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The Man Who Scored a Promtion Winning Goal
By Nathan Jackson February 9 2007
After an absence of nearly a year, the "ex-files" feature is back, and this time it's our old striker, Lee Thorpe. Thorpe scored 66 goals in 222 games between 1997 and 2002 for the Imps, the most important of which was a volley against Brighton that secured the Imps promotion to Division 1.

Lee Thorpe progressed through the ranks at Blackpool, making a total of 15 appearances for the Tangerines but never finding the net, and just after an unsuccessful loan spell at Bangor Town, Thorpe was released from his contract at Bloomfield Road. He spent the summer trying to find a new club, and eventually settled at Lincoln City, a side that had missed out on the playoffs because of a 2-0 defeat to Rochdale on the final day. 

The start to his City career was far from what people had hoped, failing to score in his first 8 games, including getting sent off at Burnley in the League Cup. The last game of his goal drought was a 3-1 defeat at Rotherham, it seems almost ironic because it was also Gareth Ainsworth’s final game for City. As soon as arguably City’s biggest goal threat left, Thorpe really came into his own and scored his first goal in a 2-0 win at Hull City.

His second was quick in following as he scored the winner against Cardiff at Sincil Bank. Although he wasn’t scoring on a regular basis, his goals were still proving vital when they did come along, as he goals at Brighton and at home to Darlington turned two draws into victories. He soon got a strike partner in the former of Hull’s Gavin Gordon, and it was the young Jamaican’s goal at Colchester which saw City go to the pinnacle of Division 3. 

Arguably the best goal of Lee Thorpe’s City career came in a night game at Exeter City, City were one down and Thorpe picked the ball up on the right, he looked up and noticed the goalkeeper slightly off his line, and subsequently chipped him from about 30 yards out. It turned out to be a catalyst for City as they went on to win the game. By the end of the season, Thorpe had amassed 13 goals going into the final game against Brighton, a game that City had to win and hope Leyton Orient beat Torquay, the prize of course being City’s place in Divison 2. Terry Fleming had put the Imps into a second half lead before Lee Thorpe’s volley turned out to be the winning goal, Brighton did pull one back but the game finished 2-1 to City……but what about Torquay???

 In the 94th minute at Brisbane Road, with the game poised at 2-1 to Orient, City were all set for Division 2 but then rumours came that Torquay had scored the equaliser which would have taken them up instead. Thankfully though it turned out they had just hit the bar and City had been promoted for the first time since winning promotion back into the League in the 80s. Torquay went on to lose the Playoff Final to Colchester. 

However, the season in Division 2 became a nightmare and with a few games to go, City seemed doomed, however chairman-cum-manager John Reames actually played Thorpe in the right position and City quickly improved. Thorpe had been used mainly on the right in Division 2, but when he was put up front with 6 games to go, he scored 6 goals in the first 5 games, to leave City needing to beat Wycombe and hope other results went their way to stay up. Neither happened though, and City were relegated just 12 months after that day against Brighton. Thorpe ended the season on 10 goals. 

So, it was back to Division 3, City had a disappointing season and finished 15th, although Thorpe definitely helped the cause as he finished with 16 goals. Unfortunatly though, Thorpe sustained an injury during the summer which kept him out of the fold until October, one of his first games back was an LDV Vans game against Morecambe, he proceeded to show the plucky non-leaguers a lesson as he scored a hat-trick. The LDV was to prove a very fruitful competition for Thorpe, as in the 2000/1 season he scored an impressive 6 goals to help City to the Northern Final. Those 6 goals meant that the striker collected a trophy to congratulate him on being the competition’s top scorer in that competition. However, he was booed by Lincoln's fans when collecting the accolade.

His league contribution was less consistent though, scoring just 7 League goals all season. Then came the financial troubles that saw Thorpe, along with 5 other City stars including Alan Marriott and Justin Walker, put on the transfer list as the club were looking nervously at the finance books. However, at the time ITV Digital came into the picture and City could relax a bit, or so they thought. 2001/2 proved to be a bad year for the club overall as the players struggled for results as Thorpe’s goals dried up for long spells at a time.

Midway through October, Thorpe was sent off at Cheltenham, this was back in the days when suspensions started 2 weeks after they were picked up, so Thorpe was able to start the next week’s game against Oxford. 91 minutes of nothing suddenly came to life when Thorpe scored what proved to be the winner, less than 30 seconds later and he was sent off for getting into a fight with an Oxford player, who in turn was also sent off. Oxford would end that game with 9 men after Marriott was apparently elbowed by one of their players. Halifax were a side that everyone saw as “3 easy points” as they destroyed the relegation race by being absolutely rubbish.

This was the final season where there was just the singular relegation spot so despite City not being particularly great, we were never in danger of relegation. However, after they inflicted the double over City with a convincing 3-0 win, the City fans there booed the players off, and Mr Thorpe allegedly responded by walking over to the City fans and giving them the “V’s” an action that pissed off a lot of City fans. As the season went on, it was announced that ITV Digital were on the verge of collapse and could no longer pay the money they owed the teams, this meant City couldn’t afford to keep a lot of their “better” players, and virtually every out of contract player was released. To this day I’m absolutely amazed that to date no teams have actually gone out of existence because of this. 

Thorpe was one of those players and he was contacted by Orient manager, Paul Brush. Thorpe signed a deal at Brisbane Road. He had an average start, scoring twice in 8 games just before City went to Orient, knowing a win would set them up for a good game at Hartlepool a few days later. Both sides had goals disallowed before Ben Futcher headed City in front with 15 minutes left, but then just as injury time was being announced, the ball was floated into the box and Lee Thorpe headed past Marriott to give Orient a draw.  

Ironically, despite being around arguably better players at Orient than his time at City, Thorpe didn’t even break the 10 goal mark, ending the 2002/3 campaign on a measly 9. The following season was similar as he scored just 3 times before joining Grimsby on loan. Thorpe’s games either side of the move weren’t great from his point of view, just days after helping his Orient side to a 5-0 defeat at Doncaster, Thorpe was there as Grimsby were smashed 6-0 at Oldham. By the end of the season, he had joined Bristol Rovers permanently and faced City on the penultimate game of the 2003/4 season, City were already 2-1 down when Thorpe pops up with a toe-poke past Marriott. He made the most of it as the 900odd Lincoln fans hadn’t exactly been nice to the striker. 

A surprise loan spell to Swansea followed before it was made permanent. However that soon fall apart, almost as quickly as his loan spell at Peterborough. The south coast was his next destination as he joined Torquay on loan. He helped the doomed club somehow escape relegation last term before joining on a permanent basis last season. Thorpe has scored in just 4 games this season, although one of those was a hat-trick against former club Grimsby.  

Thorpe used to be a striker that had the potential to play at a higher level, but a lack of regular first team football has certainly taken it’s toll on Thorpe. He somehow manages to find himself signed by Football League clubs despite his rather poor record since leaving Sincil Bank. He will probably never be prolific again in the League, but you never know, he might be in the Conference one day.

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