Time to bury the ghosts


By Nathan Jackson
March 24 2005

Good Friday see the Imps visit Rushden and Diamonds, a team that Lincoln have never defeated. In 5 meetings, Rushden have taken 13 points off the Imps but with the teams at the opposite ends of the table, nothing can be guarantee as both sides are looking for the 3 points for different reasons.

Last Saturday could prove to be one of the most significant weekends in the season for the Imps and this coming weekend will also be vital, with 2 games, the first of which is against Rushden and Diamonds. The Imps are still in 7th but a win, with Darlo failing to win and Swansea losing would see the Imps move up to 5th, a guaranteed minimum 5 points clear of 9th and a potential 3 above 8th place due to Wycombe being at home to Northampton. However, there is one slight obstacle in the way, the Imps have never beaten Rushden.

Beevers is definatly out due to international duty with Yeo, Taylor-Fletcher and Morgan all major doubts for the game. This could see not only a change in formation but also the first start of Ollie Ryan who was very impressive after coming off the bench last week against Shrewsbury. Hanlon could benefit from only 4 fit defenders meaning Keith could change it to the 4-3-3 formation giving Hanlon a start in midfield.

Most likely formation (Right to left)

Marriott

Bloomer        McAuley          McCombe     Sandwith

Butcher   Hanlon     Gain

Ryan          Green       Asamoah

 

Rushden and Diamonds formed following the merger of Irthlingborough Diamonds and Rushden towards the end of the 1991/2 season, since then have risen through the leagues before finally achieving league status just 10 years after being formed. They made a very impressive start to their league status getting to the playoff final in their first season. However, in front of just a few thousand Rushden fans, the Diamonds lost 3-1 to Cheltenham Town.

However, things were looking good for Rushden who had several major players sign new contracts including Paul Hall, Paul Underwood, Barry Hunter and top scorer Onandi Lowe. Although they started the following season slowly, they had a serge towards the end of caught up a 16 point gap in the final weeks to take the title off of Hartlepool and for the 7th time in their short history. Rushden and Diamonds were promoted.

Last season however, financial problems saw them lose manager Brian Talbot and all of their major stars including current Imp, Ritchie Hanlon. There safe midtable position suddenly turned into a relegation battle, a battle they lost 2-0 at home to Port Vale on the final day of the season, it had been coming though losing 16 of their final 23 games with only 3 wins in that time.

This season started well, after a 0-0 draw with Kidderminster and a defeat at Northampton, they convincingly beat City 3-1 at Sincil Bank before beating Grimsby at Nene Park leaving them 4th after 4 games. Not a bad start really however, their form of the previous season caught up to them, 4 losses from 6 games saw them fall down the table with only wins over Cheltenham (1-0), Shrewsbury (1-0) and Notts County (5-1) to come in 2004. They even end the year and took a run into the new year of 8 defeats in 12 outings before a 2-0 win against Orient gave them hope. 3 defeats on the bounce was followed by a 1-1 draw with Notts County before a convincing 3-0 win over Bury. There current form is quite good, losing only 1 of the last 5.

Rushden currently sit in 22nd place, one above the relegation zone after only win 8 our of their 38 games so far. 6 of those wins coming at home.

As I said earlier, Lincoln have never beaten Rushden. Earlier this season, Rushden beat the Imps 3-1 at Sincil Bank in one of City's least convincing displays of the season with goals from Braniff, Hay and Dove giving the Diamonds all 3 points, GTF got the consolation for City.

In City's first playoff season, Rushden did the double over the Imps with an Alan Marriott own goal and Paul Underwood header cancelling out a Peter Gain goal at Sincil Bank whereas an 18th minute Onandi Lowe goal gave the Diamonds a 1-0 win over City at Nene Park.

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