It's a case of deja Vu on March 4th

By Nathan Jackson
February 27 2006

On Saturday 4th March 2006, the Imps travel to top of the table title favourites, Carlisle United hoping to repeat the success the Imps had over top of the table title favourites, Hartlepool United on March 4th 2003. That night, inform City beat 'Pool 3-0 and there is a major case of deja vu.

The similarities don't just stop at the date of the games. City were in the middle of a run that had seen them lost just 1 of their previous 14 games, a 2-0 defeat at bottom of the table Swansea City. That run even included a 4-1 victory at Carisle on an extremely cold Tuesday night. Hartlepool had gone on an impressive run themselves and in a similar way to the Imps in 2006, the men from Victoria Park hadn't been defeated in 2003 until March 4th and had an identical record that the Imps have now of winning 5 games of the previous 6 games.

So, March 4th 2003, Lincoln City vs Hartlepool, playoff contenders vs probable champions. It was a fairly even game throughout but an overhead kick from Allan Pearce just before half time, combined with a Peter Gain wonder goal and a Matt Bloomer head gave the Imps a confident 3-0 victory and that victory signalled Hartlepool's downfall as they won only 3 of the subsequent 11 games and finishing a point behind champions Rushden and Diamonds.

So can the Imps defy the odds again against a superior team? There's no reasons to believe that the Imps can't beat Carlisle, we did it 2 years ago when they were on an excellent run and they were poor at Sincil Bank earlier in the season. One thing's for sure, not many people will be expecting a 3-0 win at Carlisle.