Lincoln 2-1 Walsall

Cat fact of the day: A cat can jump between five and seven times its own height in a single jump. 

This was the Imps final preseason game of the year thus making it the last time for 11 months you had the chance to watch the Imps stress free and not giving a rats arse about the result. The Imps opponents today were the crowd pulling west midlands footballing giants of Walsall. Apart from being the final chance for the Imps management to cast an eye over a couple of trialists and fine tune things for the season opener at Wycombe this coming weekend this game was also Lee Beevers testimonial game with funds raised from the game going to the popular Imps (and former) Walsall defender.

And speaking of popular Imps defenders, it would be wrong of me not to mention the man who was in the opposition dugout. Walsall manager Jon Whitney was at part of the great 97/98 promotion team and was a huge figure during the reign of John Beck from 95 to 98. Jon was a hard as nails left back who flattened many a fancy winger during his time at Sincil Bank. The guy was the epitome of the fighting spirit of the Imps in that era. Jon joined the club in October 95 and was a part of the side that kicked and fought  their way to safety that season.
I was in my late teens between 95-98 and at the age when we are most impressionable, and it is that era that remains my favorite as an Imps fan. I (and many other Imps fans) were gutted when Jon was transferred to Hull City halfway through the 98/99 season, a move that still makes no sense almost 20 years on. Its fair to say John Beck has his fair share of critics but several of his players from that time have gone on to make capable managers Jon Whitney at Walsall, Gareth Ainsworth at Wycombe, and Terry Flemming who has worked at a respectable level in non league football. Beck was clearly an inspiration to many of his troops.

Sadly even the presence of Imps legends past and present were not enough to get my fellow Retford based Imps along to the game. This is even more shocking given that the admission was a very reasonable £10 and it was pay on the gate. Oh well, they missed a decent enough game (for a preseason game) and racked up the Part Time Twat Points into the bargain.

My fellow Retford Imps take their seats for the big game.

Its been a while since i saw the Imps. In fact i hadn't seen the first team since the 1st preseason game at Lincoln United. Since then the Imps have been on a tour in Portugal where they lost to Benfica B 1-3 and beat Millwall 1-0. Since arriving back in the UK they have lost 2-3 at home to Peterborough and beaten Nottingham Forest U23s 4-3.  The club also played host to Manchester United's youth team when they took on the Imps youngsters. I missed this game and due to Felice attending earned   my first part time twat points of the season. The fixture has a special place in Felice's heart as he has a soft spot for Manchester United and even wore his vintage Mark Hughes replica away shirt from the year the Red devils won the European Cup Winners Cup. Its a bit snug now though mind.

I always like to attend at least one Imps home preseason game. For me its a chance to get reacquainted with all things Lincoln City before the season starts for real. The routine was pretty much the same as normal. Pre match pints in the Anchor, followed by a visit to the Back of the Net Chippy. It has to be said BOTN is a fantastic chippy and a must visit for a Saturday home game.

Proper Fishcake, chips and peas. Yours for a bargain £2.30

 Although i have been in there plenty of times i didn't know that the owners of the place use to live in Florida. This only came about as they spied my Florida Gators T-Shirt. We chatted briefly about the Gators then a went on my merry way. I was tempted to do the "Gator Chomp" but i thought better of it. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this sporting tradition here is a quick video to help you out.

On to the game. I have to be honest here it wasn't really much to write home about. The main point of interest being the appearance of a couple of trialists for the Imps. This is a tad out of the ordinary as you would expect the final pre season game is the one where you would play much of your first choice 11 ready for the opening match of the season. I do not feel there is any need to panic however. Danny Cowley is renowned for taking his time in getting recruitment right and taking the time to get the right players in.
The first half was pretty much a non event. The Imps managed to contain their league one opponents without really creating anything else at the other end. The high point of the game has come at the end of the game when the two teams formed a guard of honor for Lee Beevers as he walked out and greeted the 2,300 plus who has come to show their respect for a player who has never let the Imps down when wearing an Imps shirt in his two spells at the club.

The game did finally liven up in the second half thankfully. Walsall made a much better start to the second half than their hosts and took the lead after some poor Imps defending. Over the course of the preseason the Imps have been shipping more goals than i would like but hopefully this will all be sorted when the rumored new centre-back arrives this week.
On the hour mark the obligatory raft of changes were made by both sides and after all these the Imps started to look more of a threat going forward. They equalized when Josh Ginnelly crossed for Nathan Arnold to head home.
In a throw back to last season Lincoln hit the winner in added time when Sean Raggett headed home when his header hit the post and went in following a corner. The biggest cheer of the afternoon however came when Lee Beavers was brought on for the last couple of minutes. Beevers is still in rehab following his injury but it was great to see him be able to play a small part in his big day and although you could tell it was painful for him to run he was still quicker than 90% of people reading this blog.

