The ‘one appearance wonders’ Ben Coker looks set to join in Imps history

Darren Horrigan

Former Birmingham City youth keeper who spent four years as an understudy to Alan Marriott without dislodging him from the team. Made one appearance as a sub replacing Marriott at half time as we went down 1-0 at home to Southend in March 2002.

After the Imps Horrigan drifted around the non-league circuit for a bit before working for builder’s merchant Jewson as a roofing advisor.

Richard Kell

The former Scunthorpe defender played just once for Lincoln, as a late substitute in a 2-2 draw at Accrington. He replaced Ryan Amoo. That’s literally all I can really tell you about Richard Kell. Possibly the most obscure player included in the book. 10 minutes of football, that means I’ve written more words than he spent minutes on the pitch. Let’s move on, shall we?

Taylor Miles

Taylor Miles is a former West Ham youth who followed Danny and Nicky Cowley from Concord Rangers to Braintree and then from Braintree to Lincoln. We didn’t see enough of him to make a proper judgement, but he was billed as a ball-playing midfielder with a wicked set-piece.

He picked up a broken ankle on the opening day of the 2016/17 season against Woking and didn’t feature again for City, leaving at the end of the season.

Kern Miller

A young defender who only made one appearance for City, as an 83rd-minute sub for Janos Kovacs. Much was hoped for the youngster but before he broke into the first team, he was snapped up by Barnsley. Never made the grade and was last seen playing for Stamford Town where he headed a goal in as they toppled National League side Wrexham in a 2016/17 FA Cup 4th Qualifying replay win.

Paul Musselwhite

Musselwhite signed as a player-goalkeeping coach for Peter Jackson and survived both him and Chris Sutton. He became assistant-caretaker manager to Scott Lindsey following Chris Sutton’s resignation but played just once at 41-years old a 1–0 defeat at Southend United, following an injury to Joe Anyon.

Musselwhite was a cult figure at Lincoln and had his own terrace song ‘we all dream of a team of Musselwhites’. However, after relegation, a new contract offer from Lincoln was entirely dependent on Joe Anyon leaving the club, so Musselwhite opted to sign for Conference Premier club York City, again as a player-goalkeeping coach.

Grant Pinkey

A former trainee who made just one brief appearance for City in the 4-0 FA Cup 1st round match with Bracknell Town in 2001. That equates to just four minutes of football, or half the time it took me to research and write this entry. I’ve now spent more time writing about Grant Pinkney’s Lincoln City playing career than he spent actually playing in it.

Rick Ranshaw

Sleaford-born Ranshaw played once for City, coming on for just two minutes to replace the injured Bobby Cumming against Hartlepool in August 1988. Oddly, a year later another one-appearance wonder also played on the opening day, Nicky Anderson.

Dave Regis

London-born Dave Regis is both the younger brother of Cyrille Regis and the uncle of Jason Roberts. He appeared for 11 different clubs in the Football League, making a total of 180 starts. His City career was as brief as it could be with one substitute appearance in our 5-1 defeat at Peterborough United in 1997.

Tom Shaw

Youth team boss Tom Shaw had a reasonable career playing for the likes of Cambridge, Alfreton and Chester. He has one Imps’ appearance to his name, that coming in the Checkatrade Trophy defeat against Accrington Stanley last season.

Curtis Thompson

Thompson played just two minutes of our 2-0 defeat away at Cambridge United in October of 2011. He was drafted in by caretaker manager Grant Brown, but David Holdsworth opted to terminate his loan almost immediately on his arrival as manager. Has gone on to make over 50 appearances for Notts County, and appear in League One this season for Wycombe.

Reece Thompson

Reece Thompson was a former YTS player for City given his one and only chance by Tinkerman Holdsworth as we slipped out of the FA Trophy to Carshalton. He left for Retford eventually climbing into league football with York City via Frickley Athletic.

Thompson was troubled by demons and was jailed in 2019 for attacking his girlfriend with an iron bar.

Tom Wilkinson

Former YTS player Wilkinson made just one appearance for City as a 61st-minute sub for Francis Green in a 1-0 away defeat against Carlisle. Unfortunately, a broken leg ended his career before it started at the age of 21, and he was released in the summer of 2007.

He graduated from York St John University in November 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy, after his studies were funded by the Professional Footballers’ Association as part of their programme of post-career training for current and former professional footballers and academy players. He still lives in Lincoln and works as a physiotherapist at the County Hospital.