Imps v Ipswich: The Players (part 2)

Continuing on from Part One of my look at the players who featured last night, here is the chronologically correct second part.

Terry Hawkridge

I ended part one on a potential man of the match, and I start part two in exactly the same vein. Terry is another player who has had to fight for his place this season, just like Alan Power. Last night I think he had arguably his best performance in a Lincoln City shirt. I always felt Terry was a luxury player, skilful and able to create but perhaps lacking that final 10% that Danny and Nicky ask for. He proved me wrong at Portman Road, he proved me wrong at Gateshead and would you believe it, in front of four million viewers last night he proved me wrong again.

He was excellent from start to finish. He ran himself into the ground, and all too often he was back in the full back position putting in crucial tackles. Him and Habergham flowed like a machine, organically switching roles and covering each other. Not only that, but when he got forward he was a threat, a couple of lovely balls into the box caused the dire Ipswich defence all sorts of problems. He’s not afraid to put his foot on the ball and in close quarters he has the trickery and ability to find space. It poses the question, do we need to sign a winger to replace Anderson, when we have someone like Terry achieving his undoubted potential?

Slightly more muted celebrations against Crewe in pre-season

 

Nathan Arnold

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

That’s a section of the poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. If you’ve run for ninety minutes and you’re dead on your feet, if you can draw reserves of pace and strength when they seem to have long deserted you, then you’ll be a man my son. Last night Nathan Arnold was that man, finding an unbelievable amount of stamina and then keeping composed to finish his effort with panache. Overall I thought he did what he always does, terrorise full backs, and he did it well. As he stroked that ball into the net he lit  up the hearts of 8,000 people, and many more watching across the world. For that, and that alone his name will always be remembered in Lincoln City folklore. Welcome to legend status Nathan.

Matt Rhead

From Rudyard Kipling to Mr Kipling (sorry Matt), the big man was top drawer. I wondered (openly) if he might get found out by Championship defenders, instead he pocketed them like his lunch money. Perhaps defenders in our league are a little bit more switched on to his rough and tumbled approach, but Scottish international Christophe Berra was not. The poor lad will need counselling after being bossed as he was for the ninety minutes.

I joke about Matt’s size but it is just that. He is not a ‘fat bastard’ as opposition fans like to point out, he is a big man with a very good footballing brain. Last night he mixed his physique with his ability to give a master class in how to be a proper target man. Theo, Nathan and Terry must love to have someone like him up there with them, someone the ball sticks too like poo to a duvet, someone who distributes with more precision than DHL and Parcel Express. If Nathan Arnold wrote his name into the legend column last night, he’s only just joining the big man who has already done enough in the red and white to be remembered for years to come.

Theo Robinson

I’ve heard some debate as to whether he will be a Lincoln player or not come February 1st. On last nights display alone I certainly hope so. He had another good game, stretching the so-called superior defence all over the park. He compliments Rheady superbly, he’s quick and found lots of little gaps last night, but he is also physical and was often found  mixing it in the air with Berra. He showed some neat close control in the area for the Imps first clear cut chance, and eventually he was unlucky to be blocked as three defenders converged on him. He almost turned provider as well, his tempting cross being headed just wide by Alex Woodyard. All in I thought he had a great game, and by the time he came off the field he’d certainly earned his corn.

The Subs

I think it would b unfair to rate Jack Muldoon or Jamie McCombe, both came on to take up a few precious minutes. However, I do have to touch on the other sub:

Adam Marriott

Adam is a player that I’ve championed since he arrived. He’s got a reputation as an impact sub, and last night he played that to superb effect. He had Tom Lawrence and Josh Emmanuel tied up in knots as he advanced forward, and the pass was as good as you’ll see from any footballer in this country for the rest of the season. Combined with Arnold’s run it left Tom Lawrence simply turning on the spot, a poetic end to a cup tie that the Leicester loan player had so much influence on. It may be January, there may be signings coming in, but with quality like Adam Marriott in the squad I know we won’t be caught short at all.

The opposition

You’re welcome here anytime:

It is hard to pick a single Ipswich player from last night that I felt could do a job for Lincoln City, and that sounds ridiculous. The harsh truth is that they were second best in every department, man for man across the pitch. I genuinely can’t name a single player whom I would pick, purely on last nights performance. Of course over the two legs I’ll say Tom Lawrence, purely for his two goals. However, if he could be neutralized as easily as he was last night then he wouldn’t last long in the National League anyway! Josh Emmanuel was probably the pick of the bunch, he did look to be a real unit at full-back, and he got forward relatively well on the rare occasion Ipswich did venture into the Imps half.

Thanks, but no thanks:

Where do I start? I’ll pick two players, and that is being generous to the other nine on the pitch. I think the full back Knudsen is absolutely awful. Over two legs he was terrorised by ‘lower league’ winger Nathan Arnold, and last night his passing was outright abysmal. I don’t know about Danish international, with his sliced passes I wondered if he worked for the bacon manufacturer instead!

The other player I wouldn’t thank you for is the centre half Berra. A centre forward like Matt Rhead should be routine for a Scottish international, but instead he huffed and puffed at our big bad wolf, and at no point over the ninety minutes did he look like getting the big man down. He offered very little in attack, and both Raggett and Waterfall looked more like internationals than Berra. If I were Gordon Strachan I’d be doing my research to see if Luke has a Scottish grandparent or something. On Berra’s form last night, I’d even fancy my own chances as my fiancée is Scottish. I’m available Gordon, give me a call.

