The Rushden curse has to end sometime

By Nathan Jackson
March 9 2006

Lincoln City will go into Saturday's match against Rushden hoping to end the Diamond's 100% record at Sincil Bank. The Diamonds have won all 3 of the matches between the 2 at Sincil Bank and will be aiming for 4 out of 4. However, City have ended jinxs against Notts County and Torquay recently.

Rushden’s first ever visit to Sincil Bank came on January 12^th 2002. The two teams were only separated by 4 points and City were coming off the back of a hard fought 0-0 draw at Swansea City. It was Rushden’s first season in the football league and after a 0-0 draw with the Imps in their first ever football league home game, they quickly set their stall at Sincil Bank when Onandi Lowe, a giant on loan from an American team, smashed a shot in from the edge of the area to give the visitors a 1-0 lead after just 5 minutes. It didn’t take long for Rushden to double their lead when veteran Paul Hall took advantage of sloppy marking on 16 minutes.

 

On the half hour mark, the Imps pulled a goal back when Kingsley Black made an industrious run forward before playing a 1-2 with Dave Cameron and the former Nottingham Forest man shot hard past Billy Turley to make it 2-1. Tony Battersby then showed how useful he could be when he bothered to run. Mark Bailey released Dave Cameron and the Scot slid the ball across the face of goal and Battersby was there to prod the ball home.

 

Just as it looked as thought the Imps might sneak a winner, the visitors got their 3^rd of the afternoon when Duane Darby found Lowe on the left, the Jamaican sent a low cross into the box and Paul Hall slid the ball past Marriott and into the net. Darby completed the scoring himself when he made an easy job of scoring past Marriott. Despite only being 4 points apart before this match, Rushden finished as Playoff Final losers whereas the Imps finished 22^nd.

 

Fast forward to November 2002 and the Imps are a far different opposition but now lay 6 points behind 2^nd placed Diamonds after both sides have played 18 games. It was a fairly even game until Richard Butcher, a midfielder making his debut for the Imps, conceded a free kick about 30 yards out. It had been an incredibly wet afternoon and the rain was still pelting it down. David Bell took the free kick but didn’t connect with it properly and the ball went to Marriott who was in a crouched position, that position meant that he couldn’t get a proper grip on the ball and it slipped between his legs and over the line to make it 1-0 to the men from Nene Park.

 

A good team goal from the Diamonds climaxed when Duffy sent a cross towards the back post and Wardley headed the ball back across goal and into the net to make it 2-0. Rushden started to control the game but 7 minutes from time, Peter Gain picked up the ball on the half way line, ran to about 40 yards out and smashed a ball into the right hand side of the net. City could have easily equalised minutes later when Yeo shot went across the face of the goal and 3 City players’ slid in but all failed to connect for what would have been an almost certain goal. Diamonds went on to win the league, City lost the Playoff Final.

 

Last season, the sides met at Sincil Bank after just 3 games. City were on 4 points from the opening 2 games whereas Rushden were only on 1. City were battering the visitors and were unlucky not to open the scoring but against the run of play, Rushden did score in the 39^th minute. The midfielder picked up a ball 30 yards out before advancing 5 yards and sending a weak shot goalwards, Marriott however failed to get a sufficient dive and the ball deflected in off the post. City did however get a deserved equaliser 10 minutes into the second half when leading scorer, Gary Taylor-Fletcher won the ball on the left, he burst into the box, stopped and sent a curling shot past the lunging Turley and the Imps looked to continue their impressive start to the season, however, the hopes of that happening didn’t last long as Alex Hay scored against the run of play.

 

The midfielder sped past Ben Futcher and sent a shot towards the back post and just like Braniff’s goal, it clipped the post and went in and despite the Imps controlling the remaining minutes of the match, it did become 3-1 to the visitors as Dove sent a low shot past Marriott as the game headed into added on time.