By theimps.tk
May 15 2006

City go to Grimsby Town on Tuesday night needing to win to stand any chance of progression and it's a very familiar story. Also 2 years ago to the day, City went to Huddersfield in the same situation and it appeared for a while that City had turned it around until a controversial penalty ended it.

Over 3,000 Lincoln fans went to the McAlpine (as it was known then) hoping that the Imps could turn over a 2-1 deficit from the first leg. It had been a good game at Sincil Bank between 2 really good sides but the Imps came out second best after Gary Fletcher (as he was known back then) scored in between the goals from Iffy Onuora and David Mirfin. City had one of the best away records in the division and Huddersfield had one of the best home records and the hosts went into the second leg as favourites.

 

On loan Kevin Ellison soon tangled with Onuora in the first few minutes and Ellison refused to back down and even got into a heated argument with Huddersfield manager Peter Jackson. Worthington had the game’s first chance but his weak effort went straight aet Marriott. Bailey and Yeo both tried from range for the Imps, however, neither could get the ball anywhere near the goal as both shots hammered the directors boxes.

 

Huddersfield’s loanee keeper, Paul Rachubka easily claimed a Bailey corner. Good work from Richardson saw him failed to find Yeo with a knock down but it was a good start to the game from both sides. Rachubka was again called into action when Yeo was sent through 1 on 1 by a Ben Futcher through ball. Andy Booth had a rare effort for the hosts but it was far from convincing and Marriott claimed easily. Yeo and Fletcher linked up well before supplying Peter Gain with the ball.

 

A deep excellent cross from Ellison was headed wide by Richardson. Futcher’s excellent defending stopped Huddersfield from having an excellent opening as he cleared Rob Edwards’ centre. New signing Jamie McCombe headed Mark Bailey’s throw in wide. City were surprisingly dominating a game against one of the best sides in the division and the Imps were as good as camped in the Huddersfield half. Player of the Season, Gary Fletcher hit the side of the net from 12 yards. However, it wouldn’t be long before the ball found the right side of the post.

 

After a tiny midfield battle, the ball fell to Bailey and he chipped the ball into the box and just like in the league fixture, the goalkeeper came out of his goal and clattered into his own defender and left Butcher with a simple volley to score a well worked goal and all of a sudden it was 1-0 to City and 2-2 on aggregate and it was game on. However, straight from the kick off, City won a throw in, it fell to Richardson who played in Bailey who’s first touch took him past the Huddersfield defender and he slotted home from the edge of the area  and in the space of 66 seconds, the Imps had gone from 2-1 down to 3-2 up and all of a sudden, the Imps were heading to a second successive Cardiff appearance.

 

City fans had gone absolutely mental and then within another minute, Yeo burst through one-on-one and had all the time in the world to shot but his shot went straight at Rachubka and it really would have been game over if that had gone in. The half time whistle went with the loudest cheer you’re ever likely to hear coming from the away end.

 

Yeo continued where he had left off by wasting 2 excellent opportunities to extend the Imps’ lead before City almost conceded a penalty when Futcher appeared handball a cross in City’s area but referee Mike Pike decided to ignore it. However, that just spurred Huddersfield on and if it hadn’t been for some poor finishing, they would have pulled level sooner than they did. Just before the hour mark, a long ball forward was heading out of play when Booth fell under McCombe’s feet although whether it was a penalty was highly debatable and Danny Schofield easily scored to make it level on aggregate.

 

City were all of a sudden well on the back foot but Yeo could have put City back in the lead in the tie but his header went well wide. Huddersfield started dominating the game and it was obvious why they had been candidates for automatic promotion before the final day when they only needed to match Torquay’s result to go up, however, Torquay beat Southend and Huddersfield only drew.

 

The game petered out for a while but then with 7 minutes to go, a McCombe sliced clearance fell straight to defender Rob Edwards who sent an unstoppable volley past Marriott and into the net and the McAlpine fans went absolutely mental. City went all out attack as Wilford and Green came on for Richardson and Bloomer and it was Yeo who yet again wasted an Imps chance when he had a shot in injury time from just 3 yards and only managed to find Rachubka’s rear-end and the Imps were out of the playoffs.

 

Huddersfield went on to face Mansfield in the final and won 4-1 on penalties. They won promotion to what was to become League 1 and have had two good seasons since and as I’m writing this, are leading on aggregate against Barnsley. This game was the last in a City shirt for Mark Bailey, Kevin Ellison, Aron Wilford and Ben Sedgemore.