retired_narpinder

A few donughts in the club car park from 'wheelie' after that result no doubt!

retired_jgirl87

Mmmmm, donuts!! Oh wait, I see what you mean now Simon.

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Tuesday 8th March 2005:

Lincoln v Oxford – Sincil Bank, Lincoln

There was little time to consider any major changes to the team as the games just kept coming. It was three days after my first win at Rochdale and we already had our next match against 12th placed Oxford at Sincil Bank. Simon Yeo’s hamstring hadn’t improved after he had pulled out of the team just before last Saturday’s match, so Michael Blackwood remained on the left side of midfield after his reasonable debut. As a result, the team was unchanged from the weekend’s match.

After some early jousting between us and Oxford, we went ahead in the 11th minute with a goal created by the best passage of play that I had seen the team put together so far in my tenure. Morgan cut out a pass deep in defence and played it out to Sandwith at left-back. He sent a long ball down the wing to Blackwood who nodded it inside to Gain. The Irishman used the run of Taylor-Fletcher to gain some space and then played a lovely one-two with Butcher. When Gain got the return pass from Butcher, he found that Taylor-Fletcher had lost his marker, so he slid the ball into the penalty-area for our striker. Taylor-Fletcher took a steadying touch and then placed the ball wide of Hurley to put us 1-0 up. As the first half moved on Taylor-Fletcher and Gain both fired 20-yard efforts just over the cross bar while it took until the 28th minute for Oxford to have their first chance as Quinn curled a free-kick a few feet wide of Marriott’s goal. As the half wiled away headers from Futcher and Taylor-Fletcher continued our search for goals, but both efforts went just wide. The fourth official had signalled 3 minutes of injury-time and that was surely up when Oxford launched one final attack for the half. Bloomer was caught badly out of position and Morgan got in behind him on Oxford’s left wing. The rest of our defence wasn’t well-placed either and Morgan crossed quickly to the near post where Bradbury had outpaced Futcher to arrive in time to head past Marriott and make the score 1-1.

I gave the team a mouthful of abuse at half-time, particularly the defenders, after they had carelessly given away our lead so late in the first half. When the second half kicked off it seemed that my advice was not heeded as Mooney got free in similar circumstances to those at the end of the first half and Bradbury again met the cross at the near post. Thankfully this time the Oxford striker headed just wide of our net. Wolleaston curled a shot just wide after 52 minutes and things went quiet for twenty minutes until Taylor-Fletcher rifled a free-kick just wide of the post in the 72nd minute. A corner by Butcher after 76 minutes saw Futcher send his header crashing onto the cross bar as we came close to regaining the lead. Both sets of players seemed to tire badly in the final ten minutes and the game ended up limping through to a 1-1 draw.

Lincoln 1 Taylor-Fletcher 11
Oxford 1 Bradbury 45

Marriott – 7, Bloomer – 8, Futcher – 8, Morgan – 7, Sandwith – 7, Butcher – 8, Thomson – 7, Gain – 8, Green – 7, Taylor-Fletcher – 7, Blackwood – 7 (Cornelly – 7).

Despite the point we had picked up we remained on the bottom of the table as Kidderminster had also had a picked up a point at in a 0-0 draw at Bury. At least Scunthorpe, Southend and Shrewsbury had all lost, so now the gap between us and Kidderminster on 34 points was only one point to that of Shrewsbury in the safety of 22nd place on 35 points.

retired_jgirl87

Saturday 12th March 2005:

With a win and a draw in our last two matches, I hoped that we were starting to get that losing mentality out of our heads. I had been at Lincoln for three weeks now and when I had arrived there was certainly an air of doom about the place, particularly in the minds of the players. This was hard for me to fathom as the club’s actual position on the Nationwide Two table was by no means a forgone conclusion as far as relegation was concerned. However with just a couple of games where things started to go our way, I can sense that the players have a new resolve. Our opponents today are 14th placed Bury and they have drawn their last six consecutive matches which mean that they have not tasted victory since late January. I reckon that they are ripe for the picking and Gary Simpson and I have been working hard the last couple of day to get the player’s minds focussed on the fact that we are the form team (a little stretching of the truth there) and that Bury can be beaten at Gigg Lane.

