Bradford City 1-2 Lincoln City

Next up for the in form Imps was a trip to the shithole of Bradford to see the Imps take on Bradford City. Bradford had a brief period in the Premiership in the early part of the last decade and due to this they view themselves as a "big club" who shouldn't be bumming around in the bottom half of league two. In reality they are a league one/two club at best who are based in a total dump in West Yorkshire and who's big crowds are due to the fact that the board have made season tickets stupidly cheap while charging away fans £20 a time.

As a ground i quite like Valley Parade and i would imagine that the atmosphere when it was full back in the Premiership/Championship days was pretty special. Perhaps their biggest moment was on the last day of the 2000-01 season (think it was then, i can't be arsed to google it) When they beat Liverpool to stay in the Premiership for a second season. The year later they were relegated, and the rot set in. Hence it is the visit of Lincoln rather than Liverpool that the home fans have to look forward to. If they don't wake up it soon could be the likes of Forest Green and Grimsby.

Sincil Bank had been the Anfield of league two on transfer deadline day. Striker Scott Spencer had signed till the end of the season. Midfielder Ali Fuseini had signed an 18 month contract (although Monday afternoon may cut that short) Thirdly Centre back/Midfielder Patrick Kanyuka had signed a deal until the end of the season. The former champions league player with CFR Cluj started the match and has the distinction of being the only Lincoln player i have seen to sport a full beard while playing for Lincoln. Due to this, and the fact non of us can pronounce his surname, he will be known "Beardy Boy".

Again, like at Anfield, players left. Moses Swaibu of "Chickengate" fame was released which in truth was no great surprise. The big shock was that the Imps longest serving player and club captain Scott Kerr was released and joined Blue Square premier league side York City on an 18 month contract. Scott was never one of my favourite players but he always gave 100% for the Imps. All the Retford Imps would like to wish him the best for the future. All we need now to complete the Anfield comparison is for an owner of a struggling baseball club to buy us and take us forward. Here's hoping the Pittsburgh Pirates owner will buy us and build up our stadium and youth sides like he has done at the Pirates. Well, we can all dream can't we?

We got into the Stadium pretty much bang on kick off. Bradford had penned all the Imps fans into a end of a stand than was on the side of the pitch with our view being on the 18 yard line. Despite the poor view the 300 or so Imps fans still created a good atmosphere.
Bradford were quickly out of the traps and were a very physical side with route one football being the game plan. They completely blew the Imps out the water for the first 20 minutes or so. Danny Hone was pretty much a one man show for the Imps at the back winning header after header and making last ditch tackles a plenty. We struggled to get hold of the ball let alone do anything with it.
The Bantams took the lead when Luke Howell got skinned on our right, the cross was put into the box and wham 1-0 with the Imps all over the place and 10,000 Yorkshire Muppet's with their tails up. Bah.
The game was littered with fouls and free kicks which in a way helped the Imps to settle. It has been noticed that since International forward Delroy Facey took the armband the Imps have looked much more of a group and pulling together in the face of adversity. Delroy isn't in the shouting and chest pumping captain mould and is more in the Beckham style of Captain; less shouting, more leading by example, and leading the post match interviews. Indeed his impact on this City side is in the same league as Beckham's on England in the early to Mid 2000's.
It goes without saying that it was Delroy who got the Imps level 5 minutes before halftime with a fantastic header that went across the Bradford keeper and into the far corner. The Imps went in 1-1 at halftime. A score we didn't deserve if the truth be told. We had been out fought in midfield and looked weak down our right hand side. Beardy boy looked a little short of match fitness and had made numerous mistakes, while it would have been harder to dodge round a guinea pig, than it was to get round defender Luke Howell. Danny Hone and Delroy were by far and away the outstanding Imps.

Beardy Boy was subbed at half time by Ali Fuseini. Felice said this was to be a game of two halves and for once he was correct!!! The Imps settled down and passed the ball around and made Bradford chase the game. Ali in the centre was able to pick up pass after pass and never looked like losing the ball. Howell looked like a totally different player and the Imps were well on top as we spread the play from left to right. On the rare occasion Bradford got the ball they just pumped it forward which Danny Hone and Co just gobbled up and set the Imps up for another couple of minutes of keep the ball.
I would love to tell you about the Imps winner but i was "emptying the snake" at the time. Needless to say that Canada's finest Gavin MaCallum had got it and dedicated the goal to his dad. The Bradford fans headed for exits as the Imps held on for the last ten minutes or so. Just before the goal Delroy had been subbed after suffering a slight knock. The Skipper received a standing ovation from the Lincoln fans that was as enthusiastic as the one that greeted the Allied troops when they liberated Paris. His replacement, Drewe Broughton received one akin to the welcoming Nick Clegg will get on his next public meeting in Sheffield.(Barr one Lincoln fan from Retford who acted as if the long lost son had returned)
To be fair to Drewe this was his best performance for the Imps. One out of his five touches of the ball were great.
Lincoln held on to record there 4th win on the spin. With Barnet's game at Aldershot abandoned due to fog it allowed Lincoln to open up a six point gap over the drop zone with 3 games in hand. Steve Tilson and Paul Brush led the Imps players and coaching staff over to the away section to thank us for our support. Little things like this mean alot to fans and it's a stark contrast to the Sutton regime.

The real high point to an away game at Bradford is the chance for a real Kebab after the game. Last season we had a fantastic one at Hannahs Kebab house. So off we headed through Bradford to find it. If you want to imagine what the journey looked like then just put Berlin 1945 into Youtube and you will have a pretty good idea. When we got to Hannahs it was boarded up and our hearts sank like a stone. We drove on to another Kebab shop and ate there.
Fleece gave it a 7/10 but i will go for 5/10. The meat was nice enought but the lack of Salad variety andthe fact that we had to wait over 20 minute for them to arrive and that they got one of our orders wrong, go against it. Yes i am a tough man to please but i am always fair.

Admission £20
Programme £3 Average at best
Ground 9/10
Match quality 8/10
Imps man of the match Danny Hone
Food 5/10

The hight point of the night for me was walking back to the car and hearing the Bradford fans moaning and complaining like little bitchs. Makes a change from us moaning for once! Fuck you Yorkshire as they say.