3 games to make or break our season.

By Nathan Jackson
September 17 2007

Lincoln City's next 3 games will more than likely decide how City's season will go, as the Imps will face 3 of the teams currently occupying the bottom 4 places in the League 2 table. City have had a terrible start to the season, taking just 6 points by the midway point in September and that record has left a lot of Imps fans looking nervously over their shoulders at the bottom 2.

City's start to the season has been the worst since the commencement of the 2004/5 season, ironically a season that also started with a game against Shrewsbury Town. Perhaps we can take relief in the fact that we still made the Playoff Final that season, but the difference between that squad and this is that the 2004/5 squad always looked like they would turn around, something that can certainly not be said of the current crop.

Whether it is Ryan Amoo being beaten down the wing each time, someone passing the ball upfield to only then see Jamie Forrester run off in a completely different direction to which the ball has been played, Lee Frecklington's quite frankly pathetic set-piece taking, or even just the annoying stubborn, stiff upper-lipped manager that we have in charge at the minute. All of these factors add up to what is become a very stressful time for the Imps.

So far in 2007 the Imps have won just 7 times and lost an alarming 14 times. If you go back far enough to when we went top of the table 11 months ago, the Imps have a record that you would expect most sides battling relegation to have...and it's simply not good enough anymore.

After 3 defeats in a row against Dagenham and Redbridge, Bradford City and Darlington, the Imps have 3 games that one paper we should really be looking at winning. City face 3 of the current bottom 4, although a worrying trend in that two of those sides were in the same position last season when they both beat us at this time of the year.

On Saturday the Imps play hosts to Grimsby Town, with the Mariners in search of their first League goal at Sincil Bank for 18 years. In the 6 league meetings since the Mariners came into this divison, the Imps have kept an impressive 4 clean sheets, 2 of which came last season when City took 4 points off their county neighbours.

Up in Cod-Land they are almost of disillusioned as us. Just 16 months ago they ran out in Cardiff against Cheltenham Town, hoping for promotion to League One. A Steve Guinan goal later and Grimsby were stuck in this division. Last season was yet another year of struggle, with Alan Buckley pulling them very slowly away from the relegation zone and into a lower midtable position......sounds familiar doesn't it.

Some of the Grimsby fans on TFF have come out with a very negative attitude towards how the club are playing at the minute, with a member with the name "UptheMariners" declaring that he expects a poor turnout due to all the negativity from Grimsby fans.

"There is such a negative feeling around this club at the minute, I have never known anything like it, even when we got relegated 2 seasons in a row i dont think it was this bad. I dont expect us to sell out on Saturday, would be lucky if 1000 town fans go, i expect 600 ish which is very poor for a local derby."

A week later and City travel to Wrexham. The Welshman were the only side to do the double over the Imps last season, winning 2-1 at the Racecourse in November before destroying the Imps 3-0 at Sincil Bank back in April. After only escaping relegation on the final day of last season, a lot of Wrexham fans were trying to convince everyone they would challenge for promotion this season.....things haven't quite worked out that way as the Welshman currently sit dead bottom of the division.

The Dragons have won just once this season, a narrow home victory over Morecambe. They have lost all 4 of their other games, losing to Darlington, Bradford, Hereford and Rotherham. It certainly doesn't get any easier for them as they head to Stockport County on Saturday.

3 days later and the Imps make the trip to Gigg Lane. Having appointed Keith Alexander as Director of Football at the beginning of the season, the Shakers quickly filled their squad with ex-Lincoln players and staff. Paul Morgan left City for Bury after Lincoln cancelled his contract, Ben Futcher soon followed after his release from Peterborough United. Marcus Richardson also returned to the Football League after a stint in the Conference, but his spell at Gigg Lane lasted just a month. Gary Simpson was also appointed as a coach.

A curious thing about Bury is that Chris Casper has been proving for 2 years that he isn't good enough to be a Football League manager, and yet the board stick by him despite 2 relegation battles. It was speculated by many that Keith Alexander would be in charge by the time the Lincoln game came around, something that could still happened after Bury's poor start to the season that has seen them get just 4 points from 6 games.

City head into these games playing pretty badly, and losing 2 of these 3 games would almost certainly see the Imps in the relegation zone. City have a great chance now to not only build a gap between themselves and the relegation zone, but also push back into the top half of the table. On paper we should get at least 6 points.........but as the famous quote once went ; "Football isn't played on paper"