LINCOLN CITY WHO’S WHO 1993-2016

Bridging gaps and creating history

In the FA Cup third round tonight, Lincoln City created history. The players currently wearing the red and white stripes are making us as proud as any team since the era of the late, great Graham Taylor.

Firstly please take the time to read my report on The Lincolnite. Being asked to write for them this week is hopefully the start of a career in writing for me, and it’s as important to me that you read that as it is this blog. Thank you.

Now, what can I possibly say in addition to what 9069 fans saw? That is a record attendance for Sincil Bank as an all-seater stadium, and of those seats very few were spare. Aside from the Ipswich end I couldn’t see a spare seat in the house, and if you needed further proof you should have tried going to the toilet at half time. I’ve never had to queue to get OUT of a toilet before.

So it was busy, but how could our heroes possibly better the result of ten days ago? Coming within six minutes of knocking a Championship side out is one thing, but doing it all again once they know how you approach a game is different isn’t it?

Unfortunately for the Tractor Boys it isn’t. They seemed to approach the game in exactly the same manner as the first match, let us play our game and occasionally try and display some class. The issue comes when you don’t really have the class to display, and tonight even the enigmatic Tom Lawrence was quiet. If I had to pick an Ipswich man of the match I’d be hard pushed, they were ineffective and devoid of ideas. I said before that Mick McCarthy and Ipswich were a union that had run it’s course, and the powder puff display from the ‘championship’ side tonight really underlined that.

If Ipswich knew what was coming I’d imagine they’d get back on the coach

 

As for Lincoln, once again we were superb to a man. It would be almost remiss to name individuals, but special mention has to go to the two wide men, Hawkridge and Arnold. We all know of Arnold’s class, but since Harry Anderson left I think Terry has come on in leaps and bounds. Tonight he was outstanding, much as he was on Saturday. His work ethic is unbelievable and his tracking back made it possible for Sam Habergham to occasionally roam forward. Those two combined as well as Bradley Wood and Arnold on the other flank, and they were a constant threat.

Matt Rhead was another player who had an outstanding game. Christophe Berra will be waking up in cold sweats for weeks to come from the nightmares that big Rheady gave him. They didn’t have an answer to his physical approach, but when required he played neat passes and showed clever touches. I thought these two games might be where Rheady got ‘found out’, but instead he’s shone through and has been a key component in both results.

Everyone was superb this evening, I was really please for Alan Power who showed the watching nation the qualities that I have seen in him every week. Alex Woodyard covered every inch of the pitch twice, and that was just in the first half. Farms made himself available at every opportunity, the centre halves defended everything that came their way and the hero from ten days ago, Theo Robinson, worked harder than an eight year old in a Chinese sweat shop.

I imagined when Freddie Sears and Andre Dozzell came on that we would see Ipswich up the ante. Tom Lawrence had been quiet, not least after a nice little reducer from Bradley Wood, but I thought the introduction of the only other to players to impress me from Portman Road would pay dividends towards the end of the match. Instead it was our own impact sub, Adam Marriott who once again turned the game.

He carried the ball forward superbly, and his weighted pass through to Nathan Arnold was inch perfect. Arnold had to keep his cool, but under pressure there is nobody as cool as the former Cambridge man. I’ve watched the goal over and over already, and the joy when that ball hits the back of the net cannot be replicated. To witness it in the flesh was just reward for the years of torment we’ve endured, ad although it is just another chapter in the over story of our season, it is perhaps one of the most memorable.

I was too damn excited to take any decent photos.

 

Immediately after the game I found myself writing my match report in the car for the Lincolnite, and every since I sent send I’ve found myself singing ‘allez, allez, allez ooh’, as loud as I can. My missus is in bed now, my neighbours are asleep and I’ve had to turn the laptop speakers down just to watch the highlights again, and again, and again.

I must also mention the pleasure it gave me to hear Chris Sutton get a round off booing capped off with a fine rendition of ‘you’re a winker’ (or something similar). It warms my heart to know many of the 9,000 fans remembered what a significant part he played in putting us in this league in the first place.

The last manager to take Lincoln City to the FA Cup Fourth Round was Mr Graham Taylor, and there is perhaps a dark irony that he received two separate minutes applause, as well as a dedication form the 617. The only other manager to achieve it was Bill Anderson, and along with Taylor he also guided Lincoln to a league championship. Danny Cowley has already achieved one of those feats, and before we face Brighton in round four, he could secure us six crucial National League points to keep us on track for another championship.

After tonight I wouldn’t bet against them achieving it, we have a special group of players at the club, led by a special backroom team headed up by two very special brothers. After all of the years of suffering recently, our special fans deserve nights like tonight.

Enjoy it Imps, wherever you are.

It’s Civil War: The Battle of the Tickets

Football is a fast moving game, and no sooner has the dust begun to settle on our excellent day out at Portman Road, squabbling has begun over the allocation of tickets for our replay next week.

It actually started in my house less than 24 hours after the game had finished. My Dad had seen that it was one ticket per season ticket holder, and he complained that he couldn’t take his other half. He has a season ticket but my step-mum doesn’t, and yet she attended 90% of the games with him. He was gutted he might not be able to ensure they watched the game together.

A few hours later the club switched the allocation from one to four per ST holder, and suddenly it was those who invested in the summer, ahead of all the hype, that were having the last laugh.

It has been estimated that if all season ticket holders took their allocation of four, added to the Ipswich allocation it could mean just a couple of thousand are left for the paying punter. With those tickets due to go on sale on Wednesday it could mean that a lot of 9-5 Imps fans who tend to pay on the gate could miss out. Have the club done the right thing?

