Svarc was cup-tied for the drawn visit to Chester which resulted in a dramatic replay at Sincil Bank in front of over 9,000. With Phil Hubbard replacing the injured Taylor, the Imps took the lead through Kearns who then had to be substituted before a rare penalty miss by Peden. City were then up against it when goalkeeper John Kennedy fractured his elbow just before half time, leaving City to play the rest of the match with ten men and Jim Grummett in goal. But some valiant defending was crowned with a late winner by Dave Smith and as Ron Gray said of the team in his programme notes for the next game, “sheer determination, guts and ability got them through”, paying a special tribute to Grummett: “Oh! What a brave and stout heart this lad has!”
Soon nicknamed ‘Sparky’ by supporters unable to cope with his Czech surname there was a goal for the new striker on his home debut against Bradford City. Meanwhile, although Dave Tennant had done well deputising for Kennedy for two games Gray moved to sign former Arsenal and Northern Ireland goalkeeper Jack McClelland on loan from Fulham.
With City up to second place the highest league attendance for over eight years turned out on Boxing Day, but the majority of the 12,208 went away disappointed as a slip by Ray Harford on the frozen surface let Port Vale’s Graham Newton in for the only goal of the match.
Attention then returned to the FA Cup and a Third Round visit to Birmingham City. The Imps were not disgraced, turning in a fine performance despite losing 2-1 with Jim Smith scoring his only goal for the club, and as Ron Gray said, “Our boys certainly scared the pants off them”. In the days when the FA Cup had a lot more glamour than it does now the attendance for a team in the lower half of the Second Division playing one from the lowest tier was over 31,000, a figure not to be exceeded for any Lincoln City match until the 2003 play-off final.
Back in league action, there were successive attendances of over 9,000 as the fans continued to turn out to support the promotion push, but crowds began to fall off steadily as a 3-2 win against Exeter City was the only success in a run of twelve games that including eight draws and saw a decline to eighth place. What did not help was that prior to the Exeter game Gray had done a bit of transfer business that in hindsight arguably cost City their chance of promotion. First, a rather unwilling Norman Corner was sold to Bradford City for £5,000, perhaps in view of his tally for the season of only six goals in 35 games. His replacement was the former ‘golden boy’ of English football, Alick Jeffrey, whose promise as a teenager in the 1950s had been wrecked by injury. Now aged 30, he had somewhat surprisingly been given a free transfer by Doncaster Rovers manager Lawrie McMenemy despite being leading scorer at the time with 13 goals from 29 games.
An innovation during the run of poor results was the visit of Scunthorpe being chosen for Anglia Television’s weekend highlights programme. Phil Hubbard, now playing up front, getting City’s goal in a 2-1 defeat.
In March midfielder Graham Parker was transferred to Exeter City for a small fee after making just five appearances for City mostly as a deputy for Jim Smith. Having failed to find the net in eight games Bobby Svarc now found himself out of the side with Jack Lewis brought back as City’s problems up front continued. There was also a reappearance for one game of Lewis Thom and defender Tom Brooks coming into the side for the first time in the season as Grummett was deployed in midfield and up front in successive games.
A new signing was Scottish midfielder Don Kerrigan on loan from Fulham, a 27-year-old with plenty of previous experience at the top level in his home country. More changes made saw Dave Tennant return in goal and reserves top scorer Rod Fletcher finally given a chance in the first team in the absence of the injured Jeffrey.
A win finally came as Fletcher made it two goals in two games and Darlington were beaten 2-1 to move City above their visitors into seventh place to keep them in touch with a promotion place. Fletcher then missed out to Svarc and Jeffrey for two games, including a 5-0 reverse at Swansea, before returning to the side and scoring seven goals in a run of five games which brought nine points (two points for a win). With a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Workington ‘Hot Rod’s’ goals, born from a willingness to chase everything, cheered the remainder of the season but despite maximum points from the three Easter games keeping the Imps in with an outside chance of a top four finish a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Wrexham in the penultimate game of the season put paid to any lingering hopes.
City finally finished in eighth place, and while it was the highest league finish since relegation to the Fourth Division seven years previously there was a definite sense of disappointment that a promotion challenge had not been sustained. Although Graham Taylor had missed the last third of the season due to injury only 52 goals had been conceded, but with only 54 scored it emphasised the lack of goals from the strikers with left winger Dave Smith finishing as top scorer with a total of only eleven, two more than Rod Fletcher who just missed out on being top scorer for both the reserve and first teams.
Champions of the division were Doncaster Rovers ahead of Halifax Town and Rochdale, plus Bradford City who had risen from a position in mid-table following their acquisition of Norman Corner. ‘Big Norm’s’ presence and eight goals assisting the Valley Paraders to an unbeaten run of 19 games. In contrast, bottom of the table for the second year in a row and with things beginning to look ominous for them were the other Bradford club from Park Avenue.
League champions for the first time were Leeds United and Manchester City were the FA Cup winners, beating a Leicester side that included later Imps player Graham Cross and manager Allan Clarke. A League Cup Final shock saw Third Division side Swindon Town beat Arsenal, while in their first season following promotion to the Yorkshire League First Division Lincoln United finished a respectable 10th.
I went to all home games that season and it was great to feel optimistic after so many poor years. I think the Workington program was the match which we won 3-1 and had the ball in the net another four times but they were disallowed. Workington keeper did one of the best saves that I ever saw at Sincil Bank. Parker was a waste of money.
great memories , I went to a few games with a school mate on the train from Coningsby.
just had time to get sports Echo before train home left.
Great read as ever, and powerful memories, my first season as an Imps supporter, switching from Spurs to the Imps on the basis of moving to Lincoln and being top of the league, the significance of that being after one game was lost on my 10 year old self!
First game was the Boxing Day 1-0 loss v Vale, truly hooked by the atmosphere despite the scoreline; next a birthday treat (0-0 in the fog v Rochdale) finally goals in my third game, the 4-1 thrashing of Workington, Rod Fletcher’s hat-trick and my first proper Imps hero.