Lincoln City 2-4 Newport County

Something a bit different today. Not lots of words and i will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Today the Imps hosted high flying Newport County and after the 4-2 kicking we received at Southport manager David Holdsworth promised the fans a reaction.

Felice couldnt make it today as his automobile had damaged its suspension. So off he went to the garage.

No Barry either as his good lady had told him that there was plenty of jobs that needed doing around the house; D.I.Y being the main one.

All this meant that i had to watch this shit-fest myself. Oh well never mind.

Things didn't start very well for Lincoln as Lincoln keeper Paul Farman was beaten from 25 yards out at his near post. A poor piece of goalkeeping on 22 minutes and the Imps were behind.

On 37 minutes Newport doubled their lead when City full Back Paul Robson messed up a back pass by playing it straight to Newport striker Aaron O'Conner who ran half the length of the pitch and finished well. 0-2

Worse was to come however. On 37 minutes it was 0-3 due to some more crappy defending from Lincoln.

On 44 minutes however we saw a chink of light as the Imps pulled one back through a smart header thanks to Vadaine Oliver. So was the fightback on? NO. Newport made it 1-4 just a moment later which was the signal for me to head for the..

So there we have it. The first time i have ever left Sincil Bank at half time. I am sorry but if the players can't be bothered to do the basics of football then i am afraid that i can't be bothered to sit in the cold and watch them. The Imps did make it 2-4 in the second half but who cares? Maybe Newport showed us mercy?

Dunkirk 3-1 Tiverdale

It’s safe to say that the 2012/13 season won’t be a vintage one for non league football in Nottinghamshire. Eastwood Town; who for so long have been by far the strongest of the traditional non league sides in the county, have been rooted to the bottom of the Evo stick premier division(step 3) all season following their comprehensive relegation from the BSN last time around. You would have to be a brave man not to beat on them achieving (if that’s the right word) a second relegation on the trot this time around. A league below we find Hucknall Town(step 4) anchored to the bottom of the Evo stick division one south. Life is never dull at Watnall Road; the club is on it’s third management team of the season amidst a backdrop of boardroom chaos. The club have been forced into signing a group of step 7 players with a recent result being a 13-0 defeat at Loughborough Dynamo when only 8 players turned out for the club; again relegation is looking the most likely outcome. It’s a far cry from the summer when we visited with the Imps in pre season and everything looked bright for the club. Rainworth and Carlton also play their football in this league however neither is really setting the world alight this season. Down to Step 5 in the Northern Counties East league, and we find Arnold Town in the bottom third of the table and on their second manager of the campaign. Champions Retford United are also having a much tougher time of it this time around being in a midtable position. I haven’t seen much of Retford this season so I can’t comment on what’s going right/wrong but looking at the local press player turnover does seem a tad on the high side.

Into step six and the EMCL, and we find 4 of the 5 Nottinghamshire sides in the bottom half of the table. On the plus side though in this division Basford United are continuing their rise up the pyramid and currently sit top of the league. Down at step 7 it’s a mixed bag as we have Newark and AFC Mansfield top of the CML South and North respectively, with Harworth in the mix in the North as well. However, to balance it out both divisions also have Nottinghamshire sides at the bottom with Blidworth propping up the south division and Welbeck the North. One of the sides doing reasonably well this season is Dunkirk of the Midland Football Alliance (step 5) before today’s round of matches they sat in 6th position in the league. I decided to do a game in Nottingham today and then attend the Nottingham Panthers v Coventry Blaze match in the evening. It never a hard decision to visit Dunkirk. It’s easy to reach via bus from the City centre, there is a decent little clubhouse at the ground, and the standard of the football in this division is generally quite decent from what I have seen. The train into Nottingham was full with a good number of Forest fans who were all looking forward to their FA Cup match at home to league one Oldham. Forest had dropped the ticket prices down to £12 and most fans seemed very confident of victory (chortle chortle). As I had some time on my hands before I needed to head out to Dunkirk I nipped into Walkabout in the town centre and caught some of the Brighton v Newcastle FA Cup game on the big screen. I have been laid low with a virus since Wednesday and didn’t really feel like drinking, so a mere coke was the order of the day for me. Any Newcastle fans watching would have needed something a little stronger though I fancy. If you are planning to visit Dunkirk FC (and you should be if you haven’t been) then you need the 48 dark blue bus for Clifton and alight at Clifton Bridge North. The follow the subway down, turn left then when you come to the roundabout take the exit than says Lenton Lane (also got signs for the golf course). Follow this round past Greenwood Meadows FC and a posh looking restaurant and you will find the ground.

Given the amount of rain that we have had recently the players were warming up on the pitch outside the ground. The clubhouse is outside the ground so I piled in there for a decent cup of tea (£1) and caught the final few stages of the Newcastle game. The clubhouse was doing a decent trade with the Tiverdale committee and a handful of fans in there along with a couple of non league wags. The star item in the clubhouse is current Lincoln City midfielder Jake Sheridan’s Notts County shirt which is framed. Jake came through the famous youth system at Dunkirk many moons ago along with Wes Morgan of Nottingham Forest. Given Forest’s result today in the FA cup they may be back to Dunkirk ASAP to see if there is any more talent there that they can snap up. The entrance fee to today’s encounter was a mere £5 with a fantastic programme costing £1. Although the programme may not be full of pretty pictures, fancy graphics of crappy quizzes it does have more stuff to read in that than you can shake a bag of ferrets at. It has league tables, results and round ups from step 3 right down to the Notts’ senior league plus a large amount on the visitors and of course the home side. There is also a decent section on the Nottinghamshire senior cup, the biggest prize in semi professional football in Nottinghamshire.

