The title of Abraham, Martin & John by Marvin Gaye had been in my head for the earlier league game at home to today’s opponents, but I never made it to the game as I was ill, and watched it at home instead, and so there wasn’t a match report, just a few ramblings in the one for the following game.
I had done a bit of prep for the Lincoln City league game, and it was what kicked off my latest fad of hunting for old school football cards from the teams we are playing. This one John Ward 1976–77 Topps Card — was one of their random cards with players from lower league clubs they included that year. It was the only one for a Lincoln player in any of the Topps or A&BC sets from the late fifties to early eighties.
I didn’t realise John Ward had been Graham Taylor’s assistant manager at Watford and Aston Villa, and then David Jones assistant at Wolves, as well as being a long-time lower league manager racking up over 750 games in charge for a variety of clubs including both Bristol teams. It’s been a slow week.
Which included going to the Natural History Museum last Sunday, where even there I couldn’t get away from thoughts about CTFC. I can’t think what might have reminded me though.
I also found a match report I didn’t think I’d written. Well, I certainly hadn’t remembered writing about it. A game from the end of the 2018-19 season against Notts County. I’m doing the slow laborious task of having to turn off commenting on all my old blog posts (nearly 500 of them) to prevent all the spam comments I get on a daily basis on my website. And I came across this. It’s not what I churn out now, but I think it’s one of my better ones. If only I could remember how to flow like that now.
And then last night we’d gone to something at Goffs Park Social Club, which I’d been told was a Northern Soul singer. Well, the main act did a few NS songs, and the DJ played some NS records, but there was a lot of Jam going on (not that I would ever complain about that). Regular performer outside Redz Bar – Charlie Cooper was supporting and did a whole host of Jam numbers as well. He also did The Cure’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry.’ I love The Cure, but that song has lost its lustre, mainly because when I hear it now, I automatically think, ‘shit, have we lost again?’
Anyway, back to the football. The game at the end of October was the fifth against them, and we have a good record of three wins, a draw, and a solitary loss against them, and we haven’t played them in any of the cup competitions.
We weren’t playing on Tuesday night, but most of the rest of the division were as they were catching up on games missed due to international breaks. Leyton Orient lost which means we stay out of the relegation zone, but both of the teams who were a point ahead of us in the table and who were playing on Tuesday night (Blackpool and Wigan Athletic) won. Cambridge United got a point and are now three points behind us and still have another game in hand.
And there was an article come out in The Athletic about the problems with the signing and subsequent release of Muhammad Faal. None of the details in the article cover the club (or to be fair, the player’s agent) in a good light. You do wonder if things like that get out and known around the footballing fraternity and in doing so make the job of trying to sign players more difficult.
The club snuck on online match programme for the cup game today onto the club website a couple of hours before kick-off. Using third party software, and it was not available to download. Definitely not mobile device friendly, and it can’t be kept. More half arsed fuckwittery, and it looks like nobody told the staff in the shop about the sudden appearance of an online programme as they were telling away fans there was no programme (but at least they were pointing them in the direction of the Reds magazine this week).
I’d gone straight to the ground from writing, and I arrive just as the Lincoln City team coach is pulling up. I have to do a double take and then have a think about why the name Skills rang a bell. Turned out to be a proper blast from the past for me. Skills are a Leicester company, and they used to provide the coaches whenever we went on any school trips back in the eighties.
There are new random items in the club shop (I was perusing the Red Friday items for potential Christmas presents), and they now have cushions and throws. Both of which could be useful for sitting in the east marquee. Padding for the seat and additional coverage to protect against the wind whipping through the bleachers. I’m not saying I was into the ground early, but the rest of the marquee was empty.
Lincoln City are in an almost all white kit, with just one black diagonal stripe on the shirts, almost like an Orient seventies kit. We start well with a bit of pressure, only for Lincoln to have the first proper attack, down the left and the cross in gets to the back post and the shot is deflected for a corner. But we are soon back on the attack. Decent pressure down the right, and the ball is played into the box where Tola Showunmi’s shot is blocked. It spins out to the left and Ade Adeyemo picks it up and crosses it back towards the penalty spot where Jack Roles is on hand to put a shot into the net, and we lead 1-0.
There is a pause from the restart with a Lincoln player down in our half. Once the game gets back underway a long hoof forward from Charlie Barker sees a bit of panic in the Lincoln defence, Showunmi robs the last defender and gets into the box and in on goal and slots it in and we lead 2-0. Boom.
Lincoln start to come back into the game, they have a shot from outside the box which is tipped around the post by Eddie Beach for a corner. A free kick is given away in the middle of our half. It is floated in, there is a shot blocked, and the ball is cleared to the edge of the area but lost, and then crossed in from the left and a header at the far post slowly loops back over Beach and drops in and it’s back to 2-1.
We attack straight from the kick off and Jeremy Kelly has a shot blocked on the edge of the area. A Lincoln player is down, and the play is stopped. The lino on our side is flagging for something, which is never a good sign. The Lincoln fans are screaming for a sending off as it appears Tyreese John-Jules has kicked out at their defender. It’s difficult to say what actually happened as the ball was elsewhere, TJJ may have been lucky not to have a red, or the Lincoln player may have been a diving cheating twat. On the evidence of the rest of the game the latter is the more likely.
There is a free kick to Lincoln thirty yards out in the middle of the pitch. Not sure why there wasn’t a free kick to us for the challenge just prior to that. The kick hits the wall and is cleared. Poor old Showunmi is getting pulled and pushed all over the place and is getting absolutely fuck all from the ref. This is happening every time he plays. Is there a directive that we haven’t been told about where manhandling Showunmi is allowed?
