By Nathan Jackson
May 15 2007

Lincoln City have played 11 playoff games and one of the most intense games out of those 11 was the semi-final 2nd leg against Huddersfield Town during the 2003/4 season. City were 2-1 down from the first leg having lost at Sincil Bank, but the Imps were well in control of this game until a penalty got Huddersfield back into the game.

19,467 fans packed into the impressive McAlpine Stadium (as it was known back then) on a warm Wednesday evening in mid-May 2004. 3,160 of those were hoping that Lincoln would be able to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg. As usual at Huddersfield, the atmosphere was electric with both sets of fans in full voice.

Huddersfield started the game well, winning a few corners early on, none of which came to anything. Imps' loanee, Kevin Ellison, then brought anger out of Huddersfield Town manager, Peter Jackson, when the Imps man fouled Onuora. It took the referee to separate Ellison and Jackson.

Simon Yeo had the game's first decent effort on goal, but his long range shot went just over the bar. The Imps' first corner of the game after good work from Yeo, Bailey's set-piece was easily claimed by Rachubka. Richardson was the next to set up Yeo, but the Imps' striker couldn't quite latch on to the former Hartlepool striker's header.

Danny Schofield launched a rare Huddersfield attack, eventually wasting his effort by sending it into the Imps' fans. Gary Fletcher (again, as he was known back then) almost made Huddersfield pay for a defensive lapse, but Mirfin recovered well for the hosts.

Booth had another long range effort easily saved by Marriott. It should have been 1-0 on the night to the Imps but Ellison and Richardson got in eachother's way at the back post. Several corners later and the Imps were easily having the better time of the two teams.

McCombe's 33rd minute head from a Kevin Ellison cross went just wide of the target. Fletcher then wasted a golden chance when he found himself unmarked 12 yards out, again he could only hit the ball wide.

Lincoln's dominance finally paid on when following a throw in, Mark Bailey pumped the ball into the box and Rachubka collided with his only defender and the ball fell to Butcher. The midfield dinked the ball goalwards and Steve Yates couldn't prevent the ball from crossing the line and the Imps fans went delirious. As you can tell from the picture on the right, they weren't the only ones.

Players in Picture (left to right) -Ben Sedgemore, Peter Gain, Ben Futcher, Marcus Richardson, Richard Butcher and Matt Bloomer

It not only put the Imps ahead on the night, but it also drew the Imps level on aggregate. It was just reward for the Imps who had spent virtually the entire half camped in Huddersfield's half of the pitch.

From the kick off the Imps won a throw in, it went to Marcus Richardson and he bobbled a path into the onrushing defender, Mark Bailey. Bails took the ball onto his chest and sent a right footed shot past Paul Rachubka to turn the tie around dramatically. Just 66 seconds earlier we had been behind in the tie, now Huddersfield had to score again to prevent the Imps making a second successive trip to the playoff final.

This sent the away fans absolutely mental, people getting injured by the elbows of their fellow celebrating Imps as pure unadultered pandemonium reigned supreme in the packed away end.

Less than one minute later and it could/should have been 3-0 to the Imps on the night, but Ben Futcher's run up the wing (quite an unusual site, believe me) resulted in him threading the ball through to Yeo. Rachubka pulled off a brilliant save to deny Yeo what would surely have been the goal to seal the tie for the Imps.

The half-time whistle brought around 16,000 chorusing boos, and just over 3,000 fans cheering like we had already been promoted.

Peter Jackson obviously gave his side a right rollocking at half time as they came out of the blocks quickly. However, it was the Imps who almost scored the 3rd goal of the game when Rachubka again brilliantly denied Yeo.

Huddersfield fans and players alike proved how desperate they were for a route back into the game when they heavily appealed for a penalty when the ball struck Ben Futcher's arm. Fortunately though the ref made the correct decision and let play go on, mainly due to the fact that Futcher was less than a yard away when the ball was kicked, having no chance to get out of the way.

Then it came, the turning point of the match. 58 minutes gone and another hopeless long ball forward was chased by Booth, the ageing striker then collasped with McCombe behind him. Huddersfield appealed for a penalty, the referee ignored these and waved play on......but then decided to go with his linesman's decision and Huddersfield had a penalty and an chance to undeservedly get back into the game. Danny Schofield stepped up and sent Marriott the wrong way and it was 2-1 on the night, 3-3 on aggregate.

After that it was all Huddersfield, getting back into a game that they had looked completely out of until the penalty. The atmosphere around the whole stadium changed significantly, Huddersfield fans full of life and optimism, the nails of Lincoln fans being quickly worn down.

It was all Huddersfield for about 10 minutes but the defence thankfully did it's job. City could have re-established the overall lead against but Futcher's powerful header went straight into the arms of Rachubka. Iffy Onoura was replaced by McAliskey for Huddersfield.

City were slowly coming back into the game, Yeo and Gain both missing good opportunities before McAliskey almost put Huddersfield into the lead on aggregate, but he could only watch his header flash wide of the post. Fletcher's header down at the other end wasn't hard enough to challenge Rachubka.

Then, with 7 minutes left.....there was a goal. After a McCombe scramble for City, Rob Edwards capitalised on the mistake and smashed home the leveler on the night, and punched Huddersfield back into the lead overall.

It brought the same delirium to the Huddersfield fans that the Bailey goal had brought to the Imps just an hour earlier. The nails were being well and truly put to their limits in the away end.

City automatically went out all out attack as Aaron Wilford and Francis Green came on for Marcus Richardson and Matt Bloomer.

Schofield could have killed the tie when he broke through the defence, but thankfully Marriott was equal to his effort. An unbelievable save from Rachubka kept Francis Green out for the Imps, and luck was certainly on the goalkeeper's side as he sat on Yeo's goalbound shot. That came in the last minute in added on the time and the playoff dream died for another year.

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN : Paul Rachubka, David Mirfin, Efe Sodje, Steve Yates, Andy Holdsworth, Danny Schofield, Jon Worthington, Rob Edwards, Anthony Lloyd, Andy Booth, Iffy Onoura.

HUDDERSFIELD SUBS : John McAliskey (for Onoura 63), Paul Scott, Lee Fowler, Nat Brown, Phill Senior.

LINCOLN CITY : Alan Marriott, Mark Bailey, Kevin Ellison, Ben Futcher, Jamie McCombe, Matt Bloomer, Richard Butcher, Peter Gain, Richard Butcher, Marcus Richardson, Simon Yeo

LINCOLN SUBS : Aaron Wilford (for Richardson 84), Francis Green (for Richardson 84), Kevin Sandwith, Ben Sedgemore, Simon Weaver.