As you would expect given the large amount of rain that we have had recently the pitch was quite heavy. This of course made passing football a little tricky but both sides did try to keep it on the deck as much as possible. It was however quite a physical game and early on there was a lengthy stoppage while the Dunkirk centre half received some treatment. I was stood to the left hand side of the Dunkirk dugout and it was interesting listening to their views on the game. It was refreshing to see coaches coach and encourage their players instead of just bawling and shouting at the officials all game.

On 31 minutes the games first controversial moment happened as Tiverdale were reduced to ten men, after Adam Hill was sent from the field of play for kicking out at a home player. The player didn’t seem to complain too much as he trudged off but I must admit that I didn’t see the incident as clearly as I would have liked to. This did lead to lots of niggley fouls from both sides but there were two challenges from Tiverdale players that in my humble view could have been straight reds. The Dunkirk management team seemed of the view that those challenges were worse than the sending off incident. On 41 minutes Dunkirk took the lead. A long range shot was sent in, only for the Tiverdale keeper to spill the ball into the path of Kieran Wells who buried the ball from close range. Dunkirk’s joy though was short lived though. From the kick off Tiverdale put a smart passing move together which ended in a tame shot from Mathew Jukes which somehow squirmed under the homeside goal keeper. Both goals were keeping errors and it would have been interesting to have had Felice’s view on them as he made plenty of goofs like these in his career and would have known what they did wrong. Today however he was ground hopping at Rainworth Miners Welfare. No game for Barry Oxby however as he was working followed by chilling out at home listening to a bit of Billy Ray Cyrus. He likes a bit if Bill Ray does Barry.

 HT 1-1
 It was getting a tad chilly so I retreated to the clubhouse for the halftime break. The Imps were losing 1-0 at HT. Glad we didn’t go to Ebbsfleet then. The clubhouse was quite full , however the sound of complaining Birmingham accents was the prominent noise that one could hear; and it’s not a nice sound believe me. Second half and Dunkirk really got hold of the game by the scruff of the neck and made their extra man count. They re-took the lead on 57 minutes when a long range shot took a wicked deflection to totally wrong foot the Tiverdale keeper. For much of the second half I was amused by the constant complaining and moaning by a Tiverdale director who only seemed to be able to spot the mistakes of the officials and missed the mistakes/fouls of his own side. It was a bit of a poor show on his part I felt and if the biggest thing that you can moan about is the number of the home dugout staff that are standing then you maybe need to readdress your priorities. Dunkirk added a third deep into stoppage time to seal three very deserved points. All’s well that ends well. Even Lincoln scrambled a point with the last kick of the game. In the evening we watched the title chasing Nottingham Panthers grind out a tight 1-0 home win over the Coventry Blaze. All in all I have had worse day’s sports wise. Now if I could just shake of this sodding cold everything would be looking up.

The Lady Imps head back to the Bank

 Since the end of last season there have been plenty of discussion and rumours flying around amongst Lady Imps fans as to where Lincoln Ladies will be playing their football in the 2013 season. Today it was announced that the club will be hosting league matches at Lincoln City’s Sincil Bank Stadium. A venue that hosted some of the club’s matches in the 2011 inaugural FA WSL season and in my view the best stadium in Lincolnshire. Personally I think that it is a great opportunity for the club and I am quite excited by the prospect.

 Before I go on to the reasons why I think this could be a great springboard for the club it would be wrong of me not to thank Lincoln United for all they have done for the Lady Imps over the past few seasons and all the hard work the ground staff and committee at United have put in to providing a suitable arena for the Ladies to play at. It must be hard to produce a pitch that is going to be in use pretty much all year round but I think by and large they can be very proud of their efforts. I have always enjoyed games at Ashby Avenue (Both United and Lady Imp games) and wish them all the best for the future

 As for the future I can see two major advantages of playing at Sincil Bank for the club. The first one being location, for people reading this that haven’t been to the Bank before it is a mere 10 minutes walk from the town centre, railway and bus stations. The high street is packed with pubs aplenty and there is also a good number of places to get something to eat on the approach to the stadium. Although personally I hope that the club retains the services of the people who ran the catering team last season. Being central does make it easier for fans to attend matches and for the club to run promotions as more people in the city know where Sincil Bank is. Secondly is the Stadium itself; at the risk of jumping the gun I would imagine that the club will open the Main Stand (Echo Stand) up for the matches. This has a capacity of roughly 1600 which should be ample for us. This stand also houses a recently refurbished bar and hospitality areas which will give the club an area for entertaining sponsors and offering them hospitality thus opening up new revenue streams that the club didn’t have access to before. There is also a padded seating area in the stand so guests of the club will be able to watch the game in comfort from the best view in the house. The rest of the stand also offers a great view of the action and with the fans all in one place we should be able to get some atmosphere going and get behind the girls.

 There are also plenty of other benefits. From a players point of view the upgrade in changing facilities will be most welcome I would imagine and with City employing a full time ground staff team the pitch will be better thus allowing the Lady Imps their natural passing game which at times was held back last season due to the pitch. It could also be a powerful tool in player recruitment. As I would imagine it would be hard for a player to not want to play in a stadium like this. Another interesting angle is that playing at Sincil Bank would give us a much better chance of being selected for a live game on ESPN. We missed out last season but we must be strong contenders for a game now given our new surroundings and supplying 5 players to the recent England national team training camp. Of course the big test will be if the move gets more punters through the gate. Although there are no guarantees that attendances will rise, a quick look back at Lady Imp recent history points to some encouraging facts. In the 2011 season when home matches were split between Sincil Bank and Ashby Avenue the club averaged over 500 a game with last year’s average being somewhere in the region of 350. Going back a little further in January 2002 the Lady Imps (who were working their way up the footballing pyramid at the time) faced Everton at home in the 5th round of the FA Cup The tie was staged at Sincil Bank and drew a crowd of over 1,500 for the game. Lincoln may have lost 2-7 after taking the lead but it showed that there was an appetite for women’s football within the City. Fast forward a few years to the 2007/08 season and The Lady Imps found themselves in an FA cup semi final against Arsenal. Again the match was staged at Sincil Bank and was watched by over 3,000 fans. Now I am not saying that we will attract crowds like those last two matches I mentioned, but it does go to show what could be achieved and the potential that is out there.

