February
After conceding four goals at Brighton another four were conceded in the next match which brought Northampton Town to Sincil Bank. However, the Imps came out on top in a remarkable game which produced the rare score-line of 5-4.
Of the four clubs which had gained promotion from the Fourth Division the previous season the Imps had so far come off the best in the higher division while Tranmere Rovers were currently similarly placed in mid-table. Reading, after a good start had slid down the table to be involved in a relegation battle while Northampton, who had run City close to the title had surprisingly struggled throughout, seldom rising out of the bottom four since the early days of the season. Although coming to Sincil Bank in 23rd place they had however won their last two games.
Brendan Guest returned to the side with Ian Branfoot required to fill in for Terry Cooper who was left out of the side by Taylor due to what the manager called a lack of “the necessary motivation”. In front of another sub-6,000 crowd City held a half time lead as Phil Hubbard notched two goals for the second home game in a row. Sam Ellis headed in a free-kick to extend the lead soon after the break before Northampton pulled a goal back through Billy Best. Peter Graham and Northampton defender Stuart Robertson then moved the score-line on to 4-2. Prior to Robertson’s goal with City well in front the opportunity was taken to give 17-year-old striker Glenn Cockerill his league debut, coming off the bench in place of John Ward. Graham got his second goal with 20 minutes to play, but with Best completing a hat-trick for the Cobblers in the 87th and 88th minutes City had a nervous few moments at the end of the game.
More newspaper rumours put Graham Taylor on the shortlist for the manager’s job at First Division Newcastle United which had recently become vacant but the manager’s response was “I am under contract to Lincoln City and know no more about this than the paper’s readers.”
The weather then took a hand yet again with another postponement robbing me of a trip to the Potteries to see City take on Port Vale, so the next game saw the visit to Sincil Bank the following Tuesday night of Mansfield Town in a fixture rearranged from New Year’s Day.
The game was notable for being the first night match played under the new £9,500 floodlights that had been installed at Sincil Bank although they had been switched on in the dusk in the second half of the Northampton match. They had been paid for by the Supporters Club as had the original lights which, dating from 1962, had been sold to Spalding United. The original set had formed a complete array at the top of each of the four pylons, but the new ones had larger lamps and eight were formed into a V formation on each pylon. It was immediately obvious they were much brighter – in fact lighting up the surrounding streets – although oddly the corners of the pitch seemed rather shadowy.
Mansfield were going well, placed second in the table and on a run of eight wins and a draw in their last nine games. The attendance was swelled to over 9,000 by a large number of travelling supporters, including those who often gave me a lift to City’s games with the Stags. For once – and it didn’t happen very often – I was the happier on the way back to Nottingham.
Terry Cooper evidently was motivated again and returned to the side in an otherwise unchanged side which didn’t get off to a great start as Mansfield took the lead after just ten minutes. However, Brendan Guest celebrated the news that he had been selected to play for the England Youth side by scoring his first ever league goal 15 minutes later. The Imps then took control and went ahead when an unmarked Cooper headed in a free kick and made it 3-1 when Peter Graham scored midway through the second half. Kevin Bird’s 88th minute goal came too late for the visitors as Lincoln held out for two points which saw them remain firmly in mid-table.
A mystery to me now is why I didn’t make the trip to York the following Saturday – but it certainly wasn’t for the same reason as Brendan Guest who was away with the England Youth squad. This meant a return to the side for Ian Branfoot with the only other change being Percy Freeman returning after a suspension for accumulated penalty points to replace Glenn Cockerill on the bench. Despite looking the better side in poor playing conditions City found themselves two goals down at the interval, but John Ward pulled a goal back just after the hour and a late own goal earned City a point.
The 2-2 score-line was repeated the following Saturday at Swindon, and I was notching up quite a few new grounds this season as I made the journey to the County Ground. City took an early lead through Alan Harding before the home side equalised, then Percy Freeman who had replaced Peter Graham in the starting line-up restored the lead early in the second half with what turned out to be his last ever goal for the Imps. Swindon equalised again for a result which kept the Imps solidly in twelfth place but having played fewer games than any other side in the division.
March
The outstanding fixtures now began to be fitted in, starting with the Wednesday night visit of fifth-placed Crystal Palace which drew a higher attendance than for the original abandoned game at the beginning of December, with over 8,000 being present. An unchanged City side looked outclassed by the visitors in the first half and were 2-0 down soon after the interval. However, the Imps raised their game and goals from John Ward and Peter Graham, on in place of Percy Freeman saw them level ten minutes later, and another ten minutes after that Dave Smith scored what proved to be the winner.
Rather disappointingly, the attendance was down by over a thousand the following Saturday for the visit of admittedly less glamorous opposition in the shape of Chesterfield, but those who stayed away missed a repeat of the midweek scoreline. John Fleming came into the side in place of Phil Hubbard who had played the last two matches with a broken toe, and it was Peter Graham, now back in the starting line-up who gave City an early lead. However, Chesterfield equalised within minutes and took the lead midway through the half. A Sam Ellis penalty soon after the break brought the Imps level and Graham’s third goal in two games right at the end won a match which could have gone either way. An interesting sequel was that Graham Taylor fined himself £20 for going onto the pitch to remonstrate with one of his own players during a tense few moments just before Graham’s winner.
