By Nathan Jackson
November 11 2006

It was a game where you could count City's chances on one hand as the Imps crashed out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle. City struggled to create anything against a mediocre Port Vale side who found themselves gifted 2 goals before Frecklington pulled one back. Thank god it wasn't in the league.

You know what, I'm not too fussed about the defeat, don't get me wrong, I'd have loved to get through the second round but I'm not going to lose any sleep over the fact we have but one thing that is worrying me was that it was another game where we struggled to create anything. Over the last 3 games, we've struggled to create anything and even when he have, we haven't looked like scoring and since the 7-1 win over Rochdale, our strikers haven't exactly been firing on all cylinders. Stockport found the perfect way to stop City's attacks and that is to simply stop Forrester and Port Vale again kept him out of the game and it was hardly surprising that City didn't do much.

Another thing that worries me now is the lack of depth at the club and without trying to sound disrespectful to the other players, outside of the first choice 11, there isn't a sufficient amount of back up and the only player who is regulary on the bench that could cause an impact is Gritton and with him injured, a bench with an average of age of less than 22 doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Granted if they're good enough, they should be given a chance but the only player over 2006 that has come out of the youth team to even challenge for a regular first team place is Frecklington.

Looking at the defence today made me really appreciate what Eaden brought to the squad because quite frankly, Colin Cryan was awful today and Nat Brown wasn't much better. When Eaden returns, Morgan should also be fit by then and let's face it, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that Brown and Cryan will both be dropped. That second goal was a perfect example of why they aren't going to be first choice. Cryan didn't try and put a foot in to get the ball, instead trying to use the old "shoving them over" technique and why was Nat Brown skipping everywhere? Now don't get me wrong, I think Cryan is a good defender but he is not one of the first choice defenders.

It's hard for me to think of many positives to take out of this game because there was very little to be positive about for City although the 2 best players for the Imps were the cause of the goal with Beevers setting up Frecklington. Ryan Amoo also played quite well today but is still too quiet and doesn't seem to communicate with anyone.

On an interesting note though, this was the second time this season we've been beaten by a mediocre League One side and it makes you wonder how well City would do if we got promoted, a promotion that won't happen unless we start creating chances again soon.