By Nathan Jackson
January 1 2006

A typical month for the Imps, City controlled all but 2 of October's games but still only came away win 1 victory. City were well on top for the majority of the matches, especially those against Shrewsbury, Bury, Wycombe and MK Dons, however, it was a far from happy month for the Imps.

The beginning of October started with the Imps making the trip to Bury and it was a game that the Imps dominated from start to finish and took a deserved lead before half time when City won a free kick about 35 yards out from goal. Dean Keates stepped up and despite some Bury fans’ claims, it didn’t take a deflection and sailed into the net for easily the best goal from an Imps player in 2005. Marvin Robinson had a goal disallowed within a minute when he was judged to be offside despite the ball being passed BACKWARDS to him from Birch. City hit the post several times in the 2^nd half and had another goal disallowed for a foul on the keeper. City continued to dominate the match and it seemed as though the deserved victory was at hand until a mistake from Mayo let in Whalley who struck from the edge of the area to score Bury’s first decent chance on goal.

 

2 days later and news came through that striker, Danny Bacon had broken his leg during a game for Burton Albion and could possibly be out for the rest of the season. However, news had also come through that Richard Butcher had continued his half-hearted efforts at Oldham and the fans had started getting on his back and the day before we were due to play Cheltenham at home, Butcher returned to the Imps on loan just 5 months after leaving Sincil Bank. Omari Coleman joined Gravesend on loan.

 

City had a tricky tie against Cheltenham coming up but it turned out to be less difficult than expected as, despite numerous reports on the internet, City controlled the majority of this game and should have been at least 3-0 up before Jeff Hughes conceded a 75^th minute free kick which Odejay headed into the net to give Cheltenham a rather undeserved 3 points.

 

Beevers won his 6^th cap for the Welsh Under 21s before the Imps made a trip down to London to face high flying Leyton Orient. Gary Alexander gave Orient the lead early on when he headed in a rebounded effort. Orient absolutely dominated the first half, however, City appeared to be level just before half time when Nat Brown broke free of the defence and sending a dipping shot over Garner and the ball appeared to cross the line before being hacked away but no goal was given. However, City did equalise when Butcher took us on a trip down memory lane as he scored a beautiful volley from the edge of the area to remind the Imps of some of the finishes he produced before getting injured in the 2003/4 season. City would create the majority of the chances for the rest of the game but a point was more than welcome against the high flyers.

 

City faced a trip to the outskirts of Liverpool to face Tranmere for the first time in almost 20 years in the first round of the LDV Vans Trophy. It wasn’t particully a great game but Tranmere opened the scoring when Rankine’s shot took a deflection off of Marriott to make it 1-0. City should have had a penalty and Tranmere should have been down to 10 men when Achterberg realised he’d lost the ball and did a rugby tackle on Asamoah in the area. However, the referee waved play on but City were level soon afterwards when Nat Brown shot from the edge of the area and got City a rather undeserved equaliser. However, despite a lot of pressure from the Imps in the second half, a 75^th minute goal from Jennings saw Tranmere through to the second round.

 

Wycombe were undefeated before they came to Sincil Bank and all everyone in the league had heard was how Brazil like the Wycombe side were, however, when they came to Sincil Bank, they were, for a lack of a better word, crap. They were awful and City took a well deserved lead when Marvin Robinson tapped in from 6 yards out midway through the second half. However, a typical Alan Marriott mistake let Wycombe back in the game as a weak header went up and started to dip, Marriott didn’t make any effort to get the ball, ran past the post and the ball went in and it was 1-1. Marriott again made a mistake in injury time when he failed to catch a cross and the ball fell and was smashed into the net to give Wycombe a very undeserved 2-1 win. The FA Draw was made and City had an interesting test against Franchise FC, a.k.a, MK Dons.

 

The final game of the month again saw the Imps face tough opposition, this time it was Rochdale and the hosts were a team of wrestlers, not footballers. The first major incident came when Keates was fouled and Ernie Cooksie came and kicked him in the head, something you can clearly see in the highlights and yet somehow, he didn’t get sent off, however, this didn’t matter as Marvin Robinson soon gave the Imps the lead when he headed in a Keates corner. The Rochdale Wrestling Champion, Gareth Griffiths then saw his marching orders for elbowing Gareth McAuley and he seemed surprised that he had been sent off. It was quickly 2-0 after Brown tapped in following a goalmouth scramble. Rochdale did wrestle a goal back in the 2^nd half from Cooksie but the Imps went on to deservedly win the match 2-1 and move into November on the back of their first away win of the season.