Another rearranged game was the following Tuesday night with a visit to Rotherham and I was able to get to Millmoor thanks to a lift from the person I went to Burnley with earlier in the year. Percy Freeman returned in place of Peter Graham who had received an injury against Chesterfield as Glenn Cockerill got another chance on the bench after scoring 14 goals in 15 youth and reserve matches. Rotherham’s best attendance of the season so far, just over 10,000, turned out to see the home side on a run of four wins in a row proved to be just too good for the Imps in a 1-0 win. The Imps fell behind to a goal from Rotherham’s leading scorer Alan Crawford just before half time and seldom looked like finding an equaliser, although a good impression was created by Cockerill in the last fifteen minutes as the 17-year-old substitute set up City’s best chance of the game for Alan Harding to have a shot saved near the post.
The next game also promised to be a tough one with a visit to Sheffield Wednesday, a side that had been on the fringes of the promotion race all season after narrowly avoiding relegation to the fourth tier for the first time in their history the previous season. Peter Graham was fit to return, but with John Ward joining Percy Freeman on the injured list, rather than risk the inexperienced Glenn Cockerill the fit-again Phil Hubbard partnered Graham in attack.
After falling behind to an early goal from Wednesday the Imps equalised just before the break, as Sam Ellis performed what was likened in one press report to a Cruyff turn before crashing a shot against the bar which was turned home by Hubbard. In fact, against his old club, Ellis turned in what was arguably his best-ever performance in a City shirt – at least the best I ever saw him play. Standing on the big old Hillsborough Kop, it seemed that whenever a high ball came into the City area, ‘Super Sam’ was always there to head it away.
Another rearranged game came the following Tuesday as they continued to come thick and fast – in fact, including the Easter games City were forced to play twice a week for the remainder of the season. Portsmouth were the visitors for a game which despite City’s good run of home wins drew the lowest attendance of the season, just 4,648 turning up as there seemed to be a feeling among some supporters that there was now little chance of a promotion challenge – although it’s fair to say some freezing weather was also a factor. In fact, after the maximum points gained from the last two home matches had seen the Imps finally rise to tenth from the twelfth place they had seemingly been rooted in, the single point gained from the two trips to South Yorkshire had done no more than keep them there. A 2-1 win over a struggling Pompey side did mean a further rise of one place to ninth and kept alive the thought that if games in hand could be won the season wasn’t over yet. An unchanged side were a goal down at half time, but a goal direct from a corner by Dennis Booth drew City level with just over an hour gone and Phil Hubbard, playing up front again, hit the winner a dozen minutes later.
The Portsmouth game had been played on a Tuesday as City had one of their scheduled Friday night games the same week, and either on the back of beating Portsmouth or possibly because people, faced with two games in four days elected to choose the one against high-riding opposition the attendance was much improved. Unfortunately, the 7,000-plus crowd were disappointed this time with a draw as Phil Hubbard’s third goal in three games quickly equalised an early strike from Wrexham’s Mel Sutton. John Ward was fit to resume his place in attack with Hubbard reverting to the right, but missed chances prevented City from drawing closer to the promotion places although the three points in a week had lifted them to eighth. However, they were back down to tenth again after the following Monday night’s visit to Port Vale.
With Terry Cooper injured against Wrexham Ian Branfoot took his place in central defence at Vale Park with a return to the side for Brendan Guest. Graham Taylor had elected to leave the young full back out of the side during his involvement with the England Youth squad which had meant him being absent from Sincil Bank for several days at a time. Percy Freeman was fit again to be included on the bench, coming on for the last 12 minutes or so, but City seemed almost mentally tired, going down 1-0 to a poor side. Writing in the Sports Echo the following Saturday, Maurice Burton rated it as probably the worst performance by a City side for over two years, and considered the result probably put an end to any lingering promotion hopes.
Almost as if in response to Burton’s comments results then took an upturn again, although the visit of Gillingham the following Saturday didn’t seem promising with the news that Dave Smith, in good form of late, had received a one match suspension for accumulated penalty points. Rather than bring in John Fleming, Taylor instead moved Phil Neale into midfield and brought Dennis Leigh in at left back for his start since August. With the manager also electing to allow Brendan Guest to resume his involvement with the England Youth squad Ian Branfoot reverted to full back, and with Terry Cooper still injured gave a league debut to 19-year-old youth product Dean Crombie who after initially being released and playing Lincolnshire League and local football had returned to sign professional forms two months previously.
As if people were agreeing with Maurice Burton’s comments even before they had read them the attendance was down to just over the 5,000 mark to see an opposition side almost as poor as by all accounts Port Vale had been. This time, though City took advantage, dominating the game after taking the lead in the first half through Peter Graham. Dennis Leigh gleefully put the Imps 2-0 up with his first-ever goal for the club and two goals for John Ward gave the Imps a very comfortable win.
The 4-0 win over Gillingham had lifted City up one place in the table to ninth again but a draw with Chester the following Tuesday night did no more than keep them there. The visit of the mid-table side saw a rise of only a few hundred on the previous Saturday’s attendance at Sincil Bank as the return of Dave Smith saw Phil Neale revert to full back, on the right this time in place of Ian Branfoot as Dean Crombie retained his place in the side. The Imps fell behind early on and although putting pressure on Chester in the remainder of the first half were still trailing at the break. The deficit was doubled early in the second half but two goals in a minute from Peter Graham levelled the scores until Chester re-took the lead with seven minutes to go. But soon afterwards John Ward atoned for several earlier missed chances when his header was dropped over the line by Chester goalkeeper Gren Millington.