What an insane year that was - February
By Nathan Jackson
December 16 2006
In the 2nd part of our report into 2006, we look at February, a month that saw the Imps win 4 out for the 5 games that month. It was also a month where international debuts were made, awards were given out and a certain large-nosed striker scored his 50th and inevitably penultimate goal for the Imps
February starts off well for the Imps as it is announced that defender Gareth McAuley has been named as the uhlSport Player of the Month for January but he doesn’t have long to celebrate at the Imps start the month with a trip to rapidly improving Stockport and it turned out to be one of the most entertaining games of the season. The first half had been full of chances but no-one could break the deadlock before Martin Gritton tapped in Simon Yeo’s free kick in the 2nd half. It was a good debut for the man that had only joined the club a few days previously from Grimsby Town. However, it was 1-1 within a matter of minutes when the defence failed to clear a corner sufficiently and the ball was whacked into the net. Parity didn’t last long however as Yeo pounced on a ball forward to score a unusual landmark goal. It was his 50th goal for the Imps but you’d have been hard pushed to find many that had been scored with the right foot, you could probably count them all on one hand and still be wasting several fingers. Whereas Yeo reached his 50th in Stockport, Lee Frecklington scored his first ever goal for the first team when he raced forward and forced a defensive error to be left with a simple tap in for the visitors to make it 3-1. Another defensive error made it 3-2 before a offside flag meant that the scores stayed in the Imps favour. It would turn out to be City’s first away win since a 1-0 victory at Oxford United in the middle of December. There were two international incidents in the following week as Jeff Hughes made his debut for the Northern Irish Under 21s with a win over Israel. It was also announced that Gareth McAuley had been called up for Northern Ireland’s match against Estonia on March 1st, City’s next opponents were very tricky indeed, infact City hadn’t beaten them for a very long time but the Imps got off to a good start when Kerr’s slightly deflected shot deceived Andy Marriott to give City the lead. It stayed that way until added on time when Jeff Hughes made it a perfect week for himself by scoring to make it 2-0 to the Imps. It isn’t long before City are playing again as City go to Barnet, hoping to get their first ever win at Underhill and despite dominating the game, Barnet took a lead with virtually their first shot of the game midway through the first half. City continued to dominate before a Tresor Kandol lob made it 2-0 with around half an hour to play. At this point, Gary Birch came on and it changed the match for the Imps as within a minute, City were level when Kerr’s free kick found it’s way to Jamie McCombe who had a simply tap it to get the Imps back in it. Ross Flitney, continuing his bid to be officially the worst ever football league goalkeeper, kicked the ball straight to Gary Birch from his goal kick and the striker had an easy task of sending a curling shot around the goalkeeper to give the Imps a deserved equaliser. With 4 minutes to go, the comeback was complete as Nat Brown blasted home from around 25 yards to make it 3-2 to the Imps and now the playoff push was well and truly back on. Now, without trying to sound controversial but Jarnail Singh is the worst referee I’ve ever seen, he doesn’t seem to know any of the rules of football and is so easily conned that it’s unbelievable and within the first half at Macclesfield Town, he had sent Keith Alexander to the stand and awarded a penalty to Macclesfield without the fouled player even being touched. Wijnhard stepped up to tap in the penalty in another game that City had dominated. Fortunately, City did gain a point when Jeff Hughes scored his second goal in a week to bring the Imps level in a game they should have comfortably won and would have done if it’s wasn’t for Hounslow’s "finest" Players futures started to come onto the horizon and it was announced that 9 out of the 10 youth teamers that we out of contract had been offered new professional deals. Jeff Hughes also delights fans by signing a new 2 year contract but it appears Matt Bloomer’s City career is over when he agrees to a trial at Cambridge United. The matchday programme also wins an award for "Best Value" in League 2. As part of the Goal 2010 scheme, a new training centre on Skellingthorpe Road is opened with top class facilities. The final game of the month sees the Imps take on Notts County, a side that City hadn’t beaten at home for a long time. The game is a closely thought contest and is a highly entertaining game and just on the stroke of half time, Francis Green loops a shot over Pilkington to make it 1-0 to City. The second half is just as exciting but Notts County equalise with time running out but thankfully, Jamie McCombe is on hand to score what turns out to be a vital winner for the Imps. The month ends with Matt Bloomer having a trial at Cambridge United and Jeff Hughes helping the Northern Irish Under 21s to a 1-0 win over Wales.