I do believe that ST holders should get some sort of incentive, and first dibs on big game tickets is such a perk. Those who have held one for a few years haven’t had much chance to take advantage of ‘big game’ tickets in the past, given that we haven’t had many big games.

In fact the past has not been kind to those willing to put trust in the summer hype for a while now. Until recently any ticket incentive the club does appears on a normal match day, and often ST holders feel they’ve been hard done by. I even saw one who had worked out it would almost be cheaper to join the FPS and pay on the gate than buy a season ticket. His argument was flawed, but that over riding sense of injustice does seem prevalent with those who buy in the summer.

Rarer than rocking house poo? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

 

There are those though who cannot afford a season ticket, and therefore have to pay weekly, so to speak. Those people are usually five days a week workers who cannot justify taking a days holiday to queue at Sincil Bank. A lack of ‘free to buy’ tickets leaves those people with a real slim chance of picking up a seat. There’s also example ‘B’, the fan who started the season covering as Poacher, but after growing too fat for the suit has chosen to pay on the gate and dedicate his time to writing. That guy (in theory) could struggle for tickets as well.

In fact the to-ing and fro-ing on Facebook today actually had me hoping for an away draw in the fourth round (should we progress) so that the ticket fight wouldn’t break out again if we progressed. I’m not a fan of any negativity around the club, and to find some brewing so soon after our draw at Portman Road wasn’t nice. I almost didn’t blog tonight, that is how much it bothered me. I got home though and realised I don’t really do anything else in the evenings anymore.

The club could have offered two per ticket holder I guess, but that still wouldn’t help out those that work all week, so after much debate with myself I think the club have made the right decision. Your average season ticket holder has shown faith in the club before a ball has been kicked, and they’ve put money into the club when it was most needed. Maybe without that revenue we wouldn’t have been able to keep Matt Rhead at the club?  If that had been the case, maybe we wouldn’t be top, and maybe we wouldn’t have travelled to Ipswich at all.

So I’ll spend tomorrow hoping for some positive news on my own ticket for the Ipswich game, but I’ll hope to read less squabbling on the internet. It may not seem fair on a large section of the fans, but it is repaying the faith of some very faithful individuals. Attendances on the day is all well and good, but high season ticket sales can help set a budget policy at a time when the club most need it.

Either way revenue into Lincoln City Football Club is the main thing, and whatever the outcome a week on Tuesday, the attendance will be the best result we’ve had in the cup all season.

Imps v Ipswich: A fans day out

Many of you have already read my assessment of the game this morning, obviously thank you for taking the time. Next up is the story my day, and here is where I basically bang on about how great everything off the pitch is. I’m sure you know what to expect, but hopefully it’s worth a read anyway. You’ll all have experiences that are similar I’m sure.

I started out by meeting up at Ritz on the High Street for a good old fry up to get us going. Had I seen the picture that Bubs later took of me at a service station I might have opted for the fruit and cereal bar version instead. There was about 150 people kicking around at that time and although we already knew travelling numbers it was still great to see.

I had chosen to be on what Warren described as the more ‘sedate’ coach of the two he’d laid on. Early doors he wasn’t wrong either, I managed to get some shut eye as we left Lincoln, many seemed to be letting their breakfast settle. I soon sussed out that a few people around me were not Lincoln ‘fans’ as such. Directly behind me there were a couple of guys coming to their first game. It did mean the match had caught the imagination of the wider City, my hope is those attending the big game will feel they’ve seen enough to come along when we face the likes of Woking at home.

At one point the driver had a DVD on showing some football goals, and when a Chris Sutton strike popped up I booed loudly. Nobody on the coach joined in and for a minute I feared I was on the wrong coach!

I was leaning back a little bit, the angle isn’t great etc. I might start having fruit for breakfast

 

We got a scheduled watering stop at Weatherspoons in Thetford and the atmosphere soon ramped up. It’s is a proven fact that atmosphere is directly linked to alcohol consumption, and despite us having a relatively short one hour pit stop enough alcohol was consumed to start generating significant atmosphere.

I’m not sure if the people of Thetford knew what happened. One minute they were plodding around their local market loading up on potatoes and low quality clothing, the next two coach loads of football fans rocked up. I overheard four senior citizens debating as to which team we were. I amused myself listening for a while as they went through the following routine;

“It’s not Norwich, I’m sure they play in yellow. Maybe it’s someone playing Norwich. They sound northern and there’s a lot of them, could it be someone from Manchester…”

I had to interject and told them we were Lincoln City and we were going to Ipswich. One sweet old lady wearing a self knitted hat and gloves screwed up her face.

“We don’t like bloody Ipswich here, I hope you give them a good hiding.”

That did seem to be an overriding theme. As I was stood outside the pub not smoking a cigar and sipping vodka at eleven in the morning a local came over staring at my chest. I was flattered for a moment, but as we made eye contact he apologised stating he only wanted to know who we were. I said Lincoln and he immediately wished us luck against ‘that bunch of wankers down the road’. Nice people.

Impvasion of Thetford.

 

The drinking was soon at an end (it’s illegal on a coach remember, so there was definitely NO drinking on the coach. Absolutely not. None) and after a brief ‘greatest hits’ of Imps songs in the market place  the Impvasion (or impinvasion as one young man incorrectly  scrawled in the dirt) moved on towards our destination, Portman Road.

We didn’t get to travel directly there, the police had recognised the potential threat from unregulated coach loads of fans turning up and had chosen to escort us to the ground in convoy. There was mild frustration that it cost valuable drinking time, but that soon dispersed as we realised it actually saved us a lot of time lost in heavy traffic. As we came into Ipswich cars and lorries were held up for the procession of Imps coaches to snake their way down towards the ground. We knew before we were important, and even the local constabulary were adding to that feeling.

