By Nathan Jackson
November 28 2005

Many City fans believed that the season is already over, yet history shows that we're deadly after bad runs. Throughout Keith's reigns, there have been several bad runs that made City look doomed which we will now analyse and show how we've recovered from these runs, it is far from over.

Tuesday 10^th September 2002 – Saturday 12^th October 2002

7 games – 1 win, 2 draws, 4 defeats

 

The first lean spell came just after the Imps had won 3 in a row back at the beginning of the 2002/3 season. City had just come off the back off a 3-0 win over Macclesfield, a 2-1 win at Shrewsbury and a 1-0 win over Scunthorpe. However, a Tuesday night game in the first round of the Carling Cup came around and City were soundly beat 3-1 by Stockport. A 1-1 draw at Orient was followed by a 2-1 win at eventually promoted Hartlepool. City did record a 2-1 win over Southend before a 0-0 draw at Torquay was deemed as a good result. Bournemouth beat the Imps 2-1 at Sincil Bank before a 2-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers. However this was followed by another 3 wins in a row.

 

Tuesday 29^th October 2002 – Friday 20th December 2002

 

9 games – 5 draws, 4 defeats

 

The next bad run started after those 3 wins. City had just recorded an excellent 2-0 win at Wrexham before Bury came to Sincil Bank and claimed a 1-1 draw. A poor performance at Darlington saw the Imps luckily return with an undeserved point before a 1-1 draw at home to Hull. For the first of only 2 times under Keith Alexander, the club lost 4 straight games. Shrewsbury knocked the Imps out of the LDV Vans after 2-1 extra time win before Carlisle eliminated the Imps from the FA Cup after an identical result. Eventual champions Rushden also beat the Imps 2-1 before Oxford’s last minute penalty secure a 1-0 victory for the U’s. An entertaining 2-2 draw at home to Cambridge was followed by a 1-1 draw at Cambridge before the Imps claimed a win at Macclesfield. This 3 games were the start of a run of only 1 defeat in 17 games.

 

Tuesday 18^th March 2003 – Saturday 12^th 2003

 

6 games – 2 wins, 4 defeats

 

A 2-0 defeat at Exeter on a Tuesday night signalled the end of City’s 2^nd best run during Keith’s reign and this was quickly followed by a 2-0 defeat at Bury. However, City did record 2 wins in 2 home games. A 1-0 success of Kidderminster effectively ended the visitors promotion challenge before a 2-1 win over Bristol Rovers plunged them deeper into trouble. However, two teams both did the double over the Imps after that. Oxford recorded a 1-0 win at Sincil Bank before Rushden did the same at Nene Park.

 

Saturday 9 August – Saturday 13^th August

 

8 games – 1 win, 3 draws, 4 defeats.

 

Oxford came to Sincil Bank on the first day of the season and for the 3^rd time in a row, they beat the Imps 1-0. In a repeat of the previous season, City had been draw at home to Stockport in the first round of the Carling Cup and despite putting in an improved performance, the visitors struck with 2 minutes left to win 1-0. It was a similar story the following Saturday when Torquay scored in the last minute to beat City 1-0 at Plainmoor. City did manage to get their first point of the season with a 0-0 draw at home to Doncaster. City finally managed to score in a 2-1 defeat at Bury. However, City finally won and also ended York’s perfect start. York had won all 4 games up until they came to Sincil Bank but a 3-0 win for the Imps signalled York’s downslide as they only won 6 more games all season and were eventually relegated. After such a “goalfest”, City followed it up with 2 0-0 draws and the season went from there.

 

Saturday 29^th November – Saturday 14^th February

 

12 games – 4 wins, 5 draws 4 defeats

 

City had just gone on another brilliant run of just 1 defeat in 17 matches, however, unlike the previous one, the majority of games had been won, making it the best run under Keith’s period in charge. However, this run ended with a 3-1 defeat at Yeovil and although this run wasn’t particully bad, this run of only 4 wins in 13 probably cost City automatic promotion. City crashed out of the FA Cup with a 3-0 defeat at Southend. City won 2-1 at Mansfield but then a few days later, a 1-0 defeat to Halifax cost the Imps a chance to possible make it to the Millennium Stadium for the second time in a year. However, this was made even less of a concern when the Imps beat Boston United for the first time in the league with a 1-0 win at York Street before yet another draw with Cambridge. A comfortable 2-1 win over Bury was followed by a 0-0 draw at Oxford, that felt more like a win given the recent results against the U’s. The usual uneventful home game with Cheltenham was followed by a 3-1 defeat by impressive Torquay. An excellent 2-0 win over Doncaster was followed by 1-1 draws with Boston and Scunthorpe.

