Lincoln 3-1 Oxford United

After losing to the bottom side in the division Lincoln need to pick themselves up and get some points on the board fast so we don't get sucked back into the relegation dogfight. At the start of the season every side's first goal is to get to the magic 50 point total which should be enough to stamp your card for another season in League two. More often than not 46-48 points is enough but on the other hand i seem to remember York City going down on 52 one year. Before tonight's game City had amassed 38 points and were 9 points clear of Burton Albion in the last relegation place. Due to Burton having up to six games in hand on some clubs(four on Lincoln) i have been looking past them and focusing 3rd bottom Barnet who Lincoln had crumbled so badly against at the weekend. They were 8 points behind Lincoln but had played two games more. Bottom of the table Stockport County were 10 points (and 8 league places) adrift of Lincoln. Stockport were at Cheltenham Town whilst Barnet weren't playing so Lincoln had a real chance to extent our gap over the bottom two. Oxford are no mugs however. After winning promotion via the playoffs from the blue square premier division last year they sit just outside the playoffs this time around. The were backed by over 200 fans which considering how far it is to travel for a night game was a fantastic effort and they made plenty of noise.

City got off to a great start on 5 minutes when Josh 0'Keefe hit a volley against the post then followed up the rebound. After that early setback Oxford got on the front foot and played the better football without forcing Carson in the Imps goal into any save of note. Lincoln's front pair also failed to get many shots away as both sides cancelled each other out. Oxford were using a good range of long and short passes but Danny Hone and co snuffed them out. Then 5 minutes before the break it all went tits up.
Oxford played a great move that maybe contained 6-7 passes that ended in a ball being looped into the box. As it was played well in front of the Oxford strikers and pretty much down Carsons throat it seemed as if the Imps have survived. Wrong again.
Carson dived forward to gather it but as he fell to the ground the ball popped out and rolled right in front of the on rushing Oxford striker who tapped on one of the easiest goals he will ever get. It was a blunder of the highest order but Carson has been one of the reasons why we have climbed the table since the new year so one goof wont alter his standing amongst the Imps faithful. He is a young keeper and you are going to get blunders like this from time to time. You could tell he was well and truly gutted by it and having made fuck ups like that myself and its horrible. Thankfully there were only a few minutes to go till half time since it was now important for Imps goalkeeping coach Paul Musselwhite to sit Carson down and clear his head.
We all saw at the world cup how Rob Greens balls up changed the momentum of the game between England the the USA as nerves spread throughout the side after his howler and for 20 minutes it seemed as if Lincoln were going to follow their example. Oxford were now seeing far more of the ball than City and were starting to turn the screw.
In the first half City had been forced to make a change when Luke Howell pulled up with a hamstring injury and was replaced by wing wizard Mustapha Carayol and it was he that unlocked the Oxford defence. As it was his cross which was met by Delroy Facey whose effort was helped in by an Oxford Defender. 2-1 Lincoln. A lead we didnt deserve. It got even better a few minutes later with another own goal. This time Anthony Tonkin slicked another Carayol cross high into his own net without a City player anywhere near him. Fantastic.
After that City saw the game out and gained a priceless three points. Elsewhere Stockport lost 2-1 at Cheltenham and Burton won 3-2 at Northampton Town. All this mean that Lincoln now have 41 points from 32 games and an 11 point gap to Barnet in the final relegation place.
Although you can never take anything for granted the next few weeks could go along way to seeing city over the finishing line. Next up is Accrington Stanley at home on Saturday followed by a trip to Burton Albion. Then Southend United visit Lincoln and then we go to Macclesfield Town. Barnet face Rotherham United away and Wycombe at home both of which are gunning for automatic promotion so i wouldn't have thought they will get many points from those games. There will however be many more twists and turns along the way so lets get those 9 more points we need ASAP!!