I had to collect my ticket from a little booth at the ground, Alan Long had been gracious enough to secure one for me and take it along with him. I got to chat to the ticket attendant and he was one of the nicest blokes you could hope to meet. He was genuinely excited to have the Imps arriving in such large numbers, and he told me many Ipswich fans were looking forward to seeing the Cobbold Stand full of travelling support. He also told me the previous best had been 4,400 when Arsenal visited, and he thought perhaps there might have been near 5,000 Rangers fans come down for a pre-season friendly, but it had been less regulated then and hard to ascertain how many were in the ground.

The fuzz, friendly and helpful.

 

To see so many Imps fans around was fantastic, and it did feel a shade like the play off final in Cardiff. He I was in an unfamiliar town bumping into people I haven’t seen in a long while. I had technically travelled alone, I got a single ticket and booked onto the coach without knowing who else was on it, and yet I felt completely at home.  When City are doing well I often see a few faces that have been strangers for a while, and this was no different. I also saw a lot of the long-suffering faces I’ve seen week in, week out over the last five years or so. I didn’t recognise half of them because up until this year I haven’t seen what they look like wearing a smile and a cape of positivity.

I cannot use mere words to adequately describe what the atmosphere in the ground was like, but I’ll try. I was in Block A, close enough to the 617 to feel a part of everything and I thought this would be an advantage. The guys do a great job at the Bank every week, but the 5,000 fans were in great voice as a whole and I’m sure if I’d been in Block F it would have felt just as electric. I had the fortune to be sat right in front of my good mate Helgy who promptly opened a packet of some god awful garlic nibbles that made his breath smell like mouldy trainers. I’m glad I had my back to him!

I’ve travelled all over with City, I’m not a regular but I get when I can. I’ve stood in amongst 150-250 fans most times I go away, and I have  never experienced an atmosphere like yesterday. Even when Sincil Bank is in full voice there are quiet areas (in the library), but there wasn’t a single seat in the Cobbold Stand that you could confidently say you could hear yourself think. If Danny and Nicky needed any indication of the potential of this football club they only need to look at those fans yesterday, and if players like Nicke Kabamba really are a target then he should watch some match videos because not many league clubs could generate the support Lincoln City have. Every football fan thinks their team is special, but our fans proved it against Ipswich. This is a special football club, make no mistake about it.

I’ll touch on pyro. I don’t condone it, I don’t particularly agree with it when the club could get fined, but I do admit that it did add to the atmosphere a bit. The trouble comes when some numpty throws it pitch side, then it becomes a smoking projectile and that is an issue. I’ll say no more.

Words cannot describe the quality of our support

 

Nobody sat down near me for 90 minutes. As the game ebbed and flowed I felt like I was back in the late 1980’s, with everyone stood up and chanting. For some I imagine it rekindled memories of the glory days of 1976 (before my time despite my rugged facial features), or even the early 1980’s. There was a togetherness, a passion and a real belief that we could get something from the game.

The home fans were class throughout. They applauded the attendance and in the corner close to me they turned and applauded us directly. I think they appreciated what we brought to the tie, and the odd one I spoke to couldn’t enthuse enough about the quality of our support, and of our football. I even heard one say to his friend (as we were leaving) ‘how are that lot in the Conference? They played us off the park and their fans were class’. He’s right, we did and we were.

When we sang ‘Championship, you’re having a laugh’, some Ipswich fans clapped and joined in. When we sang ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ to Mick McCarthy a large number joined in. I got the impression deep down an awful lot more than 5,000 people wanted Lincoln to win that match, because it might spell the end of a miserable few months for them.

I actually feel for Ipswich and even for McCarthy. He seems like a lame duck manager desperately clinging on to the burning embers of his failed tenure as manager. His players (in the main) don’t look like they want to play for him. The home fans turned quicker than a pint of milk left outside in the desert and that spurred our players on. We might have been a 12th man, but Ipswich’s fans were almost our 13th man. McCarthy was complimentary about us and I respect his honesty, but surely his date with a P45 is getting closer by the day.

Top bloke, just don’t let him breath his garlic and foot flavoured twiglets on you.

 

At the final whistle I felt incredibly emotional. I’ve said on this blog many times that we’re back, we’ve arrived, we’ve announced ourselves on the big stage and all that, but yesterday took that to a new level. 1976 – the last time we were in the FA Cup fourth round draw. 1976 – the last time there was such a correlation between Lincoln City, it’s board and it’s fans. 1992 – no team has taken more fans to Portman Road since then. We haven’t just ‘come back’, we haven’t just ‘announced’ ourselves again on the national stage. we’ve taken it one step further. This is unchartered territory for a whole generation of Lincoln fans, the recognition of our achievements, the style and quality of the football, the sound financial footing: even through the Keith years not all these things were in place. Even during Colin Murphy’s spells as manager we lacked some of these components. I know we need to win the league to prove that it has substance, and that nothing is won in the Fa Cup third round, but everyone in the Cobbold Stand surely felt the same. This is different.

As a side note it was great to see Colin Murphy getting off one of the coaches yesterday. He was the manager of the Imps during the Vauxhall Conference winning season and he will be hoping as much as anyone that Danny and Nicky can achieve a similar feat this season.

We left the ground in the same manner as we got there, surrounded by friendly locals wishing us well and then escorted by the police. The local constabulary were largely anonymous during the whole day, helping us to and from the ground but standing off and letting us enjoy the day. It is very rare travelling fans congratulate everyone, but the police, stewards, officials and fans of Ipswich Town treated us with respect and dignity. They deserve a round of applause, but I don’t have that emoji available to me here, so you’ll have to just picture it for yourself.