 As always, change is a little daunting for some people and I can understand if some fans have concerns about the ground move especially those that haven’t been to Sincil Bank before. I hope the reasons I have listed above and eased your concerns a little and we can all look forward to an even brighter future for the Lady Imps in our new home.

My sporting hopes for 2013

 Five Things I want to see happen in 2013

Seeing how i am not at the Lincolnshire derby and public transport is nonexistent on New Year’s Day I thought I would write about some things I would like to see happen in 2013 in the sporting world. Knowing my luck none of them will come to fruition but I can dream can’t me.

Lincoln City to continue their steady improvement.

Over the past couple of months there has been a steady improvement from the team on the pitch, the financial side off the field (due to the cup run) and the mood amongst the fans. After a shaky start to the season the Imps steadied and have spent much of the last couple of the months in mid table. Now although being mid table in the 5^th tier of English Football may not sound very impressive at least  the club feels as stable as it did before Peter Jackson left. We must however be on our guard. This season the league is much closer than last time around; last year you had Fleetwood and Wrexham who broke away at the top of the table, and at the other end Bath, Kettering, and Darlington who were cut adrift. No such breakaways have happened yet this season which means that a bad run could easily put a mid table side back into the relegation scrap. On the other hand it means that a side can go into any game and feel it has got a good chance of getting the three points. Lincoln have recorded a couple of great away wins at top six sides like Dartford and Wrexham but have dropped points at home to sides like Ebbsfleet. As a developing young side I would expect this kind of pattern of results to continue. At the halfway point in the season we have collected 30 points. Should we match that in the second half we should be comfortably mid table.

On the topic of the Imps It has been refreshing to see the fans get off the managers back. David Holdsworth is never going to be everybody’s cup of tea as a manager, however I do feel he deserves some credit for this season.  Going back to pre season he was vilified for re-signing Jake Sheridan and Nicky Nicolau. Fast forward and Sheridan has had a much better season than last and many fans are asking why Nicolau isn’t in the side. Funny how football can change isn’t it? I am not saying the guy hasn’t made mistakes, he has, but the “tinkering” that he was famous for last season hasn’t been half as bad as it was last time out. Credit must also go to Grant Brown and Chris Moyes who have been instrumental in the Imps improvement. I do however think that we can’t go down the “If we win its Grant’s hard work and if we lose its DH’s fault”. Win as a team and lose as a team and all that. Attendances have also slowly risen recently so let’s hope that this also continues into the New Year.

Lincoln Ladies compete for a Champion’s League place.

European football was the aim for the club in 2012 and for the reasons I wrote about in their season review they didn’t make it. Since the season ended the club have really rolled their sleeves up and shown their intent. Keith Bonas a hugely respected manager in the women’s game has been brought in to manage the side on a three year contract, a move that has certainly raised a few eyebrows amongst followers of the women’s game. Many see him as a future England manager and has a great record in women’s football, with his time in charge at Charlton being one of the rare times that Arsenal’s dominance at the top of the English game was challenged.

As if that wasn’t enough the club really put a cat amongst the pigeons by signing England’s first choice goalkeeper Karen Bardsley. They have also added back up in the goalkeeping area by signing England U23 keeper Ashley Baker. This brings the number of Lady Imp players in the latest England squad to five. There are still areas of that side that need work. The left hand side being the main one, but with all of last season’s key players signed up again (bar one) the club is in a good place at the moment, and with Birmingham at this point in time looking weaker than last time out it could be Lincoln’s time. With the club really making an effort I hope than the Lincolnshire public really get behind the club and a few more fans flock through the gate.  This is the club’s 3^rd FA WSL season and its third manager. So with that in mind I hope we see some continuity in the manager’s chair.

Internazionale return to the Champion’s League.

2011/12 was a nightmare for Inter. Due to Italian sides’ poor shows in the Champions League over recent years Italy now only receives three Champions league spots. Last season Inter failed to get in the top three and so missed out; condemning them to the Europa League. Like so many clubs Inter don’t have the finances that they once had with the big time spending of the late 90’s long gone. This has hailed a new outlook from the club putting youth at its centre. Inter’s youth system is one of the top ones in Europe and the clubs victory in the 2011/12 Next Generation series backs this point up. Inter have had some great victories this season under visionary young coach Andrea Stramaccioni. Earlier in the season Inter triumphed over Milan in the derby and smashed Juventus’ 49 unbeaten run by beating them 3-1 in their own stadium. However the side has been inconsistent as results like a 2-2 home draw with Genoa has shown. At the winter break stage Inter sit in 4^th place in the Championship level on points with Fiorentina in 3^rd. The table is incredibly tight with four points separating 2^nd to 6^th. Although I don’t expect Inter to win the championship, entrance to the Champions League is essential for both financial reasons and the clubs standing in Europe. It is getting harder and harder for clubs not in the Champions League to attract players. You only have to look at Liverpool to see that. 

  

England retains the Ashes.

