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
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