Bury v Lincoln – Gigg Lane, Bury

Skipper Ben Futcher has been bothered by fluid on his left knee, so he is unable to take his place today and Simon Weaver comes in at centre-half in his place. Simon Yeo returns to the left wing in place of Michael Blackwood who has done nothing wrong in his two appearances except that he is lacking in first-team match fitness. Peter Gain will captain the side in the absence of Ben Futcher.

As instructed by me, the players ensure that we don’t get off to a poor start by concentrating on the defensive side of our game for the first 15 minutes. Consequently we keep Bury from creating a single scoring opportunity whilst our own confidence grows at the same time. Butcher has own first chance after 17 minutes as he controls Gain’s short free-kick and fires in a 20-yarder which clips the top of the Bury cross bar. Taylor-Fletcher is the next to threaten as his curling free-kick after 26 minutes hits the outside of the post with the Bury keeper well beaten. Morgan has been dominating in the air in his central defensive role and a towering headed clearance from just outside our box in the 39th minute sends Yeo racing away down the left. A quick one-two with Taylor-Fletcher gives Yeo more room to pick his cross. He drives a low ball across the penalty area where Butcher has arrived unmarked and the midfielder thumps a first-time shot past Garner from 12 yards to put us 1-0 up. Gary and I yell at the players to keep it simple for the remainder of the first half and not get carried away with our lead. Consequently we maintain an orderly grip on the remaining few minutes and take a one goal lead into the half-time break.

Yeo’s hamstring has gone again, so Cornelly comes on for him at the start of the second half. Straight from the kick-off our pressing forces Bury back and Swailes plays a back-pass to keeper Garner under heavy pressure. The close presence of Taylor-Fletcher causes Garner to scuff his clearance badly and it only goes as far as Gain who attempts to chip the retreating keeper. I watch as the ball floats towards the top corner, only for Garner to make it back and tip the ball away with a miraculous diving save. From the resulting corner Morgan heads just over the cross bar. Our defence is totally dominating Bury as the second half progresses and the only serious threats on goal are coming from Lincoln. Taylor-Fletcher run clears and shoots over the bar after 53 minutes and Green does something similar after 57 minutes. With Butcher and Taylor-Fletcher tiring, I bring on Toner and Richardson after 70 minutes. Richardson almost scores with his first touch when a loose falls at his feet, but he hits his shot straight at Garner. There have been 76 minutes played when Bloomer takes a long throw on the right wing. It reaches Morgan who has come up to join the attack and centre-half controls the ball on his chest before turning his marker and driving a low ball across the six-yard box where Cornelly slides in to stab the ball home. As the substitute joyfully celebrates his first-ever goal for the club with his team-mates, I bask in the fact that we now have a 2-0 lead with just 15 minutes remaining. Cornelly’s confidence is sky-high now and he responds with a superb jinking run down the left wing and a cross which Toner volleys into the body of Garner in the 82nd minute. There is just time for Cornelly to cut in from the left in the 89th minute and shoot across the Bury goal with the ball grazing the post on its way. A couple of minutes later and the sweet sound of the referee’s whistle ends the match with a 2-0 victory for Lincoln.

Bury 0
Lincoln 2 Butcher 39, Cornelly 76

Marriott – 7, Bloomer – 7, Weaver – 7, Morgan – 9, Sandwith – 7, Butcher – 8 (Toner – 8), Thomson – 7, Gain – 8, Green – 8, Taylor-Fletcher – 7 (Richardson – 7), Yeo – 7 (Cornelly – 7).

Our 2-0 win takes us off the bottom of the table and puts us in 23rd place on 37 points. Although Kidderminster picked up a point with a 1-1 draw at Darlington, they now only have 36 points and are therefore in last place. Of the teams above us Southend lost, but Scunthorpe won 4-0 at Rochdale and Shrewsbury impressively beat the league leaders Swansea by 3-0 at home. Safety is now only goal-difference away as we are tied with Southend on 37 points.

retired_taraski

C'mon the mighty imps, cracking story Spav, KUTGW :cool:

retired_jgirl87

Cheers pn75, you're a Lincoln fan perhaps?