So there you have it. Preseason is over the now the action for real begins. I haven't gone into to much detail on the players performance in this game (or the other friendlies) as i have never felt that preseason is the time to pass judgment. There will be plenty of time for that over the next nine months.
So on to Wycombe and my 23rd season watching Lincoln City. A full complement of Retford Imps is expected at Adams Park for the trip to a ground i haven't visited with Lincoln since 1998 (a 1-4 defeat incidentally).

Coming to a League 2 ground near you during 2017/18

Part time twat league standings after the conclusion of preseason.

Lee   19

Amer 19

Felice 17

Barry 14

Adam 2 

Middweek round up.

On the whole it was a pretty good week in my sporting world. It rarely goes as well as these past few days have done so it is with great pleasure i share these jolly japes with you chaps.

Tuesday 15th March

Lincoln's quest for survival continued with a decent enough away point at Macclesfield Town. Lincoln took the lead through Steve Hunt midway through the first half but were denied the full three points by an injury time equaliser. The main talking point from the game seemed to be Ben Hutchinson who was dismissed with 34 minutes left to play for two bookings. The second of which being for the pointless act of kicking the ball away. Hutch seems to be getting a fair bit of stick for this and rightly so, but i don't think we can totally blame him. If you are sitting on a one goal lead you are always on edge and in the lap of the gods and an own goal, wonder strike, dodgy ref decision can always throw a spanner in the works (Not that this was a dodgy decision) By all accounts Lincoln had plenty of the ball in the first half and thus should have done a hell of a lot more with it. Had we got the 2 goal lead Hutchinson's sending off wouldn't have had as much impact.
Never the less i would have settled for a point before kick off and a point we got. We now sit 12 points clear of the drop zone with 10 games to go.

Meanwhile Inter Milan became only the 2nd team in Champions league history to go through in the knockout stages after losing the first leg at home. A 3-2 win away against Bayern Munich was enough to send the champions of Italy, Europe and the world through to the quarter finals. Another trip to Germany now awaits as Inter were drawn to play Schalke 04. Not only is it a decent draw but it also gives Inter a great chance to avenge our 1997 UFEA Cup final defeat to them on penalties. Looking at the draw i will stick my neck out and say it will be an Inter Milan v Real Madrid final.

Wednesday 16th March
Another great result for me as the Nottingham Panthers retained the Challenge Cup. They lost the 2nd leg 2-1 in Belfast but won the cup 4-3!

Thursday 17th March
Only live sport midweek sport for me this week but what a game. The derby de la Bassetlaw. Worksop Town v Retford United (played at Retford) This was the third attempt to get this match played due to the weather we have had this winter and while saying it was well worth it may be pushing it slightly, it wasnt too bad a game all in all.

Worksop started very quickly and created several good chances and had a goal disallowed. New signing Luke Beckett was looking quite sharp. After weathering the storm Retford did get back into the match but failed to create many clear cut chances. When they did get into the final third the final pass wasn't good enough. Worksop continued to look the most dangerous side although they started to run out of ideas towards half time.

The only two moments of note in the second half were Worksops goal which came from the penalty spot following a handball. And the game being held up for 13 minutes when the referee was injured and a replacement found from the crowd. In the end the game finished 18 minutes later than it should have done. Retford had a couple of half chances and all in all put up a decent showing. Worksop didnt hit top gear but with the amount of games they have coming up in the next few weeks it was a case of just getting the points which on the balance of play they deserved.

Lincoln City 2-1 Southend United

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.

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!!

Barnet 4-2 Lincoln City

I had really been looking forward to this match. Barnet is always a decent away match and a relatively easy ground to get to, and there is a decent pub right next to the away end. Due to the weather and fixture lists we haven't done too many Lincoln away games on Saturdays. Lincoln always take good numbers to Barnet so the atmosphere is always good.
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.

Lincoln City Res 3-0 Leeds United Res

Due to work being pretty hectic at the back end of last year i had a couple of days holiday rolled over to this year. One of them was used for the day after the Superbowl. Defeat hurt so much that night that I couldn't bring myself to blog about it. I decided to use the other one today so i could take in Lincoln City reserves Vs Leeds United reserves in the afternoon. Admission for reserve matches at Sincil Bank if free to season ticket holders so its a win win situation really (and you get a free teamsheet!!). It could also be said that booking a day off work to watch a reserve team game that really doesn't mean anything is quite sad, but with Leeds high flying in the Championship there is the chance of seeing one or two decent players in action.
Due to the number of games that the Imps have played over the past month or so i expected our team to be a very young one mainly made up of youth team players and maybe one or two trialists with a couple of fringe players thrown in for good measure.

