MATCH 11 : City comeback against the Cobblers

Lincoln City produced a stunning comeback to beat Northampton Town in 2004/5. Northampton were 2-0 up in the first half but two Yeo goals and a very late Richardson strike sealed the points for City. It would prove the catalyst for a maximum point haul from November in that season.

City hadn't got off to a great start in the 2004/5 season. Just a handful of wins saw us in a midtable position after being tipped of one of the teams to the challenge for the title. One of the other teams also tipped to be up there was Northampton. Both sides had made the playoffs in the previous season but both went out in the semi final stage.

The game started slow as two of the pre-season title favourites met for the first time since an exciting draw in the previous April and it was Lincoln who carved out the first goal scoring opportunity. City got a free kick just on the edge of the area and it was floated in. McAuley headed the ball across goal and it appeared to go in but alas, it remained 0-0 as a scramble resulted in Northampton punting the ball upfield.  A promising start for City but that was soon to change. 

A long ball caught out McAuley as the bounce deflected off him and allowed ex Boston and QPR player, Eric Sabin to run towards the goal unchallenged and neatly slotted the ball past the onrushing Marriott to make it 1-0 to Northampton after only 5 minutes. 

Minutes later it could have been 2-0 when Bojic had a decent long range effort that didn't really trouble Marriott. Bojic and Jaszczun both had decent efforts but neither were on target. Green produced a through ball for Yeo, but the striker's goal was disallowed for offside despite there appearing to be three of four defenders being between Yeo and the goal.

Suddenly the goalmouth was a hotbed of action with Yeo nearly scoring after Harper ran out and missed the ball but Yeo took the ball to far wide and his shot was easily cleared for a corner. McGleish then fired a shot quite wide but City's defence didn't stay steady for long as a good passing move saw Low and McGleish pass neatly between them to which the latter tapped the ball past Marriott without a defender in sight

The first half ended to a chorus of boos but it was all cheers at the beginning of the second half when GTF came on for Green. The impact was instantaneous as City looked very keen to go forward and were putting together good moves, it looked like it was a different side. GTF infact had the first shot of the second half, albeit it in the 51st minute and his shot was well saved. Within two minutes, Sandwith crossed the ball into the crowded area, Harper punched the ball out and it fell to Yeo. The striker had every single player between him and the goal but his first time shot went past them all and brought the Imps back into the game.

All of a sudden City were on a roll and it was a return to the team of recent seasons. Everything was going City's way when they gained a free kick around 30 yards out. Sandwith took it and he played the ball just infront of Harper. However, the quick reactions of Yeo saw him run between the defenders and smashed home to give City a very unlikely comeback.

Infact, Northampton were clearly unsettled by this and their fans, who had hardly made any news all game, were now even quieter than before. Butcher and Gain produced neat interplay with the former producing a fierce shot which was deflected wide and City were storming.

It was getting towards the end of the game and neither side was willing to commit men forward and only some ineffective long range efforts were all to be seen of the rest of the game, until just one minute from time when City gained a free kick. Sandwith took it and it was flicked on by Futcher to Marcus Richardson, he took his time but ended up hitting it into the net and give the Imps a winning goal. Not bad for a player who had been booed by his own fans just 10 minutes earlier.

Just like the previous season, both made the end of season Playoffs and both lost out to Southend United. The Cobblers lost the semi finals 1-0 on aggregate before City were beaten 2-0 in the final.