A Complete Lack of Surprise : Part 4 : April

By Nathan Jackson
December 27 2005

April was an overall good month for the Imps as we near enough guaranteed ourselves a place in the end of season playoffs. Results in April meant that with 1 game to go, all City had to do was avoid a 15-0 defeat at Yeovil to qualify, however, April will be remembered for a spectacular own goal.

The beginning of April saw Lee Beevers get his 3rd cap for the Welsh Under 21s and Keith Alexander continued his war of worlds with crybaby manager Paul Hunter who had thrown his rattle out of his pram after City had won 4-1 at his Rushden and Diamond side. On the pitch Lincoln had ended March on the back of a local derby against Scunthorpe and the first game in April was exactly the same, a trip to Notts County and an impressive 2,552 made the trip to Meadow Lane, only our trip to Huddersfield in the playoffs a few years earlier has seen us take more away fans in the 21st Century, however, just like the one against Huddersfield, it's one that the Imps will want to forget. City weren't very impressive in this match and never looked like pulling level after Julien Baudet had given the Magpies a 41st minute lead from the penalty spot and even a 56th minute sending off for County's Oakes failed to see the Imps improve and left Nottingham on the back of a 1-0 defeat.

The following week saw 2 announements by the club, both had very different receptions. The first was that several players had been offered new contracts, however, the 2nd was the Rob Bradley, who had been chairman for 5 years had decided to leave the club to focus on his business and avoid having to juggle the responcibilities. Rob's contribution will never been forgotten by Imps fans.

City faced a tricky game against Swansea City, who contained the ever overrated, Lee Trundle. In his previous appearances against the Imps for Swansea and Wrexham, he hadn't done anything noteworthy and I have never personally been impressed by him and how the hell he is rated as a player with Premiership potentially is a joke, on the other hand, as soon as Swansea get rid of him, they'll soon be falling back down the leagues. The game itself wasn't very good. City did have an early goal disallowed when the referee decided that Taylor-Fletcher had through his face in Willie Gueret's first. Swansea should have scored just after half time when Lee Thorpe was one on one with Marriott but his shot went comedically wide of the target. It appeared to be heading for a 0-0 heading into added on time but then came a moment that will stick in my memory for the rest of my life. The ball came into the box, there was no pressure on the Swansea defenders when Gary Monk swung a leg at it, the ball sailed up, hit the underside of the bar and went in. There are no words to describe just how beautifully funny this goal is so I seriously recommend you find any method of seeing.