After going up into the town to get my phone sorted (its only taken me about 4 months to get it fixed) I headed down to the ground. First stop as always with football was the chip shop to stock up on pie chips and peas. I then planned to tick off a pub on the high street that i haven't been in yet; The Shakespeare. Alas it doesn't open till 4.30 pm so i headed to the Golden Cross for one in the hope of seeing some of England's opening match against the Netherlands in the cricket World Cup. Again i was out of luck as they had Bargain Hunt on. Oh the joy.

Sincil Bank is first and fore most a football stadium but in recent years the club have really done a decent job on advertising the faculties for conferences, meetings, training courses etc etc and today was a great example of this. The NHS had a large conference in the Centre spot and there was also something going off in the executive club. Due to all of this going activity Lincoln City's elite Stewards had be brought in mantain order and make sure people didn't end up in the wrong place.

Due to the executive club being booked up you couldn't get a beer as you normally can at reserve matches but seeing as it was pretty cold it really wasn't much of a problem. The club had opened one of the catering points in the St Andrews stand which was serving hot food and drinks to the decently sized crowd that was in attendance; with a good few travelling from Yorkshire. I took up a place next to the press area in the St Andrews stand was quizzed by the chap from West Yorkshire radio on the strength of Lincolns line up. After telling him about the side and which players had first team experience he seem quite confident that Lincoln would win as with Leeds having a first team match with Barnsley tonight they were fielding a very young side. The man to watch in the Leeds side was their number nine Ramon Nunez. Lincoln had a side that for the most part could have been the starting eleven a few months ago as you can see below.

1) Joe Anyon
2) Cian Hughton
3) Joe Anderson
4) Karl Cunningham
5) Paul Green (C)
6) Patrick Kanyuka
7) Mustapha Carayol
8) Ali Fuesini
9) Ben Hutchinson
10) Scot Spencer
11) Jake Gibson

So only Jake Gibson and Karl Cunningham haven't played in the Imps first team this season. Whilst Anyon, Hughton, Green and Carayol had all played for the Imps in our 4-0 kicking at Leeds in the Carling cup 1st round tie back in August.

Leeds v Lincoln back in August

Lincoln dominated the first half. Cunningham playing in the centre of the park looked a class act and ran the game along with Ali Fuesini. You could see Ali has a very good footballing brain and very rarely gave the ball away, if i have a slight concern about him its that he doesn't seem to be very quick but his passing is a different class and if given protection, could well pick most league two defences apart.
Lincoln had already wasted a couple of good chances by the time Ben Hutchinson gave us the lead with a neat turn and finish into the far corner. Hutch and Scott Spencer had linked up well and were giving the young Leeds centrebacks quite alot to think about. The Imps went in 1-0 up with Joe Anyon yet to make a save of any note. It had been an entertaining match, watched on by former Imps Simon Weaver, John Schofield, Jon Whitney and Tony Cunningham.

I was expecting Leeds to come out all guns blazing in the second half and just after halftime they had their best chance of the game when Anyon smothered out Nunez from close range. Lincoln went further ahead on 53 minutes when a Carayol corner was miss judged by Gonzalez in the Leeds goal and Patrick Kanyuka (minus the beard) headed home.
Leeds were unfortunate not to get back into it shortly after when a free kick from Nunez was rabbit punched out by Anyon and luckily fell to a red and white shirt and cleared. Cian Hughton had been having a great game getting foward down the right and it was from one of these runs that the Imps got their third, as he won a Penalty when he was tripped in the box. I thought he fell over himself but as nobody seemed to complain i can only assume that i was wrong. Ben Hutchinson stepped up and sent Gonzalez the wrong way for 3-0.
Shortly after that it could have been 4-0 when Hughton blasted a great effort against the bar from about 30 yards after another great run. It was however the visitors who finished the strongest when the hit the bar with a headed from a corner then Grella sent the rebound over.




Full time Lincoln City res 3-0 Leeds res.

All in all i was pretty happy with the Imps today. Karl Cunningham really does look to be a decent prospect as did Jake Gibson. Lets hope they both continue to work hard and follow the examples set by Danny Hone and Lee Frecklington. Fuseini and Kanyuka both got another 90 minutes under their belts and are starting to get up to match pace. Scott Spencer worked hard upfront and just needs a goal to give him confidence. Overall the whole side did well but you have to remember that they were pretty much up against Leeds United's youth team. Had it been Leed's normal reserve side it would have been much closer.
None the less it was a very enjoyable afternoon and as season ticket holders get in for free, very good value for money.