When I got home I received the ultimate confirmation that we had surpassed anything I had thought possible in the last 30 years. We appeared first on Match Of The Day, something that I never thought I’d live to see. As Trevor Sinclair likened our set up to that of a ‘Championship club’ I had to swallow hard and pretend I had something in my eye. Finally the club I loved had got the recognition it deserves, finally we were competing and achieving to a level that gave us some respect.

Outside the ground before the gates even opened. I would have liked this picture further up the blog but I couldn’t get it in.

 

Lots of fans said they couldn’t sleep when they got home. I slept long and hard, I don’t react well to getting up at 6am on a Saturday, nor does sporadic all day drinking help keep me awake late into the evening. I woke up this morning and spent half an hour flicking through social media, reading stories and looking at pictures. It dawned on me that I was there, I had been at an event that in forty years time old men huddled around jars of real ale will speak of in Lincoln pubs.

Ah, but do you remember when we took 5,000 to Ipswich?

Yes I do, I remember when not only did we take 5,000 but we played them off the park, we deserved to win and we were up first on the countries most iconic and recognisable football show. Hopefully I will remember it because it will formulate one more chapter of a season that set us on our way to becoming a well established Football League team, perhaps (and I’m dreaming here) a well established League One club? Why not? Nobody else took more fans away in the cup, and that includes Premiership teams. This club has needed someone, something to spark it back to life. It has taken five years of hard work from Bob and the board, a year of investment and input from Clive, a year of bridge building by Chris Moyses and finally the ‘coup de grace’, the arrival of the brightest young managers in the English game. This hasn’t happened overnight, the rebuilding has taken years. The road hasn’t always been easy and there is still more to do, but finally we’re not just breathing and functioning again, we’re fighting and competing. We look like a proper football team with well drilled, able players providing a product that the people of Lincoln can buy into.

I’m also delighted in particular for two players, Alan Power and Paul Farman. Here are two players who have seen the bad times and had to fight through them. They’ve both had to fight for their place on occasion, they’ve both taken stick from the fans at times and they’ve notched up almost 500 appearances between them. Two more committed servants of the club you will not find, and to see them both in action on MOTD was incredibly pleasing.

I’m going to get a last minute dig in about Championship 2010, and I apologise to those who don’t like it. When that was launched it was discussed that investment off the pitch would bear fruits, and on the pitch would take care of itself. In actual fact Bob, Clive, Roger and the board have proven that you have to get the product right first. Build it and they will come, and the Cowleys are building something that everyone wants to come to. What price on a 9,500 crowd for the replay?

I’m sorry this blog was so long. I could have written thousands more words, and still missed things out about yesterday. I’m sure everyone reading this will have their own memories of our great day out, and they are memories that are not yet complete as the Tractor Boys come to the county built on the farming industry a week on Tuesday. It isn’t even over yet.

Now, how many are joining me at Gateshead next week?

Imps v Ipswich: The match blog

Yesterday was such a tremendous experience that I think it requires two blogs, one to dissect the actual match and another tracking my experiences on the day. Therefore you are about to read an analysis of the game, not a sentiment laden piece of prose dripping with emotion and praise for our wonderful support. That’s later.

First up: I was wrong. I predicted a resounding Ipswich win, and usually when I predict an opposition win then the Imps prove me wrong. For that reason alone I predict we’ll get thumped in the replay! In truth you and I know that won’t happen. Our team is better than that, and yesterday, to a man, they proved they are top half of League Two / mid table League One standard.

We played our usual trick of starting with a real intensity, an obvious and yet clever ploy to get the partisan home crowd on their players backs. I expect Danny and Nicky knew an early goal would rattle the nerves of the home players as well. When it came it turned out to be an excellently worked piece of football, Nathan Arnold playing his part superbly to provide the cross for Theo. I was delighted for Theo, his work rate is always second to none, some weeks it works for him and some it doesn’t. He never gives up though, even in games where he gets no joy, like Guiseley on New Years Day.

The Championship team are in blue, apparently.

 

At that point I could see us going on and doing the same as we did against Oldham. The first few minutes proved that we weren’t going to change our approach to the game at all, setting up in an ambitious 4-4-2 and really tearing in to Ipswich. Unfortunately the difference in quality was proven minutes later with Tom Lawrence’s goal. We made one mistake to give the ball away, and he punished us. That said after the stray pass there was opportunity to stop him, but his direct pace really shone through.

I did notice a sensible move from Luke Waterfall as Lawrence went through. He slid in to tackle in the area, but pulled out at last minute. In the flesh it looked like he shirked the tackle, but on reflection I imagine he would rather let the player shoot than bring him down and give away a penalty as well as risk dismissal. Our decision making is very good, even in situations like that. Had we lost a player and it had got to 1-1 then we would have had a long afternoon.

I suspected they might get on top after the equaliser, but we were the side that looked more like scoring. Aside from Lawrence and Sears very few of the Ipswich players seemed to have anything about them. Maybe it’s a lack of confidence, maybe it’s a lack of belief but their main route to goal seemed to be to get it in behind our centre halves and use the pace of Sears. It’s a cliché to say you wouldn’t have been able to tell which team was Championship and which team was not, but in this instance it was very true.

