A Complete Lack of Surprise : Part 5 : May

By Nathan Jackson
December 28 2005

May was a month in which Yeovil defeated the Imps to become champions and also a month where the Imps made another playoff final defeat, however, unlike the first one, this defeat was far from deserved as the Imps absolutly battered Southend for 114 minutes in the Cardiff sunshine.

April had seen the Imps all but secure a playoff place. City only needed to avoid a 15-0 defeat at Yeovil to not finish in the playoffs and even then, both Darlington and Northampton would have to win by 10 goals. Lincoln actually started the final month of the playing season with a victory over Scunthorpe in the final of the Lincolnshire Senior Cup. The first Saeturday of the month saw around 1,300 City fans make the trip down to Somerset for a game that didn't really matter for the Imps, however, everything was on the line for Yeovil, if they won, they'd be Champions but if the Imps won then Yeovil could finish out of the top 3 all together, that's just how close it was up there.

The Imps held their own for long periods of the first half and although Yeovil had the best chances, it looked as though City were going to give Scunthorpe, Swansea and Southend a favour until, in first half stoppage time, confusion in the box saw the ball eventually fall to the head of Efe Sodje who headed in, despite appearing to be in an offside position. It definatly wasn't a good second half for the Imps who failed to create a single chance, mainly due to Keith resting several top players for the playoffs. Paul Morgan gave away a penalty which former Grimsby striker, Phil Jevons stuck away. Efe Sodje completed the scoring with a very confident header from a corner. Just like 2 years before when the Imps lost in the playoff final, the Imps stayed behind to applaud the achievements of the opposition as Yeovil were promoted as champions along with Scunthorpe and Swansea. Southend went into the playoffs along with their opponents Northampton, with the other fixture being Lincoln vs Macclesfield.

The 20th anniversary of the tragic Bradford fire that killed 2 Lincoln fans arrived in May and was mourned by both City and Bradford. In other news, Keith was praising the supporters and promised them that the club would give every effort in the playoffs and the first leg arrived and it was a very odd feeling because the game kicked off at 5:15pm because of Sky Sports coverage. Gareth McAuley gave the Imps an 11th minute lead when he headed in Sandwith's free kick. The Imps fans outnumbered the Macclesfield fans 10-1 but this was far from a classic for either set of fans to watch and although the Imps shaded it and got the 1-0 win, it wasn't as comfortably as some fans would have liked.

Now if kicking off at 5:15pm felt wierd, leaving Sincil Bank at 7:30am to go to Macclesfield, a side just 83 miles away, again Sky Sports didn't take the fans into consideration and a 12:05pm kick off did little to encourage the Imps fans as only 2000 made the trip, almost 1,500 less than those who made the 120 mile trip to Huddersfield the previous year. However, those 2000 were starting to believe with 15 minutes gone when another corner came in, McAuley headed it goalwards, it hit the post and despite Fettis' efforts, the ball went over the line and now, Macclesfield had to score twice, a task that seemed uphill consdering they'd only scored in 2 of the previous 9 meetings against the Imps. City absolutly dominated the match and could have put Macclesfield out of sight, however, the fact that they didn't made it a very nervous final 15 minutes after Paul Harsley scored to make it 2-1 on aggregate. However, City did hold on.....just, to guarantee another trip to Cardiff. Later on that day, in the 6:15pm kick off, Southend beat Northampton on aggregate meaning that it would be Lincoln vs Southend in the playoff final.

2 days before the game against Southend, Adam Kerley and Michael Blackwood were released by the Imps.

So then it came, the biggest game for the Imps in Keith's reign, to say City had dominated the two league games would be an understatement and only 2 very questionable penalties kept City from taking all 6 points off Southend. The thing that strikes me about Southend is that everyone says that they deserved to go up because they were consistant all year......THEY WERE BOTTOM IN OCTOBER. 13,000 Lincoln fans made the trip to Cardiff, however, Southend only brought a laughable 6,000, a total contrast to when Bournemouth took 18,000 fans 2 years earlier and the stadium felt empty.

The final went like the league games had gone with City controlling the game, Southend failed to create anything and seemed happy to have all 11 men behind the ball. City pumped everything forward in an attempt to get a goal and even had the ball in the back of the net, however, Simon Yeo was ruled offside, despite replays showing that he was more than 1 yard onside when the ball was played. However, City continued to press but couldn't find the net and the full time whistle came and Yeo was taken off the pitch, the turning point in the match.

City controlled the first half of added on time, however, after Keith brought Beevers on just before extra time's half time, a corner was pumped into the box which McAuley headed off the line and Freddy Eastwood popped up and scored to give Southend a very very undeserved lead. In the 2nd half of extra time, the players had given up and Southend scored a second. Now, I'm not trying to sound bitter but there was only one team who deserved to win this game, Southend had absolutly no intent on winning the game and you had the feeling they were aiming for penalties, I've never seen such negative tactics, all the pundits, every single person who watched the match, expect of course the Southend fans, thought that Lincoln deserved to win simply because they were the better team on the day, the scoreboard may had read that we lost 2-0 but few outside Roots Hall will argue that result wasn't a fair reflection on the game, or the season.

The month ended with Keith annoucning who he was releasing and the first name on that list shocked everyone except Keith himself. Gary Taylor-Fletcher, the most consistant striker over the 2003/4 and 2004/5 seasons, was released on a free transfer, despite Keith knowing that Simon Yeo had announced he was leaving for New Zealand. This was one of the two major mistakes during the year, the other being buying Derek Asamoah. Keith has always moaned during his 3 and a half years that no-one scores enough, so he releases someone who scores nearly 30 league goals in 2 years to keep 2 players (Green and Asamoah) who haven't scored 20 between them. It was also announced that City had signed Danny Bacon from Hucknall Town.