In 2012 Cricket really took a back seat in the sporting world as the Olympics and the European football championships took centre stage. This year Cricket once again provides the sporting highlight of the summer as the Aussies are in town for the biggest series in world cricket. Although both sides are in transition I feel England are still stronger and have enough to retain their crown. It won’t be as one sided as the last series though so expect some fireworks and I will go for a 2-1 England win. The series begins in Nottingham on 10^th of July. This is a huge honour for Nottingham and firmly places Trent Bridge as the second best and respected cricket ground in the country after Lords.

Panthers Smash the 1956 "Jinx"

At the time of writing the Panthers sit top of the league and have been in devastating form. In recent games they have put 6 goals past Belfast, 8 past Dundee, and slammed 8 in away at Coventry without reply. They were however brought down to earth with a 9-4 beating away in Sheffield on the 27^th of December. January will tell us a lot; all the league fixtures are against sides in the Panthers’ conference (by far the stronger of the two conferences). Should they remain top of the standings on the 4^th of February then club has a very real chance of finally bringing home the holy grail of a League Championship.

And five that are tongue in cheek and a little more unlikely to happen.

1)      Lee Houseman attends three consecutive Lincoln City Games.

2)      Barry Oxby to attend a Ladies football match.

3)      Felice to use the phrase “If I remember rightly” and be proved correct.

4)      Lee Houseman to smash the 30 games for the season barrier.

5)      For us all to be healthy wealthy and wise in 2013 (2^nd two very unlikely).

December in Impdom

I haven’t written a blog about City since the away trip to Dartford. There are a few reasons for this; the main one being Christmas, but I have also been working on articles and projects for the New Year. Although I can’t go into detail about these hopefully all will be revealed in January and yes they are football related.

After the great win at Dartford, City made the short trip to Mansfield for the FA Cup second round replay, the game was live on ESPN. Nothing to do with the appeal of the game itself, it was more about the prize to the winner; a home tie with Liverpool.

Well as you pretty much all know by now, Mansfield won 2-1. However despite the result I still managed to enjoy the night. For a start it felt like a proper football match. The Imps were backed by just under 1400 supporters who created the best atmosphere at an Imps away match since the playoff years. It also felt strange to be packed in together. Normally at away games over the past few years in this league you are never short of a seat but not on this night. Even when the Imps went 1-0 down thanks to a gaff from Paul Farman in the Lincoln goal the fans never stopped chanting.

Although Farman was at fault for the Stags goal, he made up for it by pulling off a great double save to keep Lincoln in the tie. The stags were slightly the better side and created the better chances but Lincoln held on. Just before halftime Lincoln grabbed an equalizer when Adam Smith sprung the offside trap and produced a great finish to draw the Imps level. His first goal for the club and all the sweeter for him as it was against his former club. In the second half City started like a house on fire and really took the game to their hosts, but unfortunately we failed to capitalise, and the Stags forced their way back into the game and took the lead about ten minutes before the end of the game. At 1-1 the next goal was always going to settle it and that, as they say, was that.

Although Lincoln had come up short the tie was very closely fought. As my good friend Mr Rob Waite wrote, the stags shaded the match something like 53/47. The main difference being that they had a little bit more pace up front than us.  We have faced the Stags three times this season and all three have been close with score lines of 0-0 3-3 and 2-1. Last season Mansfield were far better than Lincoln and totally outplayed us in both games. This season though, at the moment at least, the gap has narrowed somewhat. Whether that’s down to an Imps improvement or a Stags decline is open to debate; personally I think it’s a bit of both.  So good luck to the Stags v Liverpool, although the game is live on TV I won’t be watching. Sheffield United Ladies have an FA Cup 2^nd round game v Durham Wildcats at Retford United’s Cannon park so I will be attending and writing that one up 1.00pm kick off if anybody is interested in joining me.

Anyway swiftly moving on; the Imps were without a game the following weekend as torrential rain meant that the Imps game at Macclesfield was called off. The game has been rescheduled for the 5^th March. So hopefully the weather will be much better by then and we can enjoy the delights of the Hollingworth Kebab house on the way home.

The next stop for the Imps was a Boxing Day bout with local rivals Grimsby Town at Sincil Bank. Again I missed out on this one. Myself and my friends have a long standing tradition called the boxing day massacre which basically involves going out at 2pm and staying out till no more beer can be consumed. Although a close friend was unable to be with us as he has recently moved to Hereford thus making it tough to get back. He did however receive a drunken phone call just for old times’ sake. I am fully convinced that distance was the key issue here and not the fact then he owed me £10 for the Pittsburgh Steelers victory over the New York Giants. See you in February mate ;-)

 As usual a fun time was had by all, but in my case the first part of the afternoon was rather shit due to the Imps defence leaking goals, this did however speed up my drinking pace. Lincoln City Football Club, driving men to drink since 1884, if you haven’t heard the score then Google it. I am sure as hell not writing it on here. Bloody Codheads.

After the dreadful cod defeat, a few days of Twitter spats between various fans and players erupted; all very entertaining but not particularly helpful to anybody.  One thing however shone through; everybody was jolly pissed off and the players were desperate to put things right in the next home match v Gateshead.

It’s looking like this game could well be my only football of the holiday period (can’t say that I have missed it though). For this game my regular cohorts were unable to attend due to showing a poor level of fiscal budgetary control over the festive period. Pre game was spent chowing down on Fish and Chips at £4 (very nice they were to, may I add) and sinking a few pints in the City Vaults public house before making the short walk to the stadium.  And given the days weather I am glad that it was a short walk. Several games had already fallen victim to water logged pitches but thankfully the Sincil Bank pitch held firm. It had been drizzly all day and it was another one of those days that made me so glad that I packed in stewarding.