We were playing a neat, crisp passing game akin to what fans have seen all season. The beauty in what the Cowley brothers do is they don’t change their approach in terms of set up and our route to goal, but they still change subtle things dependent on the opposition. Many managers make the mistake of shuffling their pack and formation to suit the opponents, but that can lead to uncertainty in the teams organisation. We change the things we do, but not how we attack and play our game. For instance we clearly stopped their keeper bowling it out to the defenders, forcing him to kick it. He was a bit suspect and his kicking meant we had a ball to contest, and in the air you’d back Raggett or Waterfall all day long.

Matt Rhead proved me wrong yesterday as well. I said I thought he’d be found out, his overall lack of mobility being fine at National League level, but mobile defenders would make him look anonymous. That wasn’t so, he bullied and battered Berra in particular, and eventually Ipswich started to double up on him. When that happens, space is created and with players like Arnold and Robinson, that space gets exploited.

We could have been 2-1 up when Bradley Wood found space on the right and Theo found even more on the penalty spot. If the ball had been clipped in a split second earlier then Theo would have been on his way to a hat trick. The fact even our energetic full back found space on the right against so-called top opposition shows how appallingly bad the Ipswich left back was. I’ve seen better left backs at Sincil Bank this year playing for part-time teams, and I’m told he is a Danish international!

I was particularly impressed with Paul Farman’s availability whenever the ball was trapped in the centre of the park. We retained possession well, but he offered an outlet time and time again as we slowed the pace of the game to suit our needs. His kicking was really strong, and often he was clearing under slight pressure from Sears or Pitman.

What is a club? Noise? Passion? Belonging? Empty seats?

 

In our third round tie with Bolton a few years ago we went in level at half time, and a pessimistic part of my mind saw a rejuvenated Ipswich side come out in the second half with a McCarthy flea in their ear. Instead they came out and tried exactly the same as they did in the first half, and that played straight into our hands.

It was a Berra mistake that led to Theo’s second, a calm and confident finish which showcased his obvious class. Theo is a good player, a player who should not be at this level, but he does seem to favour the FA Cup. That is a brace in both the second and third round now for Robinson, and he showed his pleasure by flashing his ripped physique for the travelling fans. Lee Probert (quite rightly) had to show him a yellow card.

I felt we could go on and add a third at that point, we were that much better than Ipswich. Their fans were getting on their backs, they were making basic mistakes and the Imps just looked too organised. When they did get chances though, the different levels of footballer showed through. Sears almost created a goal out of nothing, and I thought the youngster Andre Dozzell looked like he has an awful lot of potential. You sensed that if we allowed them a moment of space and time then we’d get punished. By 85 minutes that hadn’t happened.

Their equaliser was harsh on City and it was perhaps more than the Tractor Boys deserved. Again it was Tom Lawrence who exposed us by picking up a loose ball and firing in from 25 yards. Should Matt Rhead have just hoofed it clear from the centre circle? Maybe, but we don’t like to give possession away and the big man had retained the ball and spread the play time and time again all afternoon. He was clearly fouled and yet got back up and on the ball, maybe Lee Probert should have blown for a foul. Again though one slip, trip or fall and the Championship side showed their (often hidden) quality once again.

Towards the very end of the game Alex Woodyard had a chance to go through but he was caught and challenged very well. He looked tired at that point, but that wasn’t the famous ‘non-league v league’ fitness thing. The fact is I’d wager Woodyard had covered far more ground than his opponent and it therefore stands to reason he would be far more tired. The harder you work the more stamina you use.

My final praise goes to a player whom I haven’t spoken much of on my blog this season, Terry Hawkridge. The form of Harry Anderson made Terry a bit-part player for a majority of the season, but the likeable Nottingham lad has kept his head down and worked hard. I thought he had his best game in a Lincoln shirt yesterday, a performance overshadowed by Theo’s two goals but one that deserves recognition. His tracking back was excellent, his distribution spot on, and his defensive work showed why the manager likes him. He’s a flair player remember, a winger and a creator. Against Championship Ipswich he did the ugly stuff really well too, and in order to get any sort of result you need everyone on it for the whole game.

So 2-2 and it’s back to the Bank a week on Tuesday. Will we see the biggest crowd of my Imps-supporting career beaten, 10,408? I think a creaking Sincil Bank might struggle to accommodate that, but I can see 9,500 cramming in to hopefully witness a similar game to yesterday. McCarthy is struggling to revive his team and it seems only a matter of time before him and Ipswich part company. I guess we can only hope that he remains for another ten days, as I see that as our best chance of playing fourth round football for the first time in 1976.

And so it begins…

The Invasion of Ipswich starts this evening in earnest. My Dad (middle name Ernest, hence the slight pun) is already there, soaking up what I imagined was quite a solitary atmosphere at this time of night. It wasn’t, he already bumped into Ken Eades and in 12 hours time another 4800 odd will be joining them.

I’ve shied away a little bit from building the hype on my blog. There’s been plenty in the media, lots of national interest and more social media excitement than Christmas and the X Factor final combined. As a reasoned and easily distracted man I’ve tried hard to focus on my new job and writing about something other than 5,000 Imps fans travelling down to Ipswich, I’ve let the experts have their say.

It may be that I have a slightly muted anticipation for tomorrow’s game, and I’ll tell you why. Please don’t accuse me of being a pessimist, as you know Lincoln City is a large part of my life (not the largest, that is Fe and as she reads the blog now so I can’t make throwaway statements like that anymore). I am also a realist, so please bear with me because as usual there will be a euphoric and positive end to this.

My Dad took this a couple of hours ago. First in the queue.

