Hello FA Cup, have you missed us?

Hello all

Well after last year's absense, Lincoln City are now back in the FA Cup proper after a win at AFC Halifax on Tuesday evening. After Saturday's goalless draw against the Shaymen, a game where City have plenty of opportunities to make it through at the first attempt, City made the trip to the Shay on Tuesday and goals from Jake Sheridan and Jamie Taylor sent the Imps through against a side who barely forced Paul Farman into a save over the two games.

However, despite them barely forcing our goalkeeper into a save in the first game, you'd have thought that a Halifax win in the replay was a foregone conclusion with the way their fans were going on and it's something that really bugs me about the FA Cup, especially true non-league sides such as AFC Halifax (a club that have never played above their current level of the Blue Square North), the lower league clubs always make out that they were considerably better than they were. I'll grant you that City weren't great in either game, but it is laughable that Halifax said that they were good because they weren't, in neither game did they ever look like scoring.

We beat Telford 3-1 in 2009 and all they kept on going on about is how they easily had more chances than us, kindly ignoring the small fact that we actually had the same amount of shots that they did and virtually all of their 16 came from 30 yards out. Any team could have sixteen shots if all you're going to do is shoot from that far out.

Taken from a Huddersfield website that has also
noticed that referees favour the lower ranked team
in cup games.

Halifax were no different with their players talking as though they had already won the replay, and I even found a thread on Walsall (the team who would play the eventual winners) where Halifax fans had been talking as though we might as well have not turned up on Tuesday. It's makes beating them even more fun.

Another thing I hate about the FA Cup is that the refereeing becomes even more suspect in favour of the lower ranked team. There were several occasions during the game where the ball was quite clearly played out by a Halifax player (some with no City player anywhere in sight) and then they were given the decision. There was an incident a few months before we scored the second goal where a Halifax player headed it out but was given the throw, and from that throw in they launched an attack that ended in a shot that went well wide of the target.............and Halifax were given a corner, on neither occasion did a City player actually play the ball.

But fuck it, we're in the FA Cup after a year's absense from the competition but I don't think our participation will last much longer. The last sort of tie Lincoln needed was one against a League One side, and a midtable Walsall side that have won 3 of their 7 away games fits well into that category. Fortunately City seem to be finding a bit of form having now gone four games without defeat, three of those ending in a clean sheet.

A blast from the part : Part 1

Hello all

I recently found a CD full of my old videos so have decided to upload some to Youtube. First up were two weekend trips in the 2006/7 and 2007/8 seasons respectively.

2006/7 saw a trip to Bristol for Mark Lovely's birthday. It was an eventful weekend ahead of an inevitably disappointing 0-0 draw. A year later and a trip to Blackpool came before our game at Morecambe. Both were memorable games for very different reasons. Below is the video for Bristol Rovers but due to issues with the song used in the Morecambe video, you will have to go to my Youtube channel for the Morecambe video.

I'll upload more in the near future. Also, there MIGHT be a video for the FA Cup replay at Halifax on Tuesday. It depends on how many interviewable people are there.

Wrexham away : Victory, incompetent train companies and a scouse twat

Hello all

Saturday afternoon saw us make the trip to Wrexham, I was about to use the word simple but as you're about to read, there was nothing sodding simple about it.

A Victoria Sponge cake from Crewe train station.
It looks like shit but was absolutely gorgeous.

My day started out by intending to catch the early train from Newark to Lincoln to get the coach to the game. The alarm goes off at 6am but I'm thinking "fuck it," and have a bit of a lay in. I eventually make it down to North Gate train station to catch the 8:20 train and it says it's "on time" ......it gets to 8:20 and despite the fact the train hasn't arrived yet, it's still "on time"......five more minutes pass and it's still "on time"....at this point I was tempted to ask the nearby station attendant "What time does the 8:20 train, that you claim is still on time, actually plan on getting here?"......I didn't. Finally, at about 8:35, 15 full minutes after the train was supposed to leave, they finally announce there's an issue and I'm not going to get to Lincoln in time to get the coach, so I am forced to fork out £48 for a return to Wrexham. When I asked for a refund for my ticket to Lincoln due to their incompetence and not allowing me chance to get an alternative way to get to Lincoln in time (there are very few buses that run between the two places), I was refused.

I make my way over to Castle and aim to catch the 9:04....which is again late. It eventually turns up 11 minutes late and this means that my journey, that was initially only going to be two changes (Newark to Beeston, Beeston to Birmingham, Birmingham to Wrexham) was now four as I couldn't make the Beeston to Birmingham train. I continue to have troubles but thankfully I finally get a rest when I get to Crewe and I got to sample some very nice sponge cake, amongst other things, but that was pretty much the only nice thing about travelling to Wrexham. None of the four trains were on time, not a single one, thankfully I get to Wrexham in time for kick off.

