City need to improve home form to succeed

By Nathan Jackson
August 29 2006

With recent talk of the possibility of challenging for automatic promotion, it's obvious the home form needs to improve. It's been 5 months since the Imps won at Sincil Bank and despite a flurishing away form, the home form needs to pick up to mount a realistic promotion challenge.

Lincoln's last home victory was way back in March when the Imps beat Grimsby Town 5-0. Since then, every single league game at Sincil Bank has ended in a draw with only the 1-0 defeat to Grimsby Town in the playoffs giving a different result. Worryingly, the Imps have only won 5 times at Sincil Bank in this calender year so far and although no league defeats have been suffered since last October, it's still worrying to go so long without a home win. It's even more worrying when you consider that turning just a few of those draws into wins could have seen the Imps face different opposition in the playoffs, possibly being a route to promotion.

So far this season, City have had just 2 home games, a 1-1 draw against Notts County and a 2-2 draw against Walsall just a few weeks ago. However, City do have 6 home games in September and October with City having a major advantage in that MK Dons are the only team doing well. Friday's visitors, Accrington Stanley are currently the highest placed out of the rest and despite that, they are still only 16th in the table. Macclesfield (currently 24th), Bury (currently 19th), Hartlepool (currently 21st) and Rochdale (currently 23rd) complete City's home programme for the next 2 months and on paper, it should be a productive 2 months for the Imps.

City's main problems at home has been not being able to hold onto a lead and in those 6 draws since the Grimsby mauling, the Imps have lead 4 times, only to let the opposition get back into the game and hold out, for what in the majority, was an undeserved draw. Last season was the 2nd time in 3 years that City have drawn 11 of their 23 home games in he league and if we are to mount a serious playoff challenge, City must start winning at home with the wins column, not the draws column, going into double figures and hopefully, that will start sooner rather than later.