Stockport County 3-4 Lincoln City

For me this game was shit or bust. A win and the Imps were 2 points behind Stockport with 5 games in hand. Lose and we were pretty much adrift. The three points were very very welcome and made raiding the piggy bank more than worth it.

I like Stockport's Edgely park. Well three sides of it anyway. Its one of the few traditional grounds left in England. Its sad to think that in say ten years grounds like this could well be no more and all we will be left with is soulless Lego brick dumps on the outskirts of town like Doncaster, MK Dons, Shrewsbury, Scunthorpe etc complete with "Customers" instead of fans. The ground is in the centre of town and has a real football feel it.
The only downside to it is the fact that the away end is uncovered seating behind the goal. At the opposite end is one of the best home "ends" outside of the premiership which totally dominates the ground. The stands to the left and right are quite dated but more than adequate for this level. As Sale Sharks Rugby Union side also play at the ground the pitch isn't the greatest, but is a hell of alot better than it was last season.
After getting in to the ground at about 2.30 first port of call was as ever the snap counter and for once I actually bought something which,to my surprise, didn't taste like shit as is the norm inside football league grounds in England. The meat and potato pie, mushy peas and gravy went down a treat and was worth every bit of the £4.50. If I am being super critical the only let down was the fact there was no mint sauce but you can't have everything can you?
This was very much a new look Lincoln side with Trevor Carson on loan from Sunderland starting in goal and Steven Hunt from Notts County starting in defence. The side was again led by Delroy Facey and he really seems to be growing into the role. The Imps drew blood in the 5th minute when Grimes scored with a great lob that left the keeper stranded. Tackles were flying in from both sides and the game became littered with free kicks and it was from one such free kick that Stockport equalised when Carson beat out the shot only for County to fire in from the rebound. At half time i over heard some fans saying Carson should have tipped it round the post. My own view is that the defence should have reacted to the rebound much better. So there! City took the lead again in first half stoppage time when City worked a free kick well which lead to Adam Watts getting his first goal for City.
Lincoln went further ahead in the 60th minute when McCallum unselfishly rolled the ball across the six yard box for Grimes to notch his second of the game. The Imps now had some breathing space but this being Lincoln you just knew it would go arse about tit, and so it proved as Stockport got the back in the game just three minutes later but to fair it was a well taken goal.
Grimes completed his hat-trick on 65mins only for Stockport to get back into it again with a freak own goal from Adam Watts (meaning this was a very rare instance of an Imps player scoring at both ends). I must admit i thought we would go on to balls it up and get a draw; we not only hung on, but played the better football and could have added to our lead in stoppage time when Delroy held off the last defender but shot just wide of the post.
I am not stupid enough to think that this win means that we will stay up but it has put us back in the pack and with upto 5 games in hand on sides around us, our fate is very much in our hands. Infact we are still one game short of the halfway point in out season. Food for thought if you will.