By Nathan Jackson
April 6 2007

There has been a lot of talk about how unlikely City making the automatic promotion places is, but it is that unlikely? We now take a look at two great examples of teams having to work against the odds to achieve their goal and achieving it. This includes a promotion run and the GREATEST escape.

Our first example of one team seemingly beating all their odds to still somehow do well is the end of the 2004/5 season. Northampton Town had been the pre-season favourites for the title but were struggling to even make the playoffs, infact their chances seemed virtually none as they fell down to a 1-0 defeat at midtable Cheltenham Town. That defeat left them on 63 points, whereas their next opponents just needed a point to secure themselves a playoff place from their remaining 3 games.

 

The trouble was that two of their 3 opponents had things to play for, Lincoln City were still plugging away for the playoffs, and they would guarantee their place in the end of the season lottery if Northampton didn’t beat them. The other team were Kidderminster Harriers, who before these 3 games began were still fighting against relegation. Even Chester City, the fixture sandwiched between the Lincoln and Kidderminster games, were still looking a bit nervously over their shoulders, but the chances of them getting relegated were incredibly slim.

 

So it was Lincoln City who made the trip to Sixfields and subsequently lost 1-0 with the only goal coming in the second half. Darlington also won however meaning that Northampton were still out of the playoff places, then ironically it was the Imps 0-0 draw with Darlington at Sincil Bank that opened the door for Northampton Town. They did their part and beat Chester City by a 2-0 scoreline, meaning the Cobblers moved into the playoff places on goal difference ahead of Darlington.

 

Darlington had a tricky home game against Cheltenham Town and the Cobblers had a relatively easy game against already relegated Kidderminster Harriers. Northampton comfortably won 3-0 meaning that Darlington would have to win by 7 goals to make the playoffs on goal difference, a 3-1 scoreline proved insufficient and Northampton finished 7^th, enough for the playoffs. They quickly went out though, losing 1-0 to Southend United on penalties.

 

Lincoln’s 1957/8 season, if you’ve heard of “The Great Escape” then this is easily “The Greatest Escape. A 3-1 defeat at home to Barnsley on April 7^th saw the Imps sit rock bottom of the table with just 19 points. It appeared as though the Imps were already virtually guaranteed to be relegated. Strangely enough Barnsley were our next opponents, this time the Imps were the victors, winning by the same 3-1 scoreline that the Tykes had beaten the Imps by just 24 hours earlier.

 

The other team occupying the relegation spaces with the Imps were Doncaster Rovers. Again City won by a 3-1 scoreline but it still appeared increasingly likely that City would definitely be relegated. Despite just being just 4 points off safety, this was back in the days when it was just 2 points for a victory meaning that City would have to win at least 2 of the remaining 4 games to stand a chance of going up.

 

Rotherham were the next visitors to City and they too left with a defeat, this time a 2-0 victory and now City fans were starting to get the belief that we could survive, especially as we were now just 2 points from safety. Bristol City walked away from Sincil Bank after a 4-0 defeat that left the Imps 1 point from safety with a game in hand over everyone else.

 

The final day for most of the division saw City win 1-0 at Huddersfield, it wasn’t enough to get City out of the bottom 2 however as Notts County also won, but the Magpies had played all their games, whereas City needed just to draw in their game in hand against Cardiff City the following Wednesday to stay up on goal difference. Cardiff came to Sincil Bank and just like the previous 5 teams to play City, they suffered a defeat to the Imps and City were safe, surviving relegation by just one single point. City again survived by just a point in the following season.