For a time wins on the ground became scarce for City, as although a John Worsdale goal secured a 1-1 draw on Boxing Day 1972, two defeats came the following season without scoring a goal. The first FA Cup meeting between the two sides saw a 1-0 defeat on a windy day in November and the scoreline was doubled the following April in what was long-serving left back George Peden’s last game for the club. Another draw was achieved the following season with goals from Peter Graham and Colin Symm as the Graham Taylor bandwagon began to build up momentum. This was in full swing the following season as City put the home side to the sword on Boxing Day 1975 with two goals each for John Ward and Percy Freeman in a 4-2 win on the way to beating Doncaster’s points record. The following season saw the first League Cup meeting between the two sides, Peter Graham’s goal in the first game of the season earning a 1-1 draw in the first leg of a tie which City were to lose in a replay.
City’s relegation after three seasons in the Third Division saw them back at Belle Vue again in February 1980 with Mick Harford the scorer on a snow-covered pitch in another 1-1 draw. The following season, Gordon Hobson’s goal was enough to beat Doncaster and put the Imps on top of the division and end a run of six wins for the home side to leave them in fifth place. With Rovers finishing third to City’s second the two clubs then met again in the third tier for the first time since 1950.
It was Doncaster who came out on top with Derek Bell’s goal being only a consolation for City in a 4-1 scoreline that put Doncaster top of the division. However, they were unable to maintain that high position and Bell and Hobson were both on the mark again in a 2-2 draw in February 1983 as City’s own promotion challenge also began to fall apart. With Rovers relegated at the end of the season another first meeting in a cup competition came in February 1984 in what was then known as the Associate Members Cup with a 2-0 win for the home side. Doncaster bounced straight back to Division Three and Gordon Hobson’s third goal on the ground plus one for George Shipley couldn’t prevent a 3-2 City defeat early in the 1984/85 season. As a result of the new safety regulations following the Bradford fire at the end of that season the old wooden Bennetthorpe stand was deemed unsafe and demolished in the first alteration to the ground since the 1930s.
1985/86 was the first of two successive relegation seasons for City that saw them drop out of the league. In the February, Peter Daniel’s goal secured a point in a game which saw a last appearance for City by goalkeeper Stuart Naylor and a first for new left back Bobby Mitchell.
Further alterations to the ground were then necessary when mining subsidence caused much of the Popular Side terracing to be removed. With the Rossington End also reduced in size the ground’s capacity for a time was drastically reduced to under 5,000. After City returned to the league in 1988 the longest run of consecutive meetings between the two clubs ensued, starting with a goal by Bob Cumming to give City a 1-0 win in April 1989 as Doncaster, at a low ebb, avoided relegation by one place. Another 1-0 win came just under a year later, Gordon Hobson becoming the only City player to score a total of four goals on the ground.
The scoreline was reversed the following season as City struggled under the managership of Allan Clarke. However, in November 1991 with Steve Thompson now in charge the Imps ran up their biggest ever score on the ground, five different players scoring in a 5-1 win. Two of the scorers, Matt Carmichael and Kevin Finney were on the mark again the following season in a 3-0 League Cup First Round first leg win but the league game a month later ended goalless. The next three meetings on the ground also failed to produce a City goal, with the game in January 1994 seeing a 1-0 defeat in a poor performance during Keith Alexander’s first spell as manager.
1994/95 saw two meetings, with another 1-0 defeat in what was by then known as the Auto Windscreens Shield in front of the lowest crowd ever to see City play at Belle Vue – just 1,481. The league game four months later saw a 3-0 deficit which turned out to be City’s last defeat there.
Doncaster endured difficult times on and off the field in the 1990s and in June 1995 extensive damage to the main stand was caused by a fire. Nine months later the club’s chairman Ken Richardson was arrested and subsequently found guilty of conspiracy to commit arson. Sentenced to four years imprisonment it transpired that he had apparently hoped to pay off the club’s debts with insurance money.