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Thursday 17th March 2005:

The mood around the club was starting to turn from gloom and doom to one of a more optimistic note. At the training sessions I had attended in the first week of the job there had been a distinct sense of impending failure and a lack of banter between the players. However I now noted that things had turned for the better. The players now joked with each other as well as the coaches and their general attitude to training had markedly improved. As a result of that I had the first practical joke played on me today.

When I arrived at the training ground I found that the parking space designated for the manager was already taken. Sitting in the space was a ride-on lawn mower. I parked my car in a position close by instead and then pulled my wheelchair from the back before settling myself in it. I wheeled over to the mower and noticed that there was a sign attached to the seat. It said ‘Boss, we thought you could use this and give your arms a rest’. I had a chuckle to myself. It was good to see that the players were prepared to have a bit of a joke with me instead of bagging me behind my back. Well, if they thought I could use it, then bugger it, I would. I saw that the key was still in the ignition, so I dragged myself from my wheelchair over onto the seat of the mower. I started it up and backed out of the parking space before heading in the direction of the training pitch.

As I came around the corner of the dressing-sheds I saw that Gary Simpson already had the first-team squad arranged in a semi-circle and doing some warm-up exercises. I gunned the engine up to the maximum speed using the hand-throttle and headed in their direction. The lads heard me coming and turned in my direction. There were several loud cheers as they realised that it was me. “You cheeky sods, I’ll bloody show you”, I yelled as I motored on towards them. When they realised that I wasn’t going to stop they scattered. I sped through the group and swung around again towards them. I’d already noted that Francis Green tended to be the joker of the group and the one that was always ready with a smart comment, so I homed in on him. Francis saw me coming and took off in the direction of the dressing-sheds. I pursued him to the loud cheering and applause of his team-mates behind me. I was slowly catching up to Francis, but he had a head start on me and he made it inside before I could catch him. I was then forced to suddenly swerve away from the building when I realised that I couldn’t operate the brake with my foot. The wheels shot up gravel from the path and I made a large skid mark as I swung away from the dressing-sheds. That got me more cheers from the players behind me. Now that I had clear ground ahead of me, I wound back the hand-throttle and slowly came to a halt. I sat there grinning to myself – it had been quite an enjoyable ride. Francis made his way out of the dressing-sheds. “It weren’t me. Honest, boss”, he said. “Yeah, no problems, Franny”, I replied. I looked at the players standing around and laughing amongst themselves. “Alright you lot, that’s enough of taking the pîss out of this cripple for today. We’ve got some serious training to do, so let’s get back to work with Gary”.

Just as the team was starting to make progress, so was I when it came to my attempts to walk unaided again. At my physiotherapy session with Caitlin today I had been able to take several steps using a set of parallel bars as a support and a guide. There was not as much pain as there often was, but as usual the frustrating thing was that my body would not do what my mind was quite clearly telling it to do. When I had first started working with Caitlin there had been fits of rage when my frustration had got the better of me. However I was gradually learning to contain that anger and channel it into the physical side of my recovery.

Back home that evening I combined my regular set of strengthening exercises with a more detailed look at the history of the team. I looked back over the results of the entire season to date and I was surprised to note that the three game unbeaten run that we currently having was in fact the best run of the season so far. Then again, I thought if the club had had any better string of results they wouldn’t find themselves in the situation that they currently were in.

Saturday 19th March 2005:

Wycombe started the day in 8th place and were yet another team situated in the top half of the table that we had to play as these final games came upon us. Ben Futcher returned in place of Simon Weaver in the only change to the team. That gave me what I considered to be the strongest team that we could put out on the park at the moment.

