Lincoln City 2-0 Newport County

At last something for City fans to smile about.
 City have had a terrible last few months. I couldn't bear to write about the 0-1 home defeat at the hands of Alfreton Town but to sum it up, it was a game between two crap teams which they just edged. Lincoln then followed it up by losing to the BSP bottom side Bath City. Not only did we manage to lose but we were 0-2 down in four minutes. When the dust settled the fact of the matter was simple, Lincoln were out of the relegation zone on goal difference and had only won once in the last 14 games. Squeaky bum time as they say.
 Given this gloomy back drop it isn't surprising that a section of the City fan base had become a tad pissed off. In the week building up to the game a group of fans organised a peaceful protest outside the ground before kick off. In response to this the club put out a very strongly worded statement that was one of the biggest PR blunders of all time at LCFC and really got the fans backs up (and mine too grrr) All of this brought quite a bit of media attention from the BBC and  the like to Lincoln, which is something we aren't use to. The main aim of the protest was to bring change to the football club. With this i agree. What, how, and who we change are the big questions and not ones that i have the answers to. I am all for people airing their views, and after the past few years it is hardly surprising that people took this course of action.

And lets cross live to Sincil Bank now..

 One of the men in the firing line over recent weeks has unsurprisingly been Lincoln manager David Holdsworth. When he first arrived he said all the right things and talked a good game. To his credit he was dealt a poor hand from the Tilly regime and has been forced to slash the wage bill and rebuild the squad mid season. However he has been accused by the City faithful of constantly changing the team and formation and not allowing the team to settle. As always in football, managers can get away with this kind of thing if the results are going their way. However if you get one win in 14 and get knocked out of a cup competition by a side 3 levels below you, you are going to be under pressure. His programme notes did little to inspire us as they contained very little about City, our current form, a reason for our poor displays or how he intends to get us out of our current slump we find ourselves in. Today's opponents Newport County have had a mixed season so far. They have reached the FA Trophy final at Wembley but have struggled in the League. A win for the Imps today would have raised City above the "Exiles" in the table. When the two sides met in South Wales, Newport came out on top winning the game by a goal to nil. Simply put, City had to win and for once they did, and allowed me to enjoy my Saturday night.

No Baz again today, so it was left to Felice, his lad, and Mr Barlow snr to cheer the Imps on. A faulty water pipe in the St Andrews stand on the Thursday night had resulted in that stand being closed to the public so that meant that the other stands were slightly more populated that normal. The fans seemed really up for the game, whatever differences there were before the game, whether they were pro protest or anti protest they gave the players backing for 90 minutes and the players responded. One area of the pitch that has come under criticism for both manager and fans had been the centre of defence. To that end Lincoln brought in utility player Tom Miller and he went straight into the centre of defence along side Josh Gowling, with former Newport player Paul Robson, and John Nutter in the full back positions. Newport seemed to have one tactic; that being hit it long at the centre backs and take it from there. City have been ok at defending in the air recently, (its the clever stuff on the ground that catches them out) So we looked quite settled with Miller looking alot more settled that Williams has the past few matches. City had already created a couple of half chances before they took the lead in the in the 25th minute. John Nutter delivered a great corner into the box and Mark McCammon send a bullet header into the net which gave the keeper no chance. We keep being told that City work a lot on set plays alot on the training ground so it was nice to see one come off for us.

Pre match protest

Lincoln didn't have to wait long for the second goal. The Imps were given a free kick just outside the box which John Nutter took and beat the Newport keeper for power. He did get a hand on it but failed to keep it out. Shades of Felice in his younger days really. With City 2-0 up and the fans onside, Sincil Bank felt a totally different place to that it had been over the past few matches. The second half became much more niggley and tempers threatened to boil over as a couple of scuffles broke out. In my view Lincoln should have had a penalty when one of the Newport players batted the ball away when lying on the ground but somehow the ref (who was pretty crap for both sides all game long) missed. The Imps looked steady for much of the game with Anyon in the Lincoln goal only really having to deal with long range efforts. All in all City deserved the three points and it was good to hear the Newport assistant manager say that we bullied them all game long. This is something that has been happen to Lincoln this season so it is great to hear that we are finally getting streetwise to it. There were other plus points for City aswell today. Danny Lloyd came on and again caused trouble with his pace. He may be raw but he is already becoming a fans favourite and seems to be taking his chances well. It was one of those games when everybody had a steady game. Nothing fancy just players doing their jobs. And long may that continue.

 The only real downside of the day for me came before the match. I had already eaten at home so i didn't want any chips pre game. As Felice got his double cheeseburger, large chips, and a diet coke I went to the shop a couple of doors down and got a can of pop and a Freddo Frog chocolate bar. As i unwrapped the chocolate bar somehow the sodding thing slipped and I ended up dropping it before I could even take a bite. Still you can't have everything in this world can you?