After a quiet summer waiting for news on friendly games to
be arranged,the fixture list to come out and planning for the new season
football was finally back and the first Imps game of 2019/20 was the festival
of Lincolnshire football in Gainsborough. Actually i lie because it was
actually two games as the festival featured the hosts Gainsborough, The Imps
and Lincoln United.
There is something special about pre-season games, the sun
is normally out, optimism fills the air, results don’t matter and there is
normally a real buzz about going to these games. Plus you get to see fellow
supporters/ goons you have missed over the long closed season months. Another
reason i enjoy pre-season games especially in the early weeks if that it gives
you the chance to go to grounds and catch up with clubs that you don’t normally
get the chance to visit. A few years ago i use to get around many of the local
non league clubs quite often throughout the season but a combination of
purchasing an Imps season ticket three years ago and funds being needed for
more important things in life means that forays into the non league game are
few and far between.
Gainsborough is a town steeped in history that many people
in the local area don’t really appreciate. As there is so much history to
explore i suggested getting to the town early to try and find some of the
historical sites of importance. Alas my ideas fell on deaf ears. Gainsborough
gets its name after the tribe that made the first settlement here back in Anglo
Saxon times, the Gaini. Gainsborough literally means stronghold of the Gaini.
The format of the day’s event was quite simple. The three
teams would play each other once and the games would be 60 minutes long with 10
minutes for halftime. Two points were to be awarded for a win and one for a
draw. I know some people wouldn’t count these are proper games given that they
are shorter than normal but i am. Admission was a very reasonable £10 for
adults in advance and rising to 12 if paying on the day. Baz, Emma Lou and i
had used our loaf and ordered in advance but loads of money Felice opted to pay
on the day. You always get one don’t you? Incidentally £12 is what Trinity
charged last season in the 7th tier of English football. That seems
a couple of quid too much to me but what do i know? I suppose funds were needed
to support the promotion push that followed relegation the previous season, the
promotion push never really got going though which is a real shame as Trinity
really should be higher up the pyramid.
We arrived in Gainsborough just after 12.30 and although the
normal car park was reserved for “Players and media” we managed to bag a spot
just around the corner and made our merry way into the stadium. The “Special
souvenir” programme was on sale just inside the turnstiles for £2.50 and
although it looked quite snazzy it has to be said it was poor value with not a
huge amount of reading material other than pen pics of the squads and given the
large number of trialists that all three sides were playing it made this a tad
useless. However many clubs don’t issue programmes at all for friendly games so
i suppose i should be thankful that a programme was issued at all.
Lincoln City 4-1 Lincoln United.
First up was the Lincoln derby and from an Imps point of
view it was quite hard to read anything into this. The Imps named 6 unnamed
trialist’s in the line up in addition to Adebayo-Smith who recently signed his
first pro deal for the club and is one of the most exciting young prospects at
the club. Early pre season games like this are normally littered with trialists
so it’s hard for us in the stands to work out how much chance any of these
players have at getting a deal with Lincoln You also have to consider that there is a 5 division
gap between the two Lincoln teams so you would expect anybody trying to get a
deal with a League one club to look competent against modest opposition. In the
end the Imps won comfortably with Adebayo-Smith grabbing three of the goals and
the fourth coming from “Trialist E” We had the pleasure of spending the first
game in the stand with Felice as he told us all about his bird watching antics
over the past few weeks and gave us the lowdown on the puffin scene in North
Yorkshire, something he is hugely passionate about. He is almost as passionate
about it as he was the burger that he stuffed down his face at a rate of knots.
Gainsborough Trinity 0-3 Lincoln City.
This line up was far more interesting to Imps fans as it
contained players that were all contracted to the club. Much of the talk
amongst Imps fans this week has been the signings of Jorge Grant and Jack Payne
on full time deals along with Joe Morrell who arrived on a season long loan
from Bristol City. All three started in this game.
As with the previous game City were on the front foot from
the start and never really looked in trouble. We watching this match from the
Carlise Street terrace and we got a perfect view of city missing a penalty in
the 8th minute as Harry Anderson was adjudged to have been fouled in
the box. New boy Payne stepped up to take the sport kick but it was well saved
by the Trinity keeper. The Imps didn’t have to wait long for the opening goal,
Andersons shot was well saved by the keeper but the rebound fell to Ellis
Chapman who finished from close range. On 25 it was 2-0 as Matt Rhead finished off
a good move from about two yards out. City added the 3rd in the
second half via another penalty with Jorge Grant stepping up this time to take
the kick. It was a decent penalty and one that Felice missed as he snuck out of
the ground at halftime. Shocking stuff i am sure you will all agree.
After the second game it was time to visit the world famous
Blues club for a quick pint. The blues club like much of Gainsborough is a bit
of a throwback to a bygone era but it does the trick. When we remerged it
appeared that about 70% of the crowd had decided to call it a day due to the
Imps have finished their two fixtures. This left Trinity and United to fight it
out over second place. Trinity bossed the first period whilst United had much
the better of the second. The result being a 1-1 draw thus lifting United into
second place. I have to thank my good friend Rob for giving me a life back
after the third game thus allowing me to be able to watch it as all my viewing companions
for the first two games had left for various reasons. Rob is the leading light
in the local football blogosphere so check out his version of events .here
So what were my overall views of the day? This was the first
time that Trinity (to my knowledge) had hosted an event like this so with that
in mind i think it went pretty well and something i could see being an annual event
involving different Lincolnshire sides. Although it may have been disappointing
to see so many city fans leave after the 1st two games they had all
paid their ticket money so neither of the two non-league sides sharing the gate
money would have lost out but you would imagine the bar and catering takings
would have been better if the Imps were on last as was originally planned. The
bar and catering ques were fairly swiftly moving so from that point of view
Trinity should be applauded. From what i could see everybody seemed to have a
great day and i am sure all three management teams got something from it as
well. I for one hope to see more of these in the future years and with a couple
of tweaks i am sure this could be one of the high points on the pre-season calendar.
I could see City, Grimsby and Scunthopre taking it in turns being the league
club and another non-league side joining Trinity. If you invited say Boston or
Grantham who would both bring a decent number the event could really take off.
Food for thought as they say.