The Imps have made several team changes to the starting eleven. Keeper David Preece replaced Farman in goal (who had had a nightmare v Grimsby by all accounts), leading striker Jamie Taylor was on the bench and a surprise inclusion for me was the choice of Paul Robson at right back. When I texted Felice this piece of information he replied with one word; “Shit”. Not a huge fan of Mr Robson is Del.

Although all of this was quite interesting, it wasn’t top of Mr Barlow seniors mind as he had just had the good news that he would soon be able to gain entrance for the concession rate at Sincil Bank; a trick for Baz to try maybe? It definitely felt like the match was a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’ show’. Over 4,000 Imps fans attended the Boxing day game. Today the crowd was less than 2,000.

The performance on the pitch reflected that of the weather conditions; dull and dreary, the Imps unable to get into any sort of rhythm with moves of more than three passes hard to come by. In Lincoln’s defence however, they did lose two players to injury in the first half. First Peter Gilbert left the field of play with a groin injury, this lead to Lincoln reshuffling the backline with Scott Garner coming on and going to centre back alongside Andrew Boyce, Tom Miller going to left back and Paul Robson shifting to his more natural left back role. Soon after this Gateshead should have taken the lead when a great through ball split the Lincoln defence and was picked up by Jamie Chandler who rounded David Preece in the Imps goal. Fortunately for the Imps however he took a touch too many which gave Andrew Boyce time to get back and produced probably the best goal line clearance that I have ever seen. The only one than comes close to it was Paul Morgan’s effort away at Mansfield in the 2001/02 season. Gateshead looked good in possession of the ball but failed to create any real chances and work the keeper, other  than the previous one described. The Imps created very little and were in my view lucky to get to halftime goalless. The second Imps player laid low in the first half was Imps’ skipper Gary Mills, who picked up a bad knee ligament injury; this lead to the Imps making a second change with Connor Robinson replacing him.  The latest I have heard is that Mills could be out for up to 5 weeks. We of course wish him all the best for a speedy recovery.

The second half didn’t really get much better. Gateshead opened the scoring when Carl Magney was tripped in the box for a penalty. The striker was going away from goal but drew the foul smartly. The resulting spot kick was despatched with ease by Josh Gilles right into the top corner. You won’t see many penalties better and he gave the keeper no chance at all; 61 minutes gone and 0-1 to the “Heed”.

The is an old saying in football, (well actually there are loads of bollocks old sayings in football) that a team is at its most vulnerable when they have scored. Thankfully on this occasion this turned out to be true as just two minutes later the Imps were back on level terms as Connor Robinson latched onto a loose ball to fire a low shot through a Gateshead defenders legs and into the bottom corner. This lead to the best period of the game for Lincoln as we mounted a 10 minute period of pressure; but the closest we came to taking the lead was a Jake Sheridan header. As the game petered out it looked like both sides would settle for a point which is exactly what they got.

I must admit to being a tad disappointed with not gaining the three points but on reflection with so many players unavailable and the injuries taken in the game a point isn’t the end of the world. We now need to dust ourselves down for the return match with Grimsby and see what reinforcements arrive in the January transfer window.

As this is the last blog of 2012 I would like to wish all the readers out there a happy and successful New Year. I hope to have some great Lincoln Ladies, Lincoln City, and Nottingham Panthers victories to share with you all in 2013. Hopefully it will be one hell of a ride.

Hull Stingrays 1-3 Nottingham Panthers

Something a little bit different today. As it was FA Trophy second round day, Lincoln City didn’t have a game. I could have taken in some random game but I decided that the only place to be was the Hull Arena to watch the Elite League leaders the Nottingham Panthers take on the Hull Stingrays. Over the past few years I have started to get into ice hockey and I like to try and get to about 6-8 Panthers games a season. While it will never replace football I do thoroughly enjoy watching the Panthers and it makes a nice change not only to watch but to write about. As a lot of people reading this are maybe not familiar with the rules of Ice Hockey I will try and go through the basics in this write up. I don’t know all the ins and outs of various penalties etc but I do have a grasp of the basics. I am far from an expert but I do enjoy the game. In Ice hockey as in any other sport you have the “Haves” and the “Have not’s” the top league in Britain is known as the Elite League and has sides form all four corners of the United Kingdom taking part, Four each from Scotland and England and one each from Northern Ireland and Wales. There is quite a difference in terms of crowds that the clubs draw. The largest club is the Belfast Giants (the reigning league champions,) we have our very own Nottingham Panthers and the Panthers arch rivals the Sheffield Steelers (Boo Hiss). Panthers and Giants often get well over 5,000 for a Saturday night game with the Steelers getting about 3,000 on average. Contrast that with some of the other clubs who do well to get 1,000 through the gates. It’s perhaps no surprise that the league title has been contested between the “Big three” for the past few seasons. Although sides like Coventry and Cardiff have challenged and won the title in the not too distant past it is getting increasingly difficult for them to compete with the large Arena sides over the course of the season.

Nottingham’s history is one of crushing disappointment. Although they are the oldest English side in the league (and the best supported) we have failed to win a league Championship since 1956. That’s not to say we Panthers haven’t tasted success, far from it in fact. The Panthers have claimed the Challenge Cup for the past three seasons and won the last two end-of-season playoffs. However the big prize still eludes us much to the amusement of the rest of the league. Panthers also have a reputation for being the best side to watch in the league. Packed with attacking talent but also prone to drop points against the so called lesser sides. To use a football comparison the Panthers are somewhere between Liverpool and Spurs. So far this year the Panthers sit at the top of the standing however a shock defeat at home to bottom of the table Edinburgh had started the first whispers of “Same old panthers” blowing it again. A win against the Stingrays was badly needed to get back on track ahead of a huge home game with Belfast the next night. This was our second visit to Hull this season as we also took in a game earlier in the season in the challenge cup group stage when the Panthers won 4-2. The two sides also clashed last week in the league with the Stingrays taking a shock 1-3 lead at the end of the first period. Thankfully the Panthers woke up and ran out 8-4 winners. However the ice at Hulls game is smaller and the fans are much closer so it was going to be a very different game in Hull.

