Darlington 1-1 Lincoln City

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 It has been replaced by one about half the size on the other side of the stadium.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.