From a Lincoln fans angle it was a strange build up to today's match. Normally the build up is dominated by the league positioning of the two teams, who's injured or not injured etc etc. For this match the build up was more about Steve Tilson v Southend United instead of Lincoln City v Southend United.
Steve Tilson was pretty much a god in Southend United fan's eyes. He supported them as a boy, he played for them and he managed them. And he did a very good job taking them from league two to the Championship (and back again it has to be said) On the way up beating the Imps in the 2005 playoff final in Cardiff.
However there seems to have been a huge falling out between Tilson and the Southend United chairman when he was sacked. I don't know all the details nor do i want to if truth be told. There seems to be a dispute about Steve's wages being paid/not being paid, but that's one for Southend. Normally Southend would bring 200-300 fans max. Due to the Tilson factor Southend were bringing over 1000 fans as so many wanted to say goodbye to Steve Tilson.
We did the normal pre match stuff. Going to the Neptune fish bar on the high street for pre match nourishment etc. In the newsagents next to the chip shop the collection of joke ten pound notes was quite impressive. The Spongebob one sparked a conversation between Baz and Felice about the show which they both watch (They claim its because of the kids but dont let that fool you!) None of the notes were a patch on the one below that i bought a few years ago!
There were a fair few Southend fans knocking about but not too many Lincoln fans. In the end only 2800 Lincoln fans showed up which isn't great although i do think many more will return next season when we start afresh as you will.
After the poor showing at Burton it was inevitable that changes were going to be made. Ben Hutchinson had been playing well in his reserve matches and cameo performances in the first team so he deserved his place today in the starting line up. Gavin MaCallum was the one to make way which i felt was a bit harsh as he has hardly been the worse player we have had in the past couple weeks. Hutchinson was up top with Ashley Grimes up top with Delroy Facey playing deeper back.
The first half was a poor show, pretty much like the Accrington match. Southend probably just shaded it although neither keeper really had a great deal to do. Lincoln took the lead a few moments before half time when the Southend Keeper parried out a tame Mustapha Carayol effort which was slammed into the top of the net by Ashley Grimes a true poachers goal. Moments later Southend could and should have levelled as Southend's Barry Corr latched onto a through ball which caught Adam Watts out of position. Thankfully Watts got back and just did enough to force Corr out wide and his shot hit the side netting.
The second half was much much better than the first. After feeling each other out in the first half both sides went for each other like two boxers looking to knock seven bells of shit out of each other. Delroy Facey was getting through a hell of alot of work down the Lincoln left forcing their right back, who likes to get forward, back. We have all seen Delroy excel in the target man role, bringing others into play not to mention his goal scoring. His leadership qualities have also been there for all to see. Today we saw another dimension to his game, he suffered from a few bad bounces today but was otherwise he was excellent.
Lincoln had a great chance to go 2-0 up when yet another Delroy cross was met by Ben Hutchinson and he headed back across goal with the keeper well beaten but his effort was kicked off the line. The ref today was quite picky and the game was littered with free kicks and it was from one of these Southend got there equaliser. A free kick about 40 yards out was humped into the box and bang 1-1. Yet again we were caught out by a set piece.
We were soon back on the front foot. Delroy was like a tank on the left with defenders just bouncing of him and it looked like that was our best chance to win the game was through big Del.
Lincoln did get a winner but as with Bradford the magic bladder came into play and i missed Ashely Grimes' winner while i was shaking the snake. The noise was quite loud but due to the large amount of away fans i wasn't sure which way the goal had gone till i came out of the toilet. Lincoln saw the rest of the match out quite comfortabley and should have added to score in injury time when a substitute and former Southend United player Scott Spencer shot over after a great passing move that started deep in the Lincoln half. At the final whistle Tilly applauded the Imps fans as normal then went over to the Southend fans to say goodbye.
These were a big three points as Barnet won 2-1 at Hereford United. Stockport and Burton drew 0-0 so the Imps still have an eleven point lead over the drop zone. We now need 5 more points to get to the magic 50 point mark. Tuesday night we have a big match away at Maccelsfield Town. This is Lincolns game in hand on Barnet(Who dont play on Tuesday) So it would be a huge boost to get something from it.
On a non footballing point i must mention Italy's great win in the rugby. After giving Felice plenty of stick after they got a kicking from England i must applaud them for beating France at home 22-21.
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