We arrived at Hull in good time and purchased our tickets at £15 each. As the Stingrays never sell out you don’t have to sit in a specific seat. Unlike in football it’s not uncommon for fans of rival clubs to be sat side by side, the away fans at Hull do tend to congregate at the far end of the arena behind the goal and one of the blocks along the side. Before we went to our seats though, we sampled the food in the cafe after hearing rave reviews about the famous spicy Hull Chips. After a 15 minute wait I was eventually tucking onto my cheeseburger and spicy chips and while they were palatable they didn’t really live up to the hype and not worth the long wait. After eating we collected the match night programme (£3.50 but it was a joint issue for this and Monday’s game) and wandered over to find some decent seats. The thing I like about Hull is that you are right up close to the action; we had a decent view last time so we sat there again this time. This was a mistake.

Last time we were here the Panthers pretty much packed the far blocks out. That was the first game of the season and a lot more Panthers fans had made the trip. Whereas last time we were surrounded by other Panthers fans this time we were the only two in Panthers colours in our block with Stingrays fans in front and behind us. The game was meant to face off at 6.30pm but ice hockey games never face off on time. The normal agenda for starting a game is as follows 1) Away team enters onto the ice 2) Home team enters onto the ice 3) Home players individually introduced to the crowd. 4) The National Anthem is played 5) The two side’s starting lines start the game. To Hulls credit they actually get a bloke to sing the anthem where as in Nottingham it’s just played over the PA system without the words being sung. I do prefer Hulls way of doing it to be honest. Hull’s game plan became quite apparent early on. Try to rough up the Panthers and stop them playing Hockey. After about 5 minutes, we had our first fight which resulted in a player from either side being thrown out of the game. At any one time you should have 6 players on the ice; a net minder and 5 outfield skaters. They are normally on the ice for not longer than a minute or two, and then they are replaced. Again using a footie comparison it’s like having rolling subs. If a player commits a foul then more often than not he is sent to the sin bin for 2 or 5 minutes and the team plays on with 4 outfield players. For serious offences players can be thrown out of the game and that’s what happened in the first fight. As the main fight was going on there was plenty of other skirmishes for the refs to try and sort out. When order was restored a Panthers player went to the sinbin for 5 mins meaning we had to dig deep as we faced a 4 v 5 for 5 minutes.

Thankfully we kept them out, but as soon as we were back to full strength it all kicked off again, but this time the Panthers were far more aggressive and ready for Hull’s wind up merchants. This then led to an elderly Hull fan in front of us to start shouting “Nottingham Scabs” and telling his grand children all about the miners’ strike. Not really the time and the place in my view and we made the decision to go round and sit in the block where the main body of Panthers support was sat for the 2nd and 3rd periods. However not before the Panthers broke clear and took the lead with a fine strike from Matt Francis which seemed to slip under the home side netminder. This goal settled the Panthers down and now meant that Hull would have to play hockey instead of just look to break up the Panther’s play.

The second period was much calmer and although the Panthers had the better of it they continued to waste chances till Kelsey Wilson doubled the advantage when the Panthers were on the power play (hockey speak for a time when the other team is down to 4 outfield skaters). If you are the on penalty kill then your team is down to 4 players, or even three players as the Panthers were on two occasions tonight. Between the intervals the Stingrays mascot strolled around the stadium and was greeted to a burst of the Youtube sensation “One pound Fish” song from the Panther’s fans. Christmas number one maybe?

 Just a few minutes into the final period it was game on again as the Stingrays got it back to 1-2. This then lead to a foghorn blasting out over the pa system and the home fans really getting behind their side. It was also a sign for the Panthers to step up a gear and they played their best hockey of the game and looked more composed than they had done all night. They rounded off the scoring when skipper Jordan Fox scored from close range to wrap up the game and an important two points for the visitors. However there was still time for some drama; Hull had goal disallowed and the Panthers missed a great chance right at the death but in the end the right side won on the night.

Dartford 2-4 Lincoln City

Over the last week cup fever has swept across Lincoln City. Ever since the draw with Mansfield in round two, and the following news that the winners of the replay with face Liverpool , City fans seem to have talked about little else. On Tuesday night however the Imps were brought crashing back down to earth as Woking arrived at Sincil Bank and took away all three points with comparative ease. They notched a penalty after 5 minutes and that was that. Nobody was really surprised that they added a second in the second half as the Imps never looked like scoring. A huge slice of reality pie had been dished out to fans and more importantly to players.

Next up for the Imps was a trip to the BSP surprise package this season; Dartford FC. Before the match the Darts sat in 5^th place in the division. This was going to be a real test for the Imps and if they were to get anything out of the match they would need to be at the top of their game and totally focused on the match and not be thinking of Mansfield/Liverpool.

It’s a while since we have done a long distance away day with City and with this one being pencilled in as a must do a few weeks ago, it was one that we were all looking forward to, alas Lee had yet another cock and bull excuse to add to his ever growing list of reasons for missing games. We will find out the real reason why he missed the game Wednesday. That is if he makes it....we shall see.  After a quick sausage sandwich and the fantastic news that England were on the brink of another fantastic test match win in India. We left for Dartford at just gone 9.45am.