From 1995 until the ground’s closure Belle Vue was also the home of the Doncaster Dragons rugby league side.
After a traumatic start to the 1995/96 season for City John Beck was in charge by the time of City’s next game at Belle Vue with its main stand repaired after the fire. A last-minute penalty from Jason Minett earned a draw as City battled to escape the threat of another relegation out of the league. Under Beck the upturn in results continued with a goal for Gareth Ainsworth and two for Colin Alcide in a 3-1 win the following October in front of 1,913 spectators, the lowest attendance for a City league match on the ground. The following season another goal for Alcide and strikes from Phil Stant, Lee Thorpe and Jae Martin in a 4-2 win helped condemn Doncaster to a spell in the Conference and saw City exit the division in the other direction.
After five seasons in non-league football Doncaster returned to what by then was called Division Three for the 2003/04 season. During the summer of 2003 the ground capacity was raised to around 11,500 with the Town End terracing made safe and executive boxes formed out of portacabins added behind it with the Rossington End also extended and updated. The ground was also controversially renamed the Earth Stadium as part of a sponsorship deal with Rotherham based finance company Earth Finance.
With Doncaster on their way to the championship of the division City’s last ever game at Belle Vue saw a creditable 2-0 win on January 23rd 2004 with Gary Taylor-Fletcher becoming the last City player to score on the ground to add to an own goal.
In October 2005 construction started of a new 15,000 all-seater community stadium complex which was to be named the Keepmoat Stadium, and the last ever game at Belle Vue took place on 23rd December 2006 with a 1-0 win for Rovers against Nottingham Forest in League One. The following February a gas explosion in the empty stadium obliterated more than half of the main stand and following this demolition of the ground was speeded up. For some time afterwards areas of terrace were still identifiable with part of the pitch remaining but now the whole area has now been redeveloped as a housing estate.
Top of the scoring charts for City on the ground for City was Gordon Hobson with four goals. Colin Alcide in second place with three was also one of four players to score in successive games, the others being Derek Bell, Matt Carmichael and Kevin Finney. Other players to score two goals in two games were Bob Gibson and Peter Graham while those with two in one game were Allan Hall, Willy Windle, Jock Dodds, Jim Grummett, Percy Freeman and John Ward.
Lincoln City played a total of 54 league and cup games at Belle Vue with the quite good record for away matches of avoiding defeat in the majority of them, with 17 wins and 15 draws against 22 losses. Goals scored totalled 67 with 80 conceded.
I remember being at the game in 1990 when Gordon Hobson scored for a 1-0 win. Chucked it down with rain all game and being stood on an open terrace was not fun – but the win made it a great night!
I was at the same match too! I thought Belle Vue was an inappropriate name for the ground as it was one of the ugliest ones I had been to apart from Halifax’s The Shay (The Shite) ?
I was there too, probably one of the worst nights for rain and wind I remember one of us had an umbrella to help keep off the worst of it
I got to quite a few games at the new ground as have friends who watch. I think the new ground is the style we would go for if we did go new, and I hope we don’t. It is nice enough but very much like every other small modern ground with lots of concrete blocks about.
I remember the 97/98 game for all the wrong reasons. I agreed to go with a work colleague (a Donny supporter) and we were to meet before the game at Blythe Services. He was late and we got into the Rossington End ten minutes into the game by which time the Imps were already 2 goals to the good. The rest of the game was a bit of an anti-climax frankly as to my mind, Lincoln didn’t play all that well, for all that we won 4 – 2. Rovers had a striker called Prince Moncreiff and I wanted to sing his name to Adam and the Ants tune Prince Charming but no one around me got it. How sad am I?
I remember going to the City Ground Nottingham to see the Imps become the first team to lose a League Cup tie on Penalties in 1976. The opposition – Doncaster Rovers. Both legs finished 1-1 and the third game 2-2 on neutral ground.