 

Monday 12^th April 2004 – Wednesday 19^th May 2004

 

7 games – 1 win, 3 draws, 3 defeats

 

This run started with a fairly decent 1-1 draw at Northampton that the Imps’ controlled after hitting the woodwork 4 times. A 2-0 win at Carlisle signalled the final win of the season. Darlington took a point from Sincil Bank after a 1-1 draw. However, City ended the regular season with 2 consecutive defeats, 3-1 at Bristol Rovers and 3-2 at home to Yeovil. The first game of the playoffs saw Huddersfield beat City 2-1 at Sincil Bank and a 2-2 result in the 2^nd leg took Huddersfield through.

 

Tuesday 10^th August 2004 – Saturday 2^nd October 2004

 

12 games – 2 wins, 4 draws, 6 defeats.

 

This run actually started quite well, City had defeated Shrewsbury on the opening day and next up was a home game against Southend. City dominated the game and took a deserved early lead before an extremely controversial penalty knocked City’s confidence and the game ended 1-1. This was followed by Rushden’s 4^th in a row over Lincoln when they won 3-1 at Sincil Bank. A trip to Scunny followed and despite scoring a 90^th minute equaliser, the Imps still lost when Andy Butler scored in the 93^rd minute to leave the game with a 3-2 scoreline. City did progress in the Carling Cup with a 3-1 win over Derby in what was viewed by many as the performance of the season. However, the traditional defeat to Notts County followed as they won 2-1 at Sincil Bank. 2 days later, City slipped 1-0 at Swansea despite missing a penalty.

 

The following Saturday, City beat Bury 1-0 but this was followed by an annoyingly familiar site. City were 2-0 up leading into the final 5 minutes against Boston but surrounded the lead after dominated the game and it finished 2-2. The usual defeat at Bristol Rovers didn’t happen as City came away from the Memorial Stadium with a point. 4 days later came the trip to Birmingham City where the Imps matched their Premiership opponents for an hour before eventually losing 3-1. A controversial 1-1 draw at home to Chester was followed by Doncaster eliminating City from the LDV Vans Trophy. 4 days later and City drew 2-2 at Mansfield despite being 2-0 up at one stage. This dismal run ended with the 3-0 win at home to Kidderminster and City went on a run of only 1 defeat in 9 league games.

 

Tuesday 7^th December – Wednesday 29^th December

 

4 games – 2 draws, 2 defeats.

 

City’s first defeat to Macclesfield in 4 years followed on from 4 straight league wins as the Silkmen won 2-1 at Moss Rose. The usual bore-a-thon with Cheltenham followed with a traditional 0-0 draw. Wycombe defeated Lincoln with a last minute goal that wasn’t even slightly deserved before Grimsby battered the Imps at Sincil Bank but City held on for a 0-0 draw.

 

Saturday 23^rd April – Saturday 29^th May

 

6 games – 1 win, 2 draws, 3 defeats

 

When City went to Northampton, the Imps only needed to avoid defeat to guarantee a playoff spot. The Cobblers were in 8^th, 8 points behind City with 3 games to go, meaning that if City got at least a draw, 7^th wouldn’t be the lowest possible finishing position and the final 2 league games could pass by quietly. Of course, we don’t like to do this sensibly at Sincil Bank and Northampton beat the Imps 1-0 and City did the Cobblers another favour in the next game, as City secured their own playoff place with a 0-0 draw with Darlington, Northampton moved above the Quakers and eventually qualified for the playoffs against all the odds. With City realistically qualified for the playoffs (baring a 25-0 defeat), we knew we could relax in the final game against Yeovil and the players seemed to have the same attitude and Yeovil were crowned Champions after a 3-0 win over City.

 

An 11^th minute goal against Macclesfield was enough to see the Imps take a 1-0 advantage into the second leg of the playoffs. That goal proved vital as the game at Moss Rose finished 1-1, meaning the Imps qualified for the final on a 2-1 aggregate scoreline. In the final, City met Southend, a team that had been bottom of the table for 1/3 of the season and on the whole of the season, didn’t deserve to be in the playoffs. City absolutely dominated the game, Southend barely had a shot during the 90 minutes and City had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside (despite later replays showing that Yeo was onside). Just before half time in extra time, Southend pounced and took one of the most undeserved leads in the history of football, a lead that was doubled midway through the 2^nd half of extra time and Southend were promoted after being controlled for most of the game.

 

Summary

 

It is far from over, we're not even half way through the season yet, there are still 27 games left to play and as you can see, we often come out from this bad runs with an excellent unbeaten run. Some Lincoln fans have been really fickle in the last few months and some are obviously under the impression that the club was founded on May 24th 2003. The club have been through far worse times than this so maybe we shouldn't all give the fat lady a bottle of water to clear her throat. Some fans have acted like they're the ultimate judge on City's away performances this season, yet they haven't been to any.

 

The season is well underway but anyone who thinks it is already over, couldn't be furthur from the truth. I'm not saying we'll propel ourselves up the table but it's November, not April or May. Look at Southend last year, bottom of the table around October/November time and they won promotion.