All was well in the world when i arose from my pit in the morning. The previous nights curry had made its last stand, the sandwich orders for day had been phoned in by the guys so after watching the morning line i set off to pick up the food for the journey from Bacons; the best place in Retford to pick up great sandwiches.
The journey down to North London was fairly non eventful one moment of note was when we slowed down to allow a pheasent to cross the A1. Due to the fact we have had rain for most of the last week or so i was a little concerned that the match would be called off. On the way down we overtook the Lincoln team coach and a car with a Sheffield United sticker in the back which received a cupped hand salute from Baz. Its hard to believe that it looks like the Steel City derby could well be played in the third tier of English football next season. Wouldn't mind a trip to either club in next seasons JP Trophy though. Although we will more likely get Hartlepool, Carlisle or Rotherham away (Providing we stay up that is)
We had a drive round the streets near Barnet's Underhill stadium but couldn't find anywhere to park the motor, so we parked up at Barnet Underground station. Barnet high street, which is only a five minute walk from the tube station, has quite a few decent places to eat and drink pre game. With this being London the chances of getting a decent Kebab in the afternoon were quite high. Alas the steady drizzle of rain put paid to these plans. Nobody really wants rain getting in their large lamb donner so we headed straight to the Red Lion pub which is right next to the away end.
As normal the pub was full of away fans. This is one of my favourite away pubs in the country. The walls are covered with old sporting drawings and portraits from the early 1900s. The pub does a nice range in pies and homemade sandwiches as well. The beer is expensive but that is what you expect in London, we got sat down in a corner and merrily drunk our drinks and all was well in the world.
Baz had pre-ordered the tickets and we had to pick them up from the ticket office (Not surprisingly really) The office and club shop are at the far end of the stadium to the away end so it gave us a chance to have a look around. The club shop is a portercabin type thing and sells the normal football stuff. The Programme was the league normal £3 and quite good. There was a stall doing face painting but unfortunately nobody seemed to be taking up the opportunity, although a young away fan wanted to have his face painted in the colours of the mighty Imps but alas Scrooge McDuck the Celtic fan wouldn't allow it ;-)
There is also a food hut next door to the ticket window selling a better range of food than there is inside the stadium.
Lincoln normally take a good following to London matches and today was no different. Like most teams Lincoln have many exiled fans in the capital and the south east. You can always spot the London based fans by the way they are dressed. Its hard to explain this but if you have spent any time in our great capital city you will know what i mean. There are most certainly different rules for dressing in London as there are in the rest of Great Britain. For example one chap was dressed in a Cowboy hat, red scarf, long leather coat and lime green cord trousers. In London nobody would bat an eyelid. If i strolled into the Olde Sun public house in Retford on a Friday night i would imagine i would get a very different response. The sheer quirkiness of London is one of the things i love about the place.
It was 16 of your finest English pounds to sit and a pound less to stand. We opted for the seating which gave you a decent enough view of the action and the famous "Barnet slope". Lincoln were kicking up the slope in the first half, and quite a bit of rain had fallen overnight and throughout the day thus making the pitch very heavy going. Neither of these however were an excuse for the first 45 minutes of "football" that Lincoln produced.
Barnet were quicker out of the traps than i am at turning off the tv when David Cameron is speaking. Lincoln were second to every ball and positionally were all over the place. It looked as if Barnet had an extra man as Lincoln were chasing shadows. Barnet had a flurry of corners and it was from one of those Barnet took the lead after only five minutes when ex Sheffield United striker Steve Kabba rose unmarked to head home at the near post. How you can forget about a six foot plus former Championship striker and the near post amazes me but then again this is Lincoln.
You would have though that that was the kick up the arse Lincoln needed but it wasn't. Barnet kept on attacking and Lincoln continued to struggle Barnet fired a few crosses into the Imps box that weren't delt with convincingly while Lincoln offered very little up front.
it got worse on 15 minutes when Ali Fuseini conceded a penalty which Kabba buried to make it 2-0 this was rapidly turning into another Bury/Shrewsbury farce. But this time we were losing to the team bottom of the league and had a two and a half hour trip home. It got a bit better for Lincoln after we got into their half once or twice but didn't force the Barnet Keeper into many/any saves. Barnet hit the post when it looked easier to score and missed one or two other good chances. Lincoln had a great chance to get back into the match when Ali Fuseini floated a free kick into the box but Grimes for once failed to connect with it. If he had it would surely have made it 2-1 as the keeper was well beaten. That miss hurt even more when Barnet's Mark Hughes curled in a great goal from the edge of the box after the Imps failed to clear their lines. Half time 3-0 and if truth be told the scoreline flattered Lincoln.
One place i like to visit in London is the Natural History museum which has a great dinosaur collection. At half time i was thinking how much i would rather be there instead of watching the cant-defendasaurus and the cant-pass-asaurus. In the Lincoln ends there were definitely a large number of sightings off pissedofasaurus angrily grazing on pies and burgers.
I would have loved to have been a fly on wall of the Imps dressing room at half time because whatever Steve Tilson and Paul Brush said it certainly worked. Luke Howell pulled one back on 47 quickly followed by a close range effort from Ashley Grimes and all of a sudden Lincoln were in a game that we barely deserved to be in. The Imps were really taking the match to their hosts and it seemed only a matter of time till the Imps got the third. I have never seen Lincoln get anything from a match when being 0-3 down.
Felice was even more distraught at the news that Italy were getting yet another kicking at rugger; this time at the hands of the Welsh.
The Imps won a penalty and up stepped Ashley Grimes who had his spot kick well saved. Moments like this change games. The miss really took the wind out of Lincoln's sails and Barnet clamped down and started to exploit Lincoln's flanks. Barnet have real pace upfront and it was causing Adam Watts and co at the back real problems. Barnet killed the match off when a ball was crossed to the back post and nobody picked up McLeod who had a simple tap in. A poor goal to concede and one that summed up the day. The rest of the game was played out tamely enough with Barnet looking the more likely to score and Lincoln chances being few and far between.
So what does it all mean? Well Barnet close the gap on Lincoln but it could have been worse. Stockport, Burton and Maccelsfield all got beat and we remain 9 points clear of the drop zone with two matches in hand. One of those is on Tuesday night when Oxford United visit Lincoln. Although we still have a nice gap to the relagation zone we could do with a win just to keep everything ticking over. Our next two games are at home so we have a chance to bounce back.
All the best to Barnet for the rest of the season but i would still say that Barnet and Stockport are favourites for the drop which is a shame as they are both great away days.
On the way back we listened to England giving France a good kicking in the six nations. I dont take much notice of rugby but mentioning France allows me to sign off this blog entry with a picture of a French maid to cheer up the Imps that travelled to London yesterday.
Over and out.
No comments:
Post a Comment