Wycombe v Lincoln – Adams Park, High Wycombe

Our new-found confidence saw the players come out and take the opening of the match by the scruff of the neck. Butcher and Gain were playing a dominant role in the centre of the midfield and both were getting forward to support the attack as well. Butcher broke into the box after 5 minutes and hit a low shot towards the far post, but Wycombe keeper Talia pushed it away for a corner. A few minutes later and Gain cut in from the left and produced a shot that flew inches past the post. Wycombe weathered our opening storm though and they started to hit back. A 12th minute corner was met by Abbey with a powerful close range header, but Marriott somehow got his arms up to block it and Morgan scrambled it away. Our keeper did even better in the 25th minute as a Philo cross from the right was headed by the unguarded Abbey towards the far post. Marriott dived full length to his left to miraculously palm it away. As the first half moved past the half hour the tide had turned and it was Wycombe who were controlling the match. Stonebridge shot just over our cross bar and Abbey had yet another effort which flew inches wide of the post. The last chance of the first half though fell to Lincoln as Wycombe’s offside trap failed badly and let Taylor-Fletcher through. As our top scorer ran in on goal I willed him to put it away, but Talia managed to get his legs in the way of the shot and it rebounded away, keeping it locked at 0-0 at the break.

The opening of the second half was very similar to that of the first. The lads came out fighting and produced several decent chances. Butcher and Gain spurned the best of them when they both shot wide from inside the penalty area when they only had the keeper to beat. I was beginning to worry that we were wasting our best chances and that we would pay the price for that as the match went on. Sure enough, the tide turned like it did in the first half and Wycombe started to get on top. Anya missed an open goal in the 73rd minute and Faulconbridge drove a shot into the side-netting as the defence came under increased pressure. Thomson was doing his best to defy them with a superhuman performance in the midfield, but the inevitable blow arrived in the 80th minute. Tyson made the goal with a surging run down the left and when he crossed low into the box Stonebridge was perfectly placed to sidefoot the ball past Marriott from ten yards and Wycombe led 1-0. Three minutes later and Tyson beat Bloomer again to pull the ball back for Easton, but luckily for us the midfielder hammered his shot into the cross bar. Frustratingly for us Wycombe then played a game of possession and they kept us from getting the ball to launch any final attacks on their lead. The tactic worked and Wycombe held on to record a 1-0 victory.

Wycombe 1 Stonebridge 80
Lincoln 0

Marriott – 8, Bloomer – 7, Futcher – 7, Morgan – 8, Sandwith – 8, Butcher – 7, Thomson – 9, Gain – 7 (Toner – 7), Green – 7, Taylor-Fletcher – 7 (Ryan – 7), Yeo – 7 (Cornelly – 7).

After the match our now usual routine took place where we gathered around the nearest radio to hear the final scores from the matches of the other team around us. It had turned out that all the teams in the bottom five had lost, so there was no change to the placings on the Nationwide Two table. We were still in 23rd place on goal-difference from Southend in the safety of 22nd place.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Nationwide League Two - Saturday 19th March 2005---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |20th | Scunthorpe | 39 | 11 | 7 | 21 | 48 | 65 | -17 | 40 | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |21st | Shrewsbury | 39 | 10 | 8 | 21 | 40 | 59 | -19 | 38 | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |22nd | Southend | 39 | 10 | 7 | 22 | 48 | 69 | -21 | 37 | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |23rd | Lincoln | 39 | 10 | 7 | 22 | 35 | 64 | -29 | 37 | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |24th | Kidderminster | 39 | 9 | 8 | 22 | 47 | 71 | -24 | 35 | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_dynamic_pepsi

Got me gripped already :thup:

retired_-pearl-

This is a fantastic story. Come on Lincoln City!

truexdemarco14

OK, great story and all that, but if you even think about getting Southend relegated I'm not going to be a happy chappie.

retired_jgirl87

Thanks for you comments aj2k and Puedlfor. :thup:

I don't have a game against Southend SUFCforever, so their safety is up to themselves.

