Christmas Misery : How we won promotion....Part 3

By Nathan Jackson
July 5 2007

City's festive period in 1997/8 was miserable. Two embarrasing FA Cup games against Emley were the lowlight, followed closely by a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Peterborough United. Only two victories for the Imps shed any glimmer of a smile for City as the Imps also lost top spot to Notts County. Thankfully this was the only blip during the season.

Since the beginning of the 1997/8 season only two sides have stayed in this division without a promotion or relegation. Those two sides are Darlington and Rochdale. Other than those two and the Imps, only 8 of the sides competiting in the 4th tier that season will be competiting in it in the upcoming season.

Lee Thorpe (right - picture from the 1998/9 season) scored the goal that won promotion in 1997/8. He joined City from Blackpool at the beginning of that season and was leading goalscorer in each of his 5 years here before leaving for Leyton Orient.

Lincoln started December 1997 with one of those delightful Tuesday night trips to Exeter. Williams gave Exeter the lead early on, but a resilient City pulled level when Lee Thorpe's ambitious lob from 30 yards out on the right wing. City won via Steve Brown heading in a corner at the far post. It was not well recieved by Exeter fans who were protesting the awarding of the corner, watching replays over and over again still doesn't reveal why Exeter fans would protest about the corner being given.

Then came one of the biggest embarrasements in the club's recent history. Emley Town were the visitors in the FA Cup 2nd round and it all was going to plan when Fleming gave City an early lead. City were controlling the game when Hurst unexpectedly leveled on the stroke on half time.

Deniol Graham then gave the visitors the lead with 5 minutes to go and the upset was well and truly on. 7 minutes into added on time and apitch invasion was spared when Terry Fleming drew level with a late, late header. The next day the draw was made and whoever won the replay would travel to West Ham, surely the Imps wouldn't make the same mistakes twice.

City's start to December gradually got worse. No-one was that bothered when City were eliminated from the Associate Members Cup by Wigan, but next up came a tricky game against Hartlepool. John Cullen scored an own goal to give City the lead, but in the 4th minute of injury time at the end of the 2nd half he scored Hartlepool's equaliser. That goal knocked City off of top spot and the Imps wouldn't sit atop of the division until 9 years later.

 A worrying blip turned into a crisis when the replay against Emley came. It took 65 minutes for the Imps to take the lead thanks to John Whitney. Colin Alcide extended the lead 4 minutes later and City appeared to be heading to Upton Park. Graham pulled a goal back in the 75th minute before a spirited Emley equalised with 3 minutes to go through Nicholson.

Nicholson then gave Emley the lead in the 111th minute thanks to a penalty and it appeared that the Imps were over and out, infact Emley came extremely close to extending their lead. Hone equalised for City though and the match went to penalties. 7 out of the 10 penalties were scored, Emley winning 4-3 and causing the biggest upset in the FA Cup that season.

If that was morale sapping, a trip to Peterborough was just tragic. A Lee Thorpe goal in the 2nd minute gave City hope, but a quick double from Martin Carruthers saw City behind. Carruthers would eventually go on to play for Lincoln. It was 3-1 a few minutes later when Farrell scored and then Lee Thorpe scored an own goal to make it 4-1 at half time. Farrell eventually got the 5th and City were without doubt in a blip.

Another frantic derby saw Rotherham's Jason White score the only goal of the game on Boxing Day. Mansfield were the next opponents and the Stags opened the scoring in the 43rd minute through Whitehall. Paul Smith, a recent signing from Nottingham Forest set up Colin Alcide's 55th minute before Whitehall regained the lead for Mansfield in the 58th minute. Paul Smith then managed to score himself in the 83rd minute. It may not have been the best result possible but at least we didn't lose....not for another few days anyway.

Chester followed up their opening day victory with a professional performance at Sincil Bank. Priest and Jenkins both scored before half time. Stephen Brown pulled of a goal back on 48 minutes but Rimmer restored the 2 goal advantage in the 73rd minute.

What turned out to be our last ever trip to Scarborough was another game where the home fans thought the Imps 2nd goal was controversial. Thorpe gave City the lead with a back post header before Bennett and Campbell turned the game around for Scarborough.

Then came a moment that Scarborough described as "a ridiculous decision"....that's true but it was only a stupid decision from the goalkeeper. A long ball forward saw the goalkeeper run out and catch the ball about 5 yards outside his box, he was sent off and then for some reason tried to convince everyone he was in the area....I don't think so somehow. Although the freekick was saved, Dean Walling hit in the rebound to give the Imps a point.

Notts County were the visitors in one of the most unpredictable games in Sincil Bank history. County scored early on when Farrell managed to squeeze a chance in at the front post. Ex-Imps Baraclough and Strodder gave County a 3-0 lead going into half time.

Paul Smith scored what seemed like a consolation in the 48th minute following a mistake from the goalkeeper. Mark Hone pulled another back in the 52nd before Steve Brown unbelieveably equalised in the 61st minute. The parity lasted just a minute as Jones capitalised on a defensive blunder to steal a second goal off of Strodder. Farrell completed the scoring and the game ended 5-3 to Notts County.

It had been nearly 2 months without a win before the visit of Hull City. This was back in the days when Hull used to get crowds of 3,500 and they were struggling at the wrong end of the table, the words "glory supporters" spring to mind. Anyway, it was a tense game that was decided in the 21st minute when Dean Walling proded in following a goalkeeping mistake.

NEXT UP : Bye Bye Beck and Imps storm on.