2004 : Part 1 : Looking good

By Nathan Jackson
December 25 2004

2004 is almost over so here is our review of the Imps' year. We start with January and February which were mixed with good results, bad results and one of the most controversial decisons that football will ever produce.

City were yet again on the playoff hunt after a slow start to the season. The Imps were on an excellent run of only 1 defeat since August and that came at eventual promotees, Hull City. The home record was great as well with City winning 7 of the last 8 home games before the visit of Bury.

However, everything was far from rosey at Sincil Bank. In November, Keith Alexander had collasped at his home and died 3 times but somehow managed to come back and by the turn of the year was just returning home and it brought the world of football to a stand still just to think, football can does this to a guy, is it really worth it? Thankfully Keith would go on to make a full recovery but we'll get to that later on.

The first game of 2004 was at home to "Kings of Inconsistant", Bury. City absolutly dominated the game and were cruising at half time thanks to goals from Gary Fletcher and Francis Green. Despite dominating the game, the Imps could only go away from the game with a 2-1 victory.

News came that Keith had been getting back to basics and was soon to attend his first City game since the collaspe but City's next game was to be a very difficult one, away at Oxford who were dominating the league at the time. The Imps had lost the previous 5 games against Oxford with four of those with a 1-0 scoreline. The game will be one of those games that will never be remembered as a classic as the two promotion teams came out of the Kassam stadium with a point each after a 0-0 draw.

Now, I personally, have never seen us beat Torquay and the game at Sincil Bank in mid-January demonstrated where the Imps problems were. The Imps were 1-0 down after only 5 minutes before a Paul Mayo header put the teams into half time in a stalemate. However, clever goals and a man of the match performance from Jo Kuffour gave the Gulls a very impressive 3-1 victory.

Then came one of the pivitol moments. In front of a full house at Belle Vue, Keith Alexander attended a game for the first time after his operation and would have been delighted with City's display. An own goal from Tim Ryan and a controversial goal from Gary Fletcher, as well as an immense performance from Alan Marriott gave the Imps a highly impressive 2-0 victory over the team who would eventually end the season as Division 3 Champions.

The away game at York was postponed taking the Imps straight into a very mouthwatering month that would see the Imps have home games against Boston, Scunny and Hull. The first of those games, against Boston United was remembered mainly for the managerial return of Keith Alexander. After 4 months out, Keith finally returned to the bench and recieved a very warm standing ovation from both sets of supporters. The game however was a bit of a let down with a Marcus Richardson header in the first half equalising after a Neil Redfearn free kick.

Our old friend, Mr Laws was the next manager to try and disrupt the Imps. Scunny had been doing quite poorly this season and weren't save until the 85th minute in the penultimate game of the season when Cheltenham's equaliser sent Carlisle down as well as Orient sending York down. Scunny have lost 5 of the previous 6 games against the Imps and the game earlier in the season between the two sides was very one sided with the Iron very lucky to come out of the game without conceeding double figures. It looked to be much of the same after Peter Gain gave the Imps a first half lead but City failed to capitalise and a freak goal from Cleveland Taylor assured Scunny returned to Glanford Park with a point.

City's biggest away win of the season was against York. The Minstermen had started the season magnificently before the Imps beat them 3-0 and they only won 6 more games that season (yep, only 6 wins from 41 games after they played us). A Paul Mayo penalty in the first half was followed by efforts from Peter Gain, Francis Green and Simon Yeo to give the Imps a 4-0 lead before York managed to sneak a very undeserved consolation.

Now we come to the most controversial game of the season. It started normally enough and was going well for the Imps after Marcus Richardson capatalised on a mistake to give the Imps the lead after 19 minutes. Paul Mayo and Ben Futcher came close to extending City's lead in the game. Just after the break, Efe Sodje gave Huddersfield an equaliser before Pawel Abbott gave Huddersfield the lead despite being 25 yards offside. If it had been a yard or two then fair enough, honest mistake but twenty fucking five. The only person in the whole ground who thought it was a goal, was the referee. He gave his excuse as being that the ball had come off Paul Morgan last after Sodje's forward header hit his head when he was being pushed by Booth. This totally made a mockery of the FIFA ruling that offside occurs when the ball is played forward by a player and a player on the same team is forward of all other players plays the ball, it is irrelevant if it comes off an opposition player if not intended. Anyway, the Imps should have still got back into the game but that distinct lack of finishing quality finished City off, that and Huddersfield defending for their lives.

Then came a good home win for the Imps despite it still being an inept display from the Imps and the silent Impish crowd. Late goals from Gain and Mayo saw the Imps beat their lofty rivals, 2-0 and going into march, City were still looking good for a playoff place.