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Sunday 20th March 2005:

The fixtures for Nationwide Two gave all teams a free weekend without any games being scheduled for Saturday 26th March. Therefore with a two week break before our next match at home against Cambridge I had to make a decision on how we would handle the gap. I told the players that we would work hard during the first week as I still didn’t think that they were fit enough, but the pay-off would be that they could have the ensuing weekend off. That would give them from Friday lunch-time till Monday morning without any training and I asked them to use the time productively and relax. Needless to say, I expected that many of them would be hitting the pubs on Friday and Saturday nights. When they returned from their break I told them it would be back to training as usual. The exception would be the Tuesday when we would have a ‘wheelchair day’. I left them wondering as to what that meant.

Tuesday 29th March 2005:

Tuesday morning was usually the time that we went to the indoor training complex and played five-a-sides. However for today I had organised for a dozen office chairs on wheels to be delivered to the complex. The lads were wondering what was going on when they saw that floor-space had been cleared and a ‘track’ had been laid out around the outside of the room using orange cones to signify the edge of it.

“Righto lads, first up we are going to have ‘wheelchair’ race. Split into pairs with one in the chair and one behind doing the pushing. Do five laps of the track as that combination, then quickly swap over and do another five laps with the opposite combination. There’s twenty of you here, so we’ll do two races with five pairs in each. The first pair to finish in each race sits out the next one and the rest of you will race again. We’ll carry on like that until everyone is knocked out and we have you all rated as pair #1, pair #2 and so on. The two top pairs will then race off for the title and so on. Lads, to make this worth doing, there will be a prize for the winners whilst there will just be more work for the losers”.

The players got themselves sorted out quickly into pairs, although there was a bit of a bundle to see who was in the chair first. Finally everything was organised and we had our first five pairs ready. Gary Simpson gave a blast on his whistle and they were off. Now I don’t know if you’ve seen the speed-skating at the Winter Olympics before, but it was very similar to that. Everyone tore off down the first straight, but when it came to the first corner the chairs didn’t turn as quickly as anticipated and there was a bunch-up as they crashed into the wall. No-one tumbled from their chairs, but the pair at the rear used the pile-up to skip past and into the lead. The lads watching from the centre of the room were giving plenty of encouragement and there was plenty of good-natured abuse hurled at their team-mate’s racing attempts. Anyway, on it went as I had directed and finally the first race finished with Kevin Sandwith and Chris Cornelly as the victors. The guys in the second race then went out and gave it their all as well with Richard Butcher and Francis Green being the winners.

We went through all the heats after that and then got ready for the big final itself. Cornelly and Green started in the chairs with Sandwith and Butcher pushing. A toot from Gary’s whistle and off they went. Now if this was a horse race the stewards would have had plenty to complain about and there would have been protests lodged left, right and centre. Both the ‘riders’ were tugging on their opponent’s chairs and the ‘pushers’ were shouldering and elbowing all the way around the course. It was neck and neck as they swapped roles after five laps and continued on their way. Eventually they came down the back straight for the last time and approached the final corners. Both pairs of players wanted the all-important inside running and the shoving reached a peak as they both went for it. Suddenly the ‘pushers’ Cornelly and Green got tangled up in each others legs and they both went crashing to the floor together. The chairs rolled on under their own steam with Sandwith and Butcher in them. The spectators were screaming for the ‘pushers’ to get up and they both got to their feet and raced for their now stationary chairs. Reaching them, they grabbed a hold of the backs and down the final ten yards they went, neck and neck before crossing the finishing-line. Gary signalled it a dead heat. The finalists were puffing and panting and laughing all at the same time whilst the rest of the lads were similarly having a good time as well. As a team-building exercise, it had been a great success.

After that we completed a more typical session of ball-work and then I took all of the players to their reward. Just outside Lincoln there is a go-kart track. For the next ninety minutes I let the lads regress to their childhoods and dash and dart around the track to their heart’s content.

retired_jgirl87

Saturday 2nd April 2005:

Our opponents Cambridge are in 8th place on the Nationwide Two table and are looking for the points they need to clinch a play-off berth with just seven games to play. Their form has been inconsistent of late as they have been winning at home, but losing on the road. In Daniel Chillingworth they have one of the division’s most lethal strikers and our defence will have to pay special attention to him.

