1984/85 – Freight Rover Trophy

The Associate Member’s Cup saw us play once in 1983/84, against Doncaster, losing 2-0. That has been a pattern of our involvement over the years, early exit which comes with few tears. For many years it was felt that there was only any value in the competition if you got to Wembley, something that we almost did in 1985.

It was more challenging back then, because the draw was regionalised, but you had to win your area final, played over two legs at both team’s grounds before getting to Wembley. It meant that appearing in a semi-final meant you were still two games from Wembley, but it didn’t dampen the dream any.

The games were all packed into early 1985, starting with games home and away against Hartlepool which we won 5-2 on aggregate. Matches, and wins against Darlington (3-1) and York (3-2) brought Wigan Atheltic to Sincil Bank for the second semi-final we had taken part in. The quarter-final game against York City came just three days after we had played them in the league. Battling in the lower reaches of the table, we lost 2-1 there on April 20th, but Ross Jack, Steve Thompson and Gordon Hobson gave us the 3-2 win on the following Tuesday.

Sadly, the Wigan encounter was a damp squib, a disappointment that very much reflected the season. Alan Walker missed out, Steve Collins played in the centre of defence and was to blame for Wigan’s early opener from David Lowe. The Imps had a decent chance to level just before Wigan’s second, Marc North combined with John McGinley to set John Thomas free. He squared it to Hobson, playing the final match of his first stint with the Imps, but Colin Methven touched it away from the striker.

Graham Barrow nodded in Tony Kelly’s free-kick before half time to make it 2-0, before Collins was caught out again on 62 minutes. He was struggling to control a ball and Gary Bennett nipped in to steal and slot past Felgate to kill the tie. Hobson did grab a late consolation, but it would barely have roused the 1782 fans in the ground. Wigan went on to face Mansfield Town in the area final, winning on penalties, before beating Brentford in the final

Writing in the Echo after the game, David Whaley said: “To be fair, it would probably have been a false veil to hide behind had City kept hopes of honours alive in this competition and the club most now examine itself thoroughly if next season is not to be a repeat of this … or worse!” As we know, it got worse.

This game is often forgotten because of the tragic events that occurred three days afterwards at Bradford.