A bit of a lull follows with some cagey play, but then we break down the left, and the ball is worked across the front of the box to Kelly on the right but his shot limps wide. At the other end Lincoln get a throw, no idea why we didn’t get a free kick which led to us knocking the ball out. The throw is taken and played back to the thrower, they cross it, and Beach comes to claim, or punch, or do something with it but ends up in no mans land and it is flick headed over him and into the net and the scores are all level again at 2-2.
We seem to have lost the impetus completely. There is another Lincoln attack, a cross is scrambled clear, only to be crossed again and there is another free header in the box, and Beach pulls off a great save, only for it to rebound to another Lincoln player for another header on target, but Beach is up and saves this one as well. A stunning double save keeps the scores level.
A Lincoln player ducks out of a headed challenge and Toby Mullarkey goes over the top and is down injured. When he does get back up after the board has been put up for four added minutes, the ref keeps him off the pitch after the restart for a ridiculous amount of time, during which Lincoln win a corner, which is bundled clear, only for them to attack again and have a shot over the bar before the whistle is blown for half time with the score at 2-2.
We make two substitutions at half time, with TJJ coming off to be replaced by the invisible man, sorry Gavan Holohan (or should that be hologram), one I suspect due to TJJ’s booking and another potential booking incident just before the break. The other one is a bit more surprising with Benjamin Tanimu coming off to be replaced by Max Anderson.
Lincoln start the second half in the same way they finished the first, on the front foot. They have a throw near the corner flag on the right, and it comes across and finds an unmarked player in the D, and they rifle a shot into the top of the net, and we now trail 2-3.
And straight from the kick off another attack is not dealt with very well at all down the right and it seems the ball makes it way into the box in slow motion and is nudged into the goal and just like that we have conceded two goals in two minutes and now are 2-4 down.
Which strangely seems to settle us down a bit, and we have some sustained possession and a bit of pressure, we get a cross in which is headed out for a corner. It is cleared and Lincoln counterattack and put a shot over the bar. A blatant offside is allowed and Lincoln work the ball for another shot from distance which Beach gets down to tip around the post for a corner.
This takes place as a minute’s applause rings round the ground to commemorate former boss Dermot Drummy. The shot from the corner goes over the KRL Logistics stand for ball loss number one of the day. It’s all Lincoln again. Another shot, another save, another corner, and frustrated at the miss, the Lincoln player kicks the ball away angrily, nearly taking out the photographer off the pitch. He does go and apologise, but where the fuck was the yellow card for kicking the ball away?
And we nearly give another goal away from fannying about with the ball on the edge of our own box but are saved again by Beach. Only for him to go down injured and need a bit of treatment. At the other end, a trip on Showunmi finally sees him win a free kick. Roles shot is just wide.
Lincoln attack again, this time down the left and have another shot which goes over the bar. Still nothing being given for Showunmi being dragged all over the place when balls are coming up to him. But the slightest nudge by him when going up for a header brings a free kick against him. Which is pretty much his last action as he is replaced by Sonny Fish. And Lincoln break again and force yet another good Beach save.
The ref gives Lincoln a throw in. It was blatantly a Crawley throw, it clearly came off a Lincoln player, and two Crawley players let it go out so it would be our throw. The lino flags for our throw only for the ref to give it to Lincoln. It is a foul throw, but the ref lets them retake it. But not from where the original cack handed attempt was from, but ten yards further up the pitch in the other half. And they end up winning a corner from it. They attack again and another shot heads out over the KRL Logistics stand for ball loss number two. With the additional precision of going through the (empty) cameraman gantry on its way.
Adeyemo is subbed, with Rafiq Khaleel coming on in his place. We attack down the left, Fish is dragged down in the box, and nothing is given, but we win the ball back and it is played across the edge of the box and Kelly steps onto it and drills it into the bottom corner and there is hope as we pull it back to 3-4.
After the restart there are a chorus of ironic cheers as the ref (who by this point is easily public enemy number one) gives a free kick to Crawley in the middle of the field. Only for us to lose the ball and Lincoln to get another shot off, this one going wide. We win a corner, and it goes into the box and Lincoln win a free kick as one of their players hits the deck.
There are five added minutes. Lincoln break down the left, get a cross in and have another shot which is wide. Charlie Barker is absolutely flattened in midfield, but apparently it isn’t a foul and Lincoln carry on and get another shot away. We launch the ball long, and Mullarkey, who is now playing as a target man up front is taken out on the edge of the box. But that’s fine, as anything goes as far as the Lincoln players seem to know where the ref is concerned.
They do finally pick up a booking. It goes to the keeper for timewasting, something that should have been forthcoming about twenty minutes earlier. But Lincoln attack again and force a final good save from Beach and the final whistle goes with us losing 3-4 and exiting the FA Cup.
The crowd was announced as 2,831 with 427 away fans. That definitely seemed low compared to what I was seeing. Perhaps that might have been correct at the final whistle. I don’t understand why there were so many people leaving with a couple of minutes of normal time left, let alone the added time. There was still the chance of an equaliser (though I’m sure the ref would have found a way to disallow any such goal). Which would have meant extra time and potentially penalties. I never understand anyone leaving early from any game though.
All in all, the result was a fair one, once they settled, and taking the ridiculous play acting out of the equation, Lincoln were a good side. We are down to bare bones and the league game away to Charlton Athletic on Tuesday night is probably more important to us. Beach was a bit indecisive for their first two goals, but he produced a string of good saves to keep the score reasonable and us in the game. Showunmi is a handful, but needs more protection from the refs.
And speaking of Charlton, the next one of these will be coming after that game as I take my first coach trip of the season on Tuesday night.
Come on you reds.