 

I don’t like seeing Lincoln City lose, and as much as I can’t wait to be part of the biggest away following to hit Portman Road since 1992, there is a good chance I am going to see my team get beaten. Mark Lawrenson and his expert helpers on the BBC have us down as losing, although all have us scoring a goal. The BBC as a whole clearly don’t fancy us winning otherwise they would have made it the feature game. Most neutrals think we’re going for a day out nothing more. The bookies have us down as massive underdogs, although the odds are not generous enough to warrant a tenner. We’re given as much hope of winning tomorrow as Iceland were given when they faced England last summer.

 If everything happens according to the book tomorrow night there will be several busloads of Lincoln fans travelling back up the country with a mild air of disappointment. We will have had a great day out, but we will more than likely have lost the game. I’m not saying we’ll be crying into our coach seats, but just like the first Millennium Stadium outing we’ll have a mix of pride and disappointment.

That pessimistic view is not shared by Imps fans though. A ‘what’s the score going to be’ thread on Social Media so far has one person saying an Ipswich win (me), half (minus one) saying a draw and a profitable replay, and the other half predicting a Mighty Imps win. It turns out that I’m not like most Lincoln fans! I recall a similar level of fervour for the 2003 final with Bournemouth, another game I predicted we’d lose.

Great day, crap result

 

There are clear differences of course, in that match an awful lot was at stake, and tomorrow it really isn’t. If we get knocked out, what have we genuinely lost? A first fourth round appearance in my lifetime? That would be about it. we’re already winners for being involved at this stage, for battling through to the third round and for taking so many fans away. We’ve had our moment in the sun when we beat Oldham on telly, and we’ve banked enough cash to ensure we won’t be picking up loan players from Gateshead this transfer window. Tomorrow is the biggest game we’ve had in terms of support for many a-year, and yet it has perhaps the smallest consequence of all the big games I’ve ever attended. It is our day out and our chance to just enjoy and savour the atmosphere and vibrant support.

There’s no doubt DC and the team are going to battle and fight valiantly, and I think that is what has fired the imagination of the fans more than anything. Deep down even the most optimistic of fans can’t truly believe we can win, but  the team has come so far that we don’t go there expecting to lose. Six years ago we went to Bolton without a hope in hell frankly. We needed something there desperately to stave off financial issues, and what we got a limp wristed second half surrender courtesy of six or seven loan players and a clueless, devoid of personality, arrogant bottler of a manager. No doubt if we did get a result tomorrow they’d wheel him out on the BBC to give his inane punditry and worthless views.

Tomorrow we travel in our droves to see a carefully assembled and crafted squad of players led by a methodical and sharp management team. Our fans don’t expect to lose because for the past few months we’ve forgotten how to. Ipswich might be several leagues above us, they might have a big stadium and far more expensive squad, but when that whistle goes it is eleven against eleven. The saying ‘anything can happen on the day’ usually gets right on my nerves, but when a team is organised, disciplined and structured then anything really can happen in a one off cup match. It’s a great leveller is the FA Cup, and if we start brightly and luck is on our side then maybe we could get something. We were never going to get a result against Bolton because that team was disjointed, substandard and led by a complete and utter failure of a manager. I can genuinely say I’d rather have DC in our dug-out than Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy, but back in 2010 I would have taken the Bolton tea lady over Chris Sutton.

My Dad took this five minutes ago. He didn’t travel with Ken, they’ve just begun to mob up by chance.

 

Lincoln City are 1250-1 to win not just tomorrow, but the whole of the FA Cup. We may smile and think it unlikely, but eighteen months ago Leicester City were four times less likely to win the Premier League. That may demonstrate caution on the bookies part, or it may demonstrate that in this beautiful game anything is possible.

So whatever happens tomorrow each and every one of you make sure you make the most of the day out. Make the most of being amongst more travelling fans than any team have taken to Portman Road in the last 25 years. Make the most of our team giving it a bloody good go, and if we do lose come away with pride in the team, and in yourselves.

If we win, make the most of tagging me in social media posts telling me not to be a pessimistic prat for ever! It will be the happiest I’ve ever felt wrongly predicting a result.

I’ll see you all at Gateshead next week, right?

Speaking of Gateshead I have some really exciting news. If you can’t make the slightly less illustrious FA Trophy game next weekend, then for one match only you can have a real treat. Instead of listening to Radio Lincolnshire, why not tune in to full match commentary on Live Sports FM? If you do you’ll have the insane pleasure of listening to your favourite Lincoln City Blogger (me, in case you wondered) as match summariser! I’ve been asked if I’d be interested, which was like being asked if I’d be interested in a bag full of fifty pound notes and an hour long shower with Mila Kunis.

Don’t worry about forgetting, after tomorrow I’ll be mentioning it at every opportunity, which I’m sure will make a welcomed break to me mentioning my book.

I’ll see you on the other side.

Ipswich ticket frenzy

4194, or in words four thousand, one hundred and ninety four. That is how many tickets non-league Lincoln City have sold for the FA Cup clash away at Ipswich, and that still hasn’t satisfied demand.

That demand has sparked controversy though, as the Imps change in fortunes has prompted a change of heart with the stay away fans. Typically there has been some resentment growing between those who were there ‘when we were crap’, and those that are coming along now, boarding the loco as we press on full steam ahead. Are the loyal 2,000 or so justified, or should we focus our attentions on supporting our team and not trying to root out those following us because we just got good?

Firstly I’m going to make a point about the product on offer, because to many football is a product. To me (and to a majority of you) it is a way of life. Lincoln City is in our blood, it features on the walls of our houses. Our bookshelves are littered with Imps stuff and we have boxes of memorabilia. Win, lose or draw we follow the team through thick and thin. We’re one of those hardy 2,000 or so that will turn up even if we know we’re going to get trounced by Welling. Some of you are even there on the terraces at Nantwich on a cold evening before Christmas supporting the team. Not me I’m afraid, but it doesn’t mean I love the club any less. We are Lincoln City.

