Ipswich Town v Lincoln City
Tuesday 8th March 2022 – 19:45
Portman Road
Pre-Match Thoughts - Dave
Another good performance on Saturday saw 3 points taken from a Fleetwood side that hadn’t lost at home since December. Can we finally put together our first run of 3 back to back wins this season on Tuesday night?
One almost feels we are locked in 9th place this season, and in fact that’s not far from the truth as we have been in this position after the last 7 fixtures. Although we feel we are doing quite well at present, the reality is that based on the current form table we are also in 9th place from the last 8 matches which probably explains why we are struggling to make up any ground overall.
We really need a poor run of form from some of the playoff rivals around us to have a chance of extending our season. As Mike often points out, the slow start to the season is really biting now. (3 points out of 18 available from the first 6 fixtures). Although there are 10 fixtures left to complete the regular season, this includes games against Portsmouth, Oxford, Plymouth, Rotherham and Wigan so we are really going to have to take our chances to advance.
One area we are doing well this season is with attendances (currently sitting in 3rd place behind Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday) and this Tuesday will be another bumper crowd with probably around 25000 people packing out Portman Rd against Lincoln City.
Based on the table you would feel that 18th placed Lincoln City is a very winnable fixture, however, their 5 wins since the start of this calendar year are against Oxford United, Sunderland, Plymouth, Morecombe and Sheffield Wednesday with a draw thrown in against Wycombe for good measure. It would appear that they are one of those sides that lifts their game against ‘stronger’ opposition.
Last Saturday the Imps fielded a 3-5-2 line up against Sheffield Wednesday and recorded a 3-1 victory where they got away 14 shots, 9 of them on target with only 39% of the possession. Although they had 5 in the midfield there was no room for Teddy Bishop, however he has made 28 appearances for Lincoln this season.
I think it has the makings of a real cracking fixture, and you will all be relieved to know that Mike will be back doing his excellent pre-match comments this weekend.
Take care everyone, and enjoy the evening if you are heading along to the ground.
The Opposition – Lincoln City
Having formed officially as an amateur association in 1884 after the disbanding of Lincoln Rovers (formerly Lincoln Recreation).
Lincoln soon helped to form what was then the Second Division in 1892–93 season, as an increasing number of clubs wished to join the Football League. The first game at Sincil Bank was in 1895, after moving from the John O'Gaunts Ground, was a friendly draw with local rivals, Gainsborough Trinity.
Up until the 1920s Lincoln spent most of their time swinging between the Second Division and the more localised leagues, the Midland and also the Central league. After then, however, in the 1921–22 season, Lincoln, along with several other clubs from the Central and Midland leagues, founded the Third Division (North). The newly founded league and the Second Division would take turns in becoming Lincoln's home up until the early 1960s where they would drop a further division to the Fourth Division in the 1962–63 season.
Their championship honours include three Division 3 (North) championships in 1931–32, 1947–48 and 1951–52, a Division 4 (now League Two) championship in 1975–76 (when they were managed by future England manager Graham Taylor).
It was the 1975–76 season where the club broke the record for most points for a whole season when 2 instead of 3 points were awarded for a win with 74 points in total (this was and still is the record amount of points achieved under the 2-point system); the record of winning the most games (32) and losing the fewest (4), was also set. City also become the first club in nearly a decade to score over 100 league goals (111 in total). They also won 21 out of 23 home league games in this season (the other 2 were drawn) and also won 11 games away from home, another impressive bout from the club. It was the season where, Graham Taylor recalls, "teams were petrified of coming to Sincil Bank".
In 1982 and again in 1983, Lincoln narrowly missed out on promotion to the Second Division. In 1985, Lincoln were the opposition at Bradford City when the Bradford City stadium fire claimed the lives of 56 spectators – two of them, Bill Stacey and Jim West, were Lincoln fans, and subsequently these fans had the Stacey West stand named after them.
Lincoln were relegated on the last day of the following season, and the year after that they became the first team to suffer automatic relegation from the Football League. This was a dramatic decline for a club who had almost reached the Second Division four years earlier and has been linked to the trauma arising from the disaster. This marked the fourth occasion on which Lincoln were demoted from the Football League, a record that still stands.
They regained their Football League place automatically via promotion as champions of the Conference (beforehand it was done by re-election) at the first attempt with a long ball game devised by eccentric manager Colin Murphy and held on to it until the end of season 2010–11. On 8 September 1990, Lincoln were the opposition when David Longhurst suffered a fatal heart attack during the first half of a game against York City at Bootham Crescent.
On 3 May 2002 Lincoln successfully petitioned to go into administrationbut the financial crisis would leave the first team squad bereft of players as the day saw five senior players –released at the end of their contracts with a sixth, departing for Leyton Orient. A hectic day finished with confirmation of Keith Alexander's official appointment as team manager.
In 2002–03, Alexander was given the task of keeping the team in the football league, he proved the many pundits and fans who believed that Lincoln would be relegated and sent out of business due to financial irregularities wrong. With a team made up of cheap ex-non-league players and the lower paid members of the previous season's squad he managed to take them to the play-off final which they lost to Bournemouth. The team were rewarded with a civil reception in Lincoln, and an open-top bus ride through Lincoln, an event usually preserved for the winners of such competitions, but was awarded to the team because of the massive achievement.
