2008 : Another year to forget : Predictably inept

2008 ended as it had gone on for the majority of the rest of the year, with long unbeaten runs. Despite some fan's adamence that we are definitely going to win promotion, the final two months saw very few wins and even fewer decent performances, yet the deluded were still fooling themselves.

After the blip unbeaten run, it was back to the usual course of defeats after October, starting with a 1-0 home defeat to Port Vale. Louis Dodds was unsurprisingly not impactful for his new side, but a David Howland stunner was enough for a very poor Vale side to secure all three points at Sincil Bank.

The long running saga (that is still going on) about Jackson's contract signing started with him promising that he would sign it, but then rumours started coming around that he had asked for a clause where he could go to Bradford or Huddersfield if either came in for his services, rumours he quickly denied. That came just as he was announced as Manager of the Month for his uncharacteristic unbeaten run during October.

City didn't lose a cup game for once, but didn't progress either as Exodus Geohagen's opener for Kettering was levelled within a minute thanks to Dany N'Guessan. Many have since called it a lucky escape for City, but Kettering were nowhere near as good as some made them out to be. However, the game left a bitter taste in the mouth with the attitude of Kettering's fans, including one shouting racist abuse at City's officials. Kettering then denied it, with their message board propaganda trying to indicate that their fans were saints......LMAO.

The annual trip to Darlington ended with the usual result, although it was far closer than the scoreline would suggest. City were generally the better team but were undone by two well taken chances from the hosts after half time. Ben Wright had missed several absolute sitters for the Imps.

An FA Cup replay quickly followed and City went out thanks to a come-from-behind victory against the Poppies. LJL had opened the scoring with a header before Westcarr and Christie goals sent the visitors onto a trip to Notts County. Just to prove their fans weren't saints, Notts fans also accused them of racism.

Despite being god awful in near enough every performance he puts in, LJL was awarded with a new contract along with the ever-impressive Danny Hone. Many fans are still puzzled as to why John-Lewis has been given a new contract as he is consistently the worst player in an Imps shirt.

With games coming thick and fast, the Imps hosted Shrewsbury Town and found themselves against 10 men within 2 minutes as Richard Walker elbowed Danny Hone. However, City couldn't score despite having 22 shots on goal. It was to be one of the most frustrating games of the season as the visitors put 9 men behind the ball from the sending off.

City controlled a game at Aldershot but came back with no points due to Aldershot converting two of their extremely limited chances. The Imps could have taken the lead early on but against chances were wasted before Sandell opened the scoring from a corner, Davies extended the lead with an excellent volley after the break but City couldn't find a goal to at least make a game of it.

David Graham gained a rare start at Exeter and set up the opening goal, LJL tapping into an empty net following a weak clearance following Graham's deflected effort. City should have extended the lead but couldn't before Exeter equalised with their first effort on goal and then Dean Moxey gave the hosts victory in added time. Despite only playing well in one month of the season so far, some fans were still adamant that we were on the way to promotion at this point, that despite Jackson's record of losing more than he wins.

City were again atrocious as Accrington came to Sincil Bank. John Miles opened the scoring from distance and it is no exaggeration to say we could have been 4-0 down at half time as Aldershot had another disallowed and two more clear off the line. A triple substitution later and City were victorious thanks to goals from Patulea (twice), Brown, Wright and Frecklington. City hadn't deserved a point, let alone three.

The final week before Christmas saw the club have a spasm that they were releasing a new club tie, apparently worthy of front page news on the official website, the players were obviously overwhelmed by this news as yet another poor performance yielded yet another undeserved 3 points, this time against Notts County. City were awful but capitalised on a Pilkington spill to take the lead just before half time, other than that the hosts were dominant. It's a good thing that we have Patulea at this club as no other player looks like scoring on a regular basis, although that could change as it was also announced that week that Geoff Horsfield was training with the club.

Another 0-0 draw hit Sincil Bank, this time taking place with Bradford. It was an entertaining game that the Imps just edged on chances, although how Lee Frecklington didn't get a hatrick is anyone's guess.

The final game of 2008 was at Luton Town and fittingly for the year, it ended in defeat. The impressive Chris Martin bagged a first half brace for the hosts before LJL pulled one back. Ian Roper pulled Luton further in front just another half time before Patulea pulled one back, but the Imps couldn't find an equaliser.

So 2008 ended with yet another defeat and the signs ARE NOT GOOD for 2009. 2008 wasn't a successful year, we only had two decent months in terms of results and we only seem to beat the teams in the lower bottom half of the table, that's why we WON'T win promotion this season unless things improve quickly.