding miners welfare's 3-2 away win at Carlton Town. Rainworth and Dunkirk eased past lower league opponents in Teversal and Newark Town respectively.
Nottinghamshire senior cup quarter final draw
ties to be played 02/03/10
Rainworth Miners welfare v Dunkirk Kirkby/Blidworth Miners welfare v Eastwood Town Retford United v Southwell city/Gelding Town Gelding Miners welfare v Forest Town/Boots Athletic
So the top two of Retford United and Eastwood Town have avoided each other thus the chances of a repeat of last years final is still on. Rainworth are going well in the NECL premier division and could be a dark horse for the final if the top two don't play their full strength sides, but its hard to look past the them. The only NSL side Boots Athletic know if they win at Forest Town (very unlikely) they will be seeded to the second round next year.
The final is played at Notts County's Meadow lane stadium so its all to play for!
Well for the third year in a row there will be six more weeks of winter! the prediction hasn't gone down all that well with my Latrobe correspondent, but like the head of the groundhog club always says "you can't shoot the messenger! more videos and reaction to come!