In 2003–04 Alexander again confounded the critics by coaching the Imps to another play-off position, this time losing to eventual winners Huddersfield Town in the semi-finals. Alexander, one of the very few black managers in the Football League, had a very serious brain injury (a cerebral aneurysm) halfway through the season, but made a full recovery. In the 2004–05 season they again qualified for the play-offs, for a third year running, and in the semi-finals Lincoln beat Macclesfield Town 2–1 on aggregate over two legs but lost in the final against Southend United 2–0 after extra time.
In the 2005–06 season finished 7th in League 2 after only losing 3 games since the new year. Lincoln were to face local neighbours Grimsby Town in the play-offs, a side they had beaten 5–0 at Sincil Bank earlier in the season. However, once again it was not to be, as Lincoln lost 3–1 on aggregate to become the first team ever to lose four consecutive play-off competitions.
Keith Alexander left his position as manager of Lincoln City by mutual consent on 24 May 2006 stating that he could take the club no further, and shortly after on 15 June John Schofield was appointed his successor. For the fifth year in a row, under a different manager, however, Lincoln City reached the League Two play-offs after finishing 5th in the league (the highest position that they have qualified for the play-offs in). Once again, however, they lost, this time to Bristol Rovers in the semi-finals courtesy of a 2–1 defeat away and a 3–5 defeat at home. The failure to succeed in five successive Play-off competitions is a record for any club.
After a run of nine losses and a draw in the final ten games, Lincoln City were relegated from League Two on the last day of the end of the 2010–2011 season, finishing in 23rd Place.
Following relegation to the Conference Premier, Tilson released all but three members of the squad, telling them they had no future at Sincil Bank. By early October, Lincoln were one point above the relegation zone and the management were coming under fire after a run of one win in four; Tilson was sacked as manager on 10 October 2011 and Grant Brown was put in temporary charge.
Brown remained in charge for four games, winning the first but none of the subsequent three, before former Mansfield Town manager David Holdsworth was confirmed as manager. Holdsworth managed the Imps to safety but only by 8 points.
On 17 February 2013, David Holdsworth left the club by mutual consent following twelve games without a win. On 27 February 2013, Gary Simpson, a former assistant of Keith Alexander during his time at the club, was appointed manager until the end of the season. Safety was secured on the final day with an away win against Hyde.
After a good start to the 2013–14 season, Lincoln went on a run of just two wins in seventeen games, which saw the Imps embroiled in relegation trouble once more. From the start of February to the end of the season, Lincoln lost just three games, and finished 14th in the league, their best placing since relegation.
Gary Simpson was placed on gardening leave on 3 November 2014. Assistant manager Chris Moyses was placed in temporary charge and then appointed permanently on 8 December 2014. Lincoln finished 15th that season. 2015–16 would prove to be largely a season of mid-table stability, eventually culminating in a 13th-place finish. Just before the season ended, Moyses announced that he would leave the club in order to focus on his business interests outside of football, and was subsequently replaced by Braintree Town manager Danny Cowley.
City started the 2016–17 season with mixed form, winning two and losing two of their opening four games. This was followed by a run of victories that resulted in the Imps sitting top of the table after a victory at Tranmere. The good form continued into the New Year as the Imps gradually started to pull clear of the group. Despite a bit of a dip of form in March, Cowley would go on to lead the Imps to a National League title and a return to League Two for the first time since their relegation six years earlier.
In the 2016–17 FA Cup, Lincoln beat Championship side Ipswich Town, in a replay, before defeating Championship leaders Brighton and Hove Albion at Sincil Bank to make the fifth round of the FA cup for the first time since the end of the Victorian era. On 18 February, Lincoln went on to beat top flight side Burnley 1–0 to historically go through to the FA Cup quarter final, the first time a non-league club had progressed to the last eight since 1914. In the quarter finals, they were defeated 5–0 at Arsenal.
In the 2017–18 season, on 6 February 2018, Lincoln beat Chelsea U21s in the semi-final of the 2017–18 EFL Trophy, taking them to Wembley Stadium for the first time in the 134 years of the club. They went on to win the final against Shrewsbury Town on 8 April 2018. They also qualified for the semi-finals of the League 2 playoffs, but were knocked out by Exeter over the two legs.
Lincoln won League Two, on 22 April 2019, after a 0–0 draw against Tranmere Rovers, having been top of the table since 25 August 2018.
Lincoln began their first season in the third tier in over twenty years with relative success, victorious in their first three games against Accrington Stanley, Rotherham and Southend.
On 9 September 2019 the team's then manager, Danny Cowley, announced his departure to join Championship side Huddersfield Town, having guided Lincoln to two promotions in his previous three seasons alongside brother and assistant manager Nicky.
On 20 September 2019, Lincoln appointed Michael Appleton as their first team coach.
Last season the Imps finished in 4th place in League 1
The Manager – Michael Appleton
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches, currently in 9th place with 56 points
12 Feb Milton Keynes 0 - 0 Ipswich Town
19 Feb Ipswich Town 3 - 0 Burton Albion
22 Feb Ipswich Town 0 - 0 Cheltenham
26 Feb Morecambe 1 - 1 Ipswich Town
5 Mar Fleetwood 0 - 2 Ipswich Town
Lincoln City Last 5 Matches, currently in 8th place with 38 points
12 Feb Lincoln City 1 - 1 Wycombe
15 Feb Lincoln City 0 - 1 Doncaster
22 Feb Bolton 3 - 1 Lincoln City
26 Feb Lincoln City 0 - 2 Gillingham
5 Mar Lincoln City 3 - 1 Sheffield Wed
Match referee – Tom Reeves
IPSWICH TOWN 1 LINCOLN CITY 0
people 
Wish they’d stop it. Its a Celtic thing.