For many though football isn’t such a way of life, it is a form of entertainment, a product if you will. If that product is substandard or failing to reach your expectations, then you don’t put your hard earned money into it. Let me try and put this into some context for you; take Star Wars (I’m going somewhere with this). I quite like Star Wars, I enjoyed the first three although I was too young to go to the cinema and see them. When the second trilogy came out I heard fairly bad reviews, so I just didn’t go. Many true fans did though, many staunch Star Wars followers went and watched the films, happy to come back and criticise. I wasn’t that committed, so I saved my money (probably spent it on that seasons away shirt). However, when I heard the latest film was half decent, I decided to go and look for myself. I wasn’t barracked by other Star Wars fans, or belittled because I didn’t really give two hoots about the films with Ewan McGregor in them. I like Star Wars in the same way as some of the returning faces like Lincoln City. I don’t like it enough to watch low quality episodes though, but when it reaches my expectations I’m happy to fork out. Many of the newer faces at Sincil Bank feel the same way about their football.

It may be a clumsy likeness, but I’m just trying to demonstrate that the ‘new’ faces at the ground have every right to be there and have their reasons for staying away in the past. Maybe they didn’t have their Boxing Day ruined by the Guiseley defeat to the same extent that some of us did, but their money is as good as anyone else’s, whether they came to watch awful football in 2013 or not.

Queuing outside the Bank, photo pinched from LCB

 

I actually find it very amusing that for a short period of time at the beginning of the season we were celebrating the attendances as much as a goal. The fervour around hopefully breaking 3,000 against North Ferriby, 4,000 against Sutton and then 6,000 against Tranmere was exciting and signalled that Lincoln were back. For a while a barometer of our success was how many new and lapsed faces we attracted to Sincil Bank. Now that is ‘job done’ so to speak, many are resenting the Johnny-cum-lately types. Now instead of celebrating the fact we can take as many away to Ipswich as most Premiership clubs, some are resenting the surge in popularity.

Personally I find it bizarre that people are asking ‘where were those 4,000’ in the wake of Ipswich sales. Success is going to bring people in, and on a Saturday afternoon in 2012 some of those people found better things to do in their eyes than watch a god-awful David Holdsworth side struggle to beat teams made up of part time players . Now we are back on our game those fans want to spend their money with us, they want to watch an aggressive and energised Danny Cowley team compete with anyone and everyone put in front of them. We only move forward as a club if we increase attendances, so the battle for Ipswich tickets should be applauded and not lamented as some sort of cancer threatening our club.

Like gold dust. I’ve got mine!

 

I feel for all fans who have missed out or who are still struggling, whether they watched us lose heavily to Plymouth in the FA Cup or not. I was very close to missing out myself, I got one of the last tickets of the second allocation after mistakenly believing I wouldn’t need to stress too much. I didn’t start banging on about the new faces ruining it for us all though, because their money will help us maintain our current situation, and perhaps even better it. The blame lay with me naively not queuing up for a ticket. The club did as much as they could, putting them on sales after a home game for instance. What more can you do to ensure fans attending games get first dibs than sell immediately after a home game?

I also found it amusing / angering that many of the dissenting voices on social media started with the line ‘I couldn’t get from x, y ,z to buy my tickets’, and yet they went on sale straight after a game. If you are one of the die-hard 2,000 or so that have been there through thick and thin, why weren’t you able to buy tickets immediately after a home games? Couldn’t make that particular game? Does that make you less of a fan? No of course not, but it does demonstrate that you don’t have to be there for every game to be a fan.

I was also tickled by the criticism of the ticket office, in particular social media posts moaning about telephones not being answered. With the threat of administration most of the staff were laid off, leaving just a couple of faces to run the office. Times were hard and the club did what it needed to do to survive. It was a heart breaking time for many at the club, but it was a necessary evil to help keep us afloat. Up until the last six months or so there was no need to bring anyone else in. Selling a couple of hundred tickets for an away match at Bromley wouldn’t justify taking on extra bodies, and to spend in that area would seem a folly.

Therefore when this big away day suddenly lands on our doorstep there is inevitably going to be an increase in the workload of the staff left over. Those staff work hard, day in day out for the club. They do their absolute best, but with the greatest will in the world they haven’t been able to answer every phone every time. It’s easy to sit at home hitting redial and swearing when it doesn’t get picked up, and it’s easy to criticise if doing that 300 times doesn’t result in you getting your tickets. Einstein once said the definition of madness was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome, so perhaps after call 150 or so, you might have planned an alternative strategy? Maybe buy online? Maybe go to the club and queue? Maybe do something that didn’t result in a constantly ringing phone driving the already hard pressed staff mad in a ticket office a thousand times busier than it usually is?

The underlying theme here is that it is easy to criticise, it is easy to moan and blame people for you not getting a ticket. Whether you were there when we lost to North Ferriby in the FA Trophy, whether you travelled to Nantwich, or whether you started following the Imps in 1945 I’m afraid nobody owes you anything. You’re not owed a ticket, you’re not owed any sort of priority at all. The club do their best to reward the fans who come to games by offering them up firstly to season ticket holders, and selling them after a game, but there’s only so much they can do. We’re getting better, more fans are coming back and despite doing their best, there is no way the club can reward you for all of that loyalty.

The good news is that we have been awarded another 700 tickets for the game. Be quick though, you know they won’t hang around for long.