Lincoln v Cambridge – Sincil Bank, Lincoln

After the two week break everyone is fit and healthy and raring to go. There are no difficulties with selections and I am able to use the same team that took the field in our 1-0 loss to Wycombe two weeks ago. Skipper Ben Futcher gives the lads an inspirational pre-match speech, but Francis Green has to have the last word as usual. “Where are the office chairs, boss?” he asks. “With a couple of those we’ll have no trouble beating this lot”.

There is a sense of excitement around the stadium today that can only be exuded by a crowd that is confident of their team’s prospective performance. I’m sure the players feel it too and they respond by taking charge of the match early. Only 2 minutes have gone when a scramble on the edge of the box sees Gain prod the ball into Taylor-Fletcher’s path. There is no time to line up a shot, so our striker just belts it, but it flies off the shoulder of Cambridge keeper Marshall and rebounds to safety. The team keeps the pressure on our opponents as Yeo and Butcher have a couple of long range shots at goal. Around 12 minutes have gone when Cambridge gets their first serious spell of pressure on our goal, but it is great to see my player throwing themselves desperately in front of shots. Morgan and Thomson are particularly to be credited in this regard. After 18 minutes Gain orchestrates a break on the left and Yeo gallops away. Everyone is flooding forward and Yeo has plenty of options. He curls a magnificent deep cross to the far post where Green arrives to power a header past Marshall and put us 1-0 up. The team is combining well, but there is an interruption after 29 minutes when Bloomer picks up a thigh strain and must be replaced by Weaver at right-back. Weaver is still coming to grips with his new role when he loses track of his opponent Mongin and the winger dives in to send a header goalwards. Luckily Marriott is alert and he parries the effort with a fine diving save, leaving Futcher to hack the rebound away. A continuation of our tight defensive display means that we go into the interval leading 1-0.

The first ten minutes of the second half sees the ball regularly in the midfield with little in the way of chances for either side. After 56 minutes a free-kick against Chillingworth deep in our defence is taken by keeper Marriott. The Cambridge defence try to push up to catch us offside, but the trap fails and Taylor-Fletcher is left free to chase down the free-kick and complete the job by nutmegging Marshall to put us 2-0 up. The crowd roar their approval of their hero’s effort and Gary Simpson and I give each other high-fives. Another goal should kill off Cambridge and we don’t have to wait too long for it. A 68th minute corner by Butcher is cleared by the Cambridge defence and Morgan picks up the ball near the halfway line. His chipped pass towards Green is flicked on delightfully by our forward and he now has space to run into the penalty area. Marshall comes out to narrow the angle, but Green chips the ball over the sprawling keeper and it bounces into the net to make it 3-0. As the game winds down into the final ten minutes Cambridge throw themselves forward into one last series of attacks. Walker shoots wide from a good position and Guttridge forces Marriott into another great save following a scramble in front of our goalmouth. The last chance of the day is left to Taylor-Fletcher as he surges onto Thomson’s through-ball in injury-time, but this time Marshall refuses to be nutmegged and his kicks the shot away with his legs. The miss is of little consequence though and I’m sure the 3-0 win has gone a long way to saving us from relegation.

Lincoln 3 Green 18, 68, Taylor-Fletcher 56
Cambridge 0

Marriott – 8, Bloomer – 7 (Weaver – 7), Futcher – 8, Morgan – 7, Sandwith – 8, Butcher – 8, Thomson – 7, Gain – 8 (Toner – 7), Green – 8, Taylor-Fletcher – 8, Yeo – 7 (Blackwood – 7).

I’m hopeful that today’s win will be coupled with defeats for some of the teams around us. If we want to ease the pressure on ourselves we’ve got to start pulling away from the bottom two spots. The first news we get is that bottom-placed Kidderminster have beaten Yeovil 1-0, so we haven’t shaken them off yet. However Shrewsbury has lost 2-0 at Cheltenham and Southend has been beaten 1-0 at home by Rochdale. A 3-0 win for Scunthorpe over Darlington moves them further away from danger. As a consequence of those results we have moved into 21st place and out of the bottom two relegation places for the first time since 6th November 2004.