December

 The next game saw City once again renew old acquaintance with one of the ‘big names’ of the division as Crystal Palace had not visited Sincil Bank for over 15 years. Having finished fifth in both of the last two seasons, and currently under the management of Terry Venables they were expected to mount a serious promotion challenge but were only three places above City. They fielded a side including later England full back Kenny Sansom and former Scottish international George Graham. For City, in the absence of Phil Neale, Dennis Leigh came into the side for his first game since August while the return of Alan Harding meant Phil Hubbard dropping to the bench as John Fleming retained his place on the right.

No doubt attracted by the opposition there was an improved attendance of over 7,500 and in icy conditions the Imps had the better of things until Palace took the lead after 26 minutes. With the players sliding about on the frozen surface the referee considered abandoning the match at half time but decided to carry on. However, with the temperature dropping he was finally forced to call the match off due to the dangerous conditions with just over an hour played.

An abandoned match was a new experience for me, and indeed it was the first such at Sincil Bank since the late 1950s, but full of enthusiasm to support City in the Third Division I had invested in a season ticket for the first time so wasn’t out of pocket in terms of match admission.

The FA Cup Second Round draw had produced another home tie and another non-league club, this time from the Southern League Premier Division, which like the Northern Premier League was then one step below the Football League. Nuneaton Borough seemed likely to provide a stronger test than Morecambe had done, lying fourth in their league and having battled through five preliminary and qualifying rounds in the FA Cup before beating Northern League side Crook Town 4-1 away from home in the First Round.

Nuneaton’s side included a number of promising young players, not least their 19-year-old centre half Trevor Peake who in a few years’ time was to be signed by Lincoln City manager Colin Murphy and play a major part in the successful side of the early 1980s. Right back Kirk Stephens was later to have a lengthy spell in the top two divisions with Luton Town while left winger Tim Smithers was to enjoy some success with Oxford United in the Third Division.

For City, Phil Neale returned at left back but there were two surprise team selections which saw Percy Freeman and Ian Branfoot left out of the squad with Peter Graham coming in up front and Brendan Guest given a first team debut a week before his eighteenth birthday. Another change saw Phil Hubbard return to the starting line-up with Fleming on the bench.

One of the best-supported clubs in non-league football at the time Nuneaton had taken over 1,000 supporters to Crook Town and there was no doubt it was a similar presence which boosted the attendance at Sincil Bank to over 7,000.

City took an early lead through Alan Harding with what was surprisingly his first goal of the season, and were two-up at half time thanks to a Sam Ellis penalty. Goals from John Ward and another Ellis penalty ended the contest and two in two minutes from Peter Graham, justifying his selection, wrapped up an easy win for the Imps against a side that were rather out of their depth.

With Brendan Guest having broken through into the first team and another teenage defender in Dean Crombie emerging from the youth team a player departing was David Wiggett. His initial loan move to Hartlepool had been extended to two months and was now made permanent after an improved offer of £3,000 was made by the North East club with whom he had earned a regular place at left back.

The scheduled fixture at Peterborough the following Saturday fell victim to the weather, so the next game was the visit of Grimsby Town on the afternoon of the Christmas Bank Holiday Monday the day after Boxing Day. It was arguably a good time to be playing the Mariners as they had sacked their manager Tommy Casey three weeks previously and were five places below the Imps in seventeenth position.

The attraction of a game with ‘the old enemy’ drew an attendance of well over 11,000 as City fielded the same side that had beaten Nuneaton so convincingly. Grimsby included former Imp Jack Lewis in their side as well as a future Imp in Bob Cumming, then aged 21 and playing in this game at left back. The game should have seen City win more comfortably than 2-0 with Peter Graham’s third goal in two games and one from John Ward which put him in double figures for the season.

City then suffered another abandoned match two days later when an unchanged side were drawing 1-1 at York thanks to a goal from Phil Hubbard before the game was ended after 54 minutes due to a dangerously icy patch in the middle of the field.

So December ended with City having completed just one cup and one league game in the month to end the year in 12^th place.