There doesn't seem to be a lot to do around the ground (I don't drink for those who don't know me, meaning the numerous pubs were pretty pointless) and so I head straight in, but not into the away end like you would expect. I instead head into the main stand at Wrexham to watch the game from there. I tend not to like other Lincoln fans, or more to the point certain Lincoln fans, so occasionally I will go into the home stands, also because it is generally a much better view in home ends.



The main stand at Wrexham, easily the nicest stand at their ground and t
he one that I went in for this game


After finding a seat that doesn't have the "RESERVED" badge on it, some guy comes up to me saying it was his seat and seems stunned when I counter by saying that it doesn't have a reserved sign on it and ask to see his season ticket proving that is his seat. Unsurprisingly he can't produce one so I refused to move at first, but then notice a seat further in closer to the half way line and I take that instead.

The game kicks off and City dominate early on with Jamie Taylor missing two chances within the first two minutes of the game, and although the Imps create several chances, Wrexham have more of the ball. Eventually the Imps do find the break through though as the ball finds Nicolau, who was at least 5 yards offside when the ball was played (and I was near enough in line with it so I know he was definitely offside), he lashes the ball past a helpless goalkeeper and City have a surprise lead.

Wrexham continue to have plenty of possession but Farman is rarely called into action as the game turns a bit  nasty as both sides are putting in several hefty challenges. The home fans and players aren't impressed by City's obvious time wasting tactics, including at one point spending 20 seconds to take a throw in before placing it on the ground for someone else to take......it quickly earnt a booking from the rather portly referee.

The second half sees more Wrexham possession but Farman again is merely a spectator before the Imps punish Wrexham for not making the most of their possession as Jamie Taylor scores his 5th of the season with a curling effort from 20ish yards. Connor Robinson makes it 3-0 soon afterwards with his second goal in City colours.

The Imps fans are going mental, whereas the Wrexham fans around me are leaving in, well, only dozens at this point. I'm struggling to hold back just how pleased I am that we're winning by a comfortable marginand know I am potentially opening the floodgates by taking pictures of the scoreboard that is reflecting our convincing display. The hosts do pull a goal back just before the end but it's not long before Colin Larkin restores the three goal cushion as he scores his third goal for the Imps just before full time. Wrexham do pull another one back just before the final whistle.



Taken just before Wrexham pulled one back.






I left just after Wrexham scored their second goal to make sure I caught the train on time. When I get there Billy Jarish, Dan Richards, John Goodman and Rachel Wilkinson are already there having left at 3-0. We are there talking amongst ourselves about how pleased we were with the win.....after a few minutes, a Wrexham fan decides to interupt.

I've never been keen on Wrexham, or to be more precise, their fans. Their fans are one of those sets of fans that just seem to think they are considerably bigger than they are and that they automatically deserve success.  They are an unrealistic bunch. I remember them barely surviving relegation in 2006/7, and when I say barely I mean that they only stayed up after beating Boston on the last day, and yet within minutes their fans were all over The Football Forum proclaiming how they would win the division easily the next year, amassing more than 100 points and scoring more than 100 goals, and you always got the feeling that they weren't taking the piss and genuinely expecting that.....12 months later they were relegated. This guy was no different.

Some Wrexham fans need to wear this badge

This guy was quite clearly one of those who doesn't react well to defeat because he starts giving us a lot of abuse and coming out with the stupidest stuff you'd ever hear....he was quite bizarre. I would actually go into what he specifically said but I can't really put it into sufficient words that would make it sound as stupid as it was.  The fact the woman he was with was rolling his eyes said it all really.

Anyway, four more trains later, and, none of which were on time, and I finally got home.

Since then Wrexham fans have continued to act really childish and have flooded the club's official Facebook page with very immature messages about how we have reacted to win. I'm not going to lie, some of what they are saying is very true, we did time waste a LOT, but point out one side that doesn't time waste when they're winning......I'll grant you, most don't start as early as the 40th minute, but fuck it, a win's a win.

So, eight trains, none of which were on time, a sore loser and a day of frustration made it all very worth it by a fantastic Imps display. I can't fault the Imps at all today, one side was going to be on the end of a lot of City goals at some point but very few people would have realistically expected it to come at Wrexham.

2012/13 : Mansfield Town vs Lincoln City