The trip down the A1 was the hardly the most inspiring of journeys that will a man will ever undertake and food options on the way down were a little limited but at least the traffic was kind. Just outside of Stansted airport we made a pit stop at a service station.  To me service stations are only really good for relieving your bladder and bowel. Yes you can get a coffee or something to eat, but only if you are prepared to take out a second mortgage to pay for it. I was tempted to get a stupid Christmas hat for the away game but I had a word with myself and refrained from doing so. They only other thing I would have been interesting in buying would have been a local paper but I was unable to locate one. I was tempted to buy Thursday’s issue of USA Today but decided against it.  Baz however went for a trendy Starbucks coffee at a price of £3.50. Yes you do read that correctly £3.50 for a cup of coffee. I can say that I have never bought a coffee in a Starbucks/Costa whichever coffee chain, nothing to do with the recent taxpaying scandal; I just don’t see how anybody can pay over £3 for a cup of coffee when you can watch red hot Central Midlands League football for the same price! And in some cases you get a free programme for your money!! Anyway after waiting for the staff to make the thing and for to Baz sup it with pinkie extended in that arty farty way that only he can, we were on our merry way. We did see a handful of other Imps milling around and as we pulled out of the services the Imps supporters coach pulled in so it looked like we would have a decent following at the match. Amazing what a few wins does for a club.

To get to Dartford you have to go over the Dartford bridge (strange that) going onto the bridge you have the standard three lanes but there are about 18 toll booths. Once on the other side the road again goes back into three lanes which means you see quite a lot of wacky races style driving manoeuvres  as everybody battles to get back in lane. Once over the bridge you pass into Kent (or the garden of England as it seems to be known) and it’s only another ten minutes or so to the ground. A pretty simple journey overall and we rocked up at the Dartford FC car park at just after 1.00pm.

Dartford’s ground is a new build and it seems to be part of a regeneration project, as there appears to have been quite a bit of building going off in the area around the stadium. There doesn’t appear to been any pubs around the ground but Kent Police had kindly “Tweeted” during the week that there was a bar at the away end for Lincoln supporters to use so we had no worries over getting a beer or three. As we had plenty of time, we had a stroll around the ground and my impressions of the ground were very positive. New builds aren’t everybody’s cup of tea but the club have done a cracking job with this and managed to avoid making it look bland. The reception area looks smart, as does the balcony area that overlooks the outside of the ground. I would imagine that this is a cracking area to sink a couple of pints before a game at the start/end of the season but maybe not so much at a game in the middle of December. From here we strolled round to the club shop and I must say it is certainly one of the better ones in the division and has a nice range of stuff on sale. The match day programme was on sale for £2.50 and was an above average production with plenty of stuff to read in it with a decent section on the away side.

After learning that the bar for away fans is inside the ground we made our way round to the away turnstiles, parted with our hard earned cash, and entered the ground. As we got into the ground a friendly steward directed us to the bar which is on your left hand side as you enter the ground. 

One thing that we have discovered in the year and a half that we have been playing in this division is there seems to be two very different ways clubs treat away fans. Most of the traditional non league sides seem to treat a visiting former league side as if they are a group of Viking invaders and as such don’t want them drinking in their smart clubhouses. Yes you get the odd one welcoming you, like Southport but more often than not clubs such as Tamworth, Braintree, and Woking etc aren’t interested in the custom of fans from the larger clubs. With this in mind it’s so refreshing to see Dartford providing a great bar for away fans to have a few pints before the game. The bar is heated, quite spacious, and has a large screen showing the day’s early kick off.  Not only did they provide this but a group of Dartford officials made time to come in and welcome the City fans and have a quick chat about all things football. The chairman explained to us that this was the first time the bar had been used and asked us what we thought of it. It’s the little things like this that gives off such a positive image of a football club and if more clubs were this welcoming and friendly, the game would be so much better for all of us.  Just for the record City also welcome fans of all clubs in our club bar.

The chairman of Dartford Football club has a lot to be positive about at the moment as the club has had a fantastic time over the past few years. In 2007/08 they started their rise when the club won the Ryman League division One North (the same level that Lincoln United play at). Two seasons later in 09/10 the club won the Ryman Premier Division championship. In 2011/12 the club won its third promotion in 5 years when they won the Blue Square bet Southern playoffs with a victory over Welling United.  The club’s good momentum has continued this season and they have surprised many with their great start to the season. Before kick off the Darts sat in 5^th place in the division seven points ahead of Lincoln. And although Dartford have hit a sticky patch recently, Lincoln would still have to play very well to get anything out of the match.

We finished our pints and headed out into the stadium. In a way it reminds me a bit of Burton’s ground as you get three sides terraced with the main stand to our right with seats in it and a director’s area above it. Behind each goal was an identical terrace with a stretch of terracing to our left. In this stand about halfway down was a wooden man which forms part of the support structure for the stand. Again full marks to the club for building a ground that has character to it. The Imps normally get good support at matches in the south east and today was no exception. Given the FA cup run and it being nearly Christmas I did think that it could be a low turnout, but the Imps faithful turned out in good numbers and were out in force.

The major talking point for City fans was the amount of changes made to the line up. The major one being the decision to drop keeper Paul Farman and replace him with recently signed David Preece in goal. I had been “tipped off” about this happening in midweek  and I must say I felt very sorry for Jake Turner who has been reserve keeper all season and in my opinion should have been used in the trophy game and I felt should have been given a chance today. With Jamie Taylor suspended thanks to his last minute booking against Woking, Colin Larkin led the line for Lincoln.

Lincoln started the game attacking the goal that most of their supporters were gathered behind (we did have a small section of seating down the side as well) and we didn’t have to wait long for the first goal. Colin Larkin broke free on the right and won a corner. The delivery was first class and aimed at the near post. Dan Grey, up from the back, lost his marker headed the ball into the net from close range. It was a very well worked goal and a throwback to the John Beck era; the Imps now one up in seven minutes.  The Darts did seem a little rattled by that goal and never really got going in the first half. They did win a free kick on their next attack but they thankfully wasted it by blasting it straight at the City wall.

