City need to improve ahead of derby game
By Nathan Jackson
December 14 2006
Lincoln City will need to practice shooting ahead of the game against local rivals Grimsby Town on Saturday lunchtime. The Imps dominated last week after Chester but went down thanks to a shocking defensive perofmrance and surely it can't get any worse against Grimsby....can it?
You know what, last week was a perfect example of why I hate football sometimes. We dominated the game against Chester and yet they score with their only realistic shots on goal, they didn't even look dangerous going forward and if it wasn't for our defence being crap, or the strikers for that matter, we'd have won by a mile. It's the story of so many games over the last few years and it's getting really damn annoying.
They say form countys for nothing in local derbies and if that's true then there would realistcally be only one winner on Saturday seeing as City have lost 9 in 15 and Grimsby haven't lost since appointing Alan Buckley as their manager again. That's certainly been the case this season anyway as the Imps have had 3 Lincolnshire derbies so far this season, going into each game as easily the most inform out of the teams and yet we've lost all 3.
City are now not just out of the automatic promotion places, but in serious danger of falling out of the race all together with several weeks of tough games coming up and although it may look a lot, 7 points down to 8th place won't last long if we don't find positive consistency again and although we might not gain automatic promotion places, the playoffs are better than nothing.......just.
Another thing the recent poor run has shown is who are most vital players are and although we dominated the game against Chester, neither Stallard or Gritton looked like scoring and we other than Forrester, we lack a quality striker. It was no coincedence that when Kerr returned, the midfield looked more convincing and the choice between Hughes or Nicholson is a no contest as the loanee has hardly inspired Imps fans since joining.
You know what, I'd love to say that Schofield and Deehan will drop Nicholson but they seem oblivious to the fact he's done virtually nothing since joining on loan and dropping in-form Paul Mayo for this waster is one of the reasons we didn't get anything at Chester.
The result could very well depend on if Forrester plays and hopefully he's recovered from the injury because let's face it, Stallard's recent lack of effort and Gritton's seemingly scared to shots, we won't have a lot chances to score and we'll need to take all the chances we get to get something out of the game.
Hughes is still likely to miss out due to the injury that the club seems to be afraid to give us an ETA on his return. Other than him and Forrester, there aren't any injury worries for the Imps, not yet anyway because we only ever find out after the games have finished
Who I think will start (Right to left)
Marriott
Eaden Moses Brown Beevers
Birley Amoo Frecklington Nicholson
Forrester Stallard
Just like so many playoff final losers before them, they're having a hangover, however, unlike teams such as Mansfield who have never recovered from losing their playoff final, Grimsby have started to build themselves up again and they've won 3 of the 4 since Alan Buckley was rehired as manager. Infact, if they beat the Imps, it will mean they've won just as many games in the space of 3 weeks than they have done for the rest of the season combined.
Grimsby have an above average side and are highly capable of making the playoffs and the danger man is Gary Jones, who scored the 2 deciding goals in the playoff games against the Imps. Other danger men include the on loan Martin Paterson, ex-Imp Ciaran Toner and if he plays, Peter Bore.