Today's choice of games was a tad limited. City were away at league leaders Wrexham so i was on the hunt for a localish match. Gainsborough Trinity at home to Boston was appealing but being in a stadium with a load of Boston fans was much less so. There are always a few non league games on in Nottingham but i have done a couple recently and fancied something different. In the end i picked Lincoln United's clash with Shepshed Dynamo FC.
Lincoln United led by Lincoln City legend Terry Flemming finished last season in good form and have carried it over into this season and before kickoff sat in tenth place in the Evo stick division one south (Step 4) Their form in October was enough to win Terry the manager of the month award for October. However, some what predictably they have lost the last two matches in November. A 1-2 defeat at home to New Mills and a 0-3 away defeat at Hucknall Town last weekend. Today's opponents, Shepshed Dynamo sat 4th bottom before kick off just two points off the relegation zone. An ideal chance for the "Whites" to get back on track perhaps?
I rolled up at the Lincoln United club house at about 1.45pm and the place was already quite full. Shepshed took a decent number of fans with them last season when i saw them get stuffed 7-2 at Carlton Town and had a decent following here as well. Arsenal were chalking up another victory in the Premiership this time against Norwich City on the big screen. Watching the game with a nice cool pint was a great way to relax after the long walk from the train station. I headed out to the ground at just gone 2.15 ish just after Arsenal had scored their second goal. Elsewhere a shock was going on in the world of football; Celtic were actually winning away at Inverness Caledonian Thistle although they did have the help of another dubious red card for the hosts.
Today's entrance fee was a very reasonable £6. The programme came in at £2 and was slightly disappointing with most of it being adverts and standard Evo stick fact pages. Because i quite like Lincoln United i bought a raffle ticket but as normal won bugger all. I had a stroll around the ground and took a few snaps. Quite what this scale model of Boston Uniteds new stadium was doing inside Ashby Avenue is anyones guess.
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| The new York Street |
What with City being away quite a few fans had flocked to watch United. Also in the ground was the battle hardened head steward on the Stacey West stand Mr Gary Radford who also lends his skills to Lincoln United from time to time. We had a bit of a chat about the Imps and how David Holdsworth is rebuilding the Imps squad and the off field financial problems at Sincil Bank.
As kick off approached i ambled over to the old covered stand to take in the first part of the match. Before the game a representative of the Evo Stick league presented Terry with his manager of the month award. Terry is one of my favourite City players of all time and its great to see him having success as he cuts his teeth in management. When you take into account the fact that he is a player-manager and starts most games it makes his achievement all the more impressive. Listening to folk who watch United regularly it does seem as if there has been a feel good factor around the club since Terry took over. He had got the side playing good passing football on the deck and brought everybody at the club closer together. After every home game players have to go into the clubhouse and have at least one drink with the fans before the leave (It doesn't have to be alcoholic) John Beck did this exact same thing with the Lincoln City side when he was manager in the mid nineties when he was building the whole "Team Lincoln" mindset. Terry was John Becks midfield enforcer and he looks like he is learning from the great man.
United started the game the much better side and were causing the Shepshed back four problems with their pace. It only took Lincoln 9 minutes to get on the score sheet when Tom Garrick collected a pass halfway inside the Shepshed half, ran at the defence, easily beat the full back, and blasted home from close range. It was a fine goal and no more than United deserved. This did seem to wake Shepshed up a little and they created one or two half chances of their own.
Then just as they were looking to get back into the match the visitors conceded a clumsy and blatant penalty when one of their defenders bundled over the Lincoln striker in the box right in front of the referee who pointed straight to the spot. Scott Coupland stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to double Uniteds advantage.
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| PENALTY!! |
That was in the 32nd minute and it was the last significant action that Mr Keith Lawson our match referee would partake in this afternoon. Shortly after this he injured himself and was unable to continue. At this level there isn't a fourth official present so the hunt was one to find somebody in the crowd willing to become a linesman and thus allowing the senior linesman to take over the refs job. In the end a volunteer was found and the game continued. I overheard somebody saying that you could continue the game with two officials. weather this is true or not i have no idea. The last time a ref was injured in a Lincoln United match the game was abandoned and the club was hit with a £1000 pound fine (even though it was the ref who called it off). So it was understandable that the club were keen to continue. All of this added a good ten minutes or so to the length of the first half which didn't finish till just before 4pm. United really upped the pace and looked to kill the game off and missed some fantastic chances to do this. Although it has to be said that this was down to some fantastic last ditch defending from Shepshed who cleared a couple off the line as well as putting in some great last ditch tackles. They certainly have a lot more fight and spirit in them than the last time i saw them. They were also given good backing from the twenty or so fans who had made the trip from Leicestershire with them.
United went in at the break with a two goal lead but it could and should have been more. The original ref sat between the two dugouts with his foot up on a chair. And was looked after by United's charming lady physio. You see there are some benefits to being injured. It was later confirmed that it was a calf injury that had forced the ref to be unable to continue.
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WARNING!
Do not bang on the cage!
Do not put your fingers through the cage!
Do not feed the animals! |
At half time I checked out the rather sparse looking clubshop and picked up a mug for a quid. It had started to turn a tad chilly so i made my way over to the clubhouse to check out the halftime scores. Unsurprisingly City were 1-0 down at Wrexham. The second half didn't get underway till about 4.15 ish so i was able to watch some of the live scores come through on Soccer Saturday.
HT 2-0
After watching the first half i am pretty sure that nobody in the ground would have predicted what was to happen in the second half. The game opened up and both keepers made fantastic saves. Shepshed really got their act together and looked a force from set pieces. United continued to miss some great chances and it would come back to haunt them big time.
Dynamo got a goal back in the game in the 75th minute when Stephen Chaplin fired in a low effort from inside the area. This gave the massed ranks of fans away fans belief that they could get something out of a game that had looked like running away from them. The visitors penned United back in the closing stages and got the equaliser in the 87th minute when united failed to deal with a corner and Iain Screaton pounced. It was a sickener for United but far worse was to come in the 90th minute.
A long range shot was tipped onto the post by the United keeper Shepshed hit the follow up against the bar only for the rebound to be bundled into the net by Stephen Chaplin for his second of the game. So from being second best for much of the game Shepshed had somehow gained three points. An outcome that i am sure even their most die hard fans would have said was highly unlikely at halftime. Football's a funny old game as they say. Although the goalscorers will get all the praise, it has to be remembered that had the defenders not pulled off some last ditch goal line clearances and tackles then the great fight back wouldn't have happened. As for United well they learnt a harsh lesson. If you don't take your chances when you are on top it will come back to bite you on the arse.
FT 2-3
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| There was plenty of it on display today! |
It had really turned cold by now and i really felt it on the long walk back to the City centre. Even with all the added on time. I still had time to grab a quick pint in the
Treaty of Commerce pub on the high street near the station before grabbing the 6.27pm train back to Retford.
Today's game had everything; 5 goals, a penalty, an injury to the ref, and a fantastic comeback. Why can't football always be this exciting?
Adams sporting world results
Wrexham 2-0 Lincoln City
Thackley 2-0 Retford United
Inter Milan 2-1 Cagliari
Sheffield Steelers3-2 Nottingham Panthers(OT)
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