City’s second goal again came right out of the John Beck coaching manual. The Imps won a long throw which Dan Grey hurled into the box; the ball was flicked on by Tom Miller, and fell to Colin Larkin who made no mistake from six yards out. 24 minutes gone; Lincoln 2-0 up, and the home side all over the place.  The second goal was our signal to check out the food on offer with Baz going for a pie and myself checking out the cheeseburger. The burger was your standard offering at £3.20 and I will award it with a solid and standard 7/10. Baz seemed to be very impressed with the pie and said it was better than many he has had this season. The catering did seem to be very varied and had items such as sandwiches on the menu which makes a nice change. The jewel in the crown however was the fact that they sold cakes and Baz had wasted no time at all tucking into a slice of Bread and Butter pudding which he thoroughly enjoyed. I didn’t have a cake myself (watching my figure and all that) but I did sample the Bovril which was spot on.

Anyway back to matters on the pitch. Adam Smith has come in for a fair bit of stick from City fans in recent weeks, some justified some not in my opinion. On his day he is great but sometimes tries to take on one man to many. Today though I thought he was on his game and his cross in the 32^nd minutes, which Larkin got on the end of to head home, was as good as any I have seen this season.  3-0 to City and the game looked over. Dartford had looked ok on the ball and had knocked it around quite well but had looked all over the place at the back. What chances they did create were snuffed out by Grey and Miller at the heart of the Imps defence. In the middle of the park big Mo was running the show. The chap was badly missed Tuesday night and this game once again how important he is to the City midfield.

Unfortunately we also saw the not so good side of Adam Smith shortly afterwards. City mounted another attack which led to a great effort form Nicky Nicolau, which drew an equally fine save from the Darts goalkeeper as he got his finger tips to the ball to turn it round for what looked to be a corner. Unfortunately the ref had missed the save and signalled for a goal kick. This then led to Smith racing up to the ref and taking his protests too far and thus receiving a yellow card.  Over the course of a season players will pick up bookings here and there, some warranted some not so. I have no problems with bookings if players collect them trying to do the right thing and maybe mistiming a challenge or something, but collecting this sort of cheap booking is a real bugbear of mine. Quite why, when a side is 3-0 up away from home and playing well, he felt the need to gob off quite so much over a corner only he will know. What it did mean was he was treading a fine line for the rest of the game due to collecting a yellow that he could so easily have had avoided.

A minute before the halftime whistle City added a fourth.  The Imps were awarded a free kick just outside the area that Gary Mills struck well and drew a decent save from Bettinelli in the Darts goal. However the Dartford defence was slow to react and Colin Larkin was first to the ball and drove the ball home to complete his hat trick and put the makeshift Lincoln team 0-4 up.

HT 0-4

In the second half we got to see something that you don’t often see in football these days. For the first half the Dartford fans that had made most of the noise were behind the far goal which they were attacking.  For the second half they made their way round to our side of the pitch, to the end they were now attacking on the left hand side of the City supporters.  Even though they were 0-4 down they still made an impressive amount of noise, and really got behind their side.  This then led to a decent amount of banter between the two sets of fans which improved the atmosphere.  The home fans were given something to cheer about in the 50^th minute when Crawford collected the ball 20 yards out then fired a pin point low shot straight into the bottom hand corner giving Preece no chance at all. This really fired up the home side and they were the better side for pretty much all of the second half.  The Imps were indebted to Gary Mills as he hacked a Dartford effort of the line following a corner. City did try and get forward but all of a sudden we seemed rather nervous and the Darts upped their game. Nobody was really surprised when on 72 minutes Crawford notched his second of the game when he sprung the Imps offside trap and slotted home past the advancing Preece in the City goal. Squeaky bum time with just over 20 minutes to go.

This then lead the Dartford fans to break out a chat about us being Northern scum. I have always considered Lincs to be in the Midlands but there you go. Maybe geography isn’t a strong point in Dartford. Even though this song was a tad baffling, I must say they were one of the loudest sets of fans I have heard this season and they can be proud for the most part of how they got behind their side.  Dartford weren’t getting many shots away but the Imps were indebted to Preece whose reading of the game was first class (as you would expect from a keeper with 600 league games) and snuffed out many of the Dartford attacks by coming out and claiming the ball early. At the other end City were pretty much anonymous which added to the pressure on the City backline. Thankfully though, the Imps had enough in the tank and were pretty street wise at winding the clock down and collected the three points.

FT 2-4

I will take a 4-2 away win every day of the week and with so many changes to the line up it makes the win all the more impressive. Dartford are a good side (as their league position shows) and will have better days. Having initially questioned the inclusion of Preece in goal I have to eat humble pie today as he had a very good game and was a huge factor in Lincoln taking home the three points. I would say that only Larkin with his hat trick was ahead of him for the Imps man of the match award.

Sometimes when you travel around the country you visit clubs that you are not to fussed about if you don’t go back to again. This is not the case for Dartford. The club struck me as being very well run, treats both sets of fans well, and is really on the ball with everything. I think it’s safe to say it is definitely going on the “must do away games” list for next season. I wish them well for the rest of the season (apart from when the visit Lincoln of course!)

On the way back we had the “pleasure” of the 606 football phone in show with Robbie Savage and Johnny Vaughn on Radio 5 live which was dreadful from start to finish. It strikes me that to get on the Radio these days and talk about football you just need to be a pratt and talk utter tripe. Think I should get my CV in. If these muppets and many more like them can host a show.....