September
Despite making the long journey to Portsmouth, I was still unable to get to midweek games at Sincil Bank due to the continued lack of any train in the Newark direction after 8.30 pm, so I was unable to be present for the first home game of the season. For the second season in a row, the Imps were now faced with two games against Hull City in the first round of the League Cup, but with the positions reversed from a year ago as the Tigers were now the Fourth Division team and City in the Third.
With Trevor Peake suffering from ankle ligament trouble, Gerard Creane took his place as the only change as although Phil Turner had played an hour in the previous night’s reserve match – the 3-0 win over Mansfield being described by Colin Murphy as the best performance by a reserve side he had seen in his time with Lincoln – the young midfielder was only considered fit enough for a place on the bench.
Former Imps midfielder Dennis Booth said beforehand that he didn’t think the Imps were as good as they were in the previous season and maintained that the Hull side, in which he turned out at left back, was better than they had been then. Alongside Booth in the Tigers’ defence were two future City players, Bobby McNeil and Steve Richards, and it was the big centre-back Richards who gave away a first-half penalty converted by George Shipley. After the break, City were dominant, with Echo reporter Maurice Burton particularly enthusiastic about young David Gilbert on the left wing (“shades of Dave Smith”). Glenn Cockerill created goals for Gordon Hobson and Tony Cunningham to give City a commanding 3-0 lead going into the second leg.
The following Saturday saw the first home league game of the season, and for the visit of Fulham, the attendance was up by around six hundred to just over four thousand. This might not seem a very high figure, but as the eighties progressed, attendance figures throughout football showed a steady decline. As it was, the attendance was higher than for the last game of the previous season and compared well to the last time City had achieved promotion to the Third Division when a similar comparison shows a more than 50% drop in numbers.
The match programme for this season continued in the two-year cycle of the past few years with a price increase – of no less than 50% – but with four extra pages for our extra 10p. There was also a reintroduction of a lucky programme scheme, not with a number but if you found Colin Murphy’s autograph in your copy, you could win one of three prizes ranging from a stand ticket for a home match to a pocket camera worth £35.
With Trevor Peake still unfit Gerard Creane continued in his place in an unchanged lineup from midweek as City found it hard going in the first half and fell behind soon after the break to a goal from Fulham’s skilful midfielder John Beck. However, City fought back with young Gilbert starring on the left wing and threw men forward in the last quarter of an hour after Phil Turner came on in place of Creane. The pressure paid off when Gordon Hobson was brought down for George Shipley to score a second penalty in two games.
Something of an injury crisis continued with Trevor Peake still out of action and Steve Thompson’s shin trouble found to be due to a stress fracture which would keep him out of action for some time. In addition, young reserve goalkeeper Stuart Naylor had suffered a broken arm which saw the arrival on a month’s contract of 31-year-old Phil Tingay who had been released in the summer by Chesterfield. The first team squad though was boosted by the return of Phil Neale from cricket, and he was on the subs’ bench for the following Saturday’s visit to Plymouth. Trevor Peake might have been expected to return for this match but he aggravated his ankle injury in a midweek game against a touring Australian under-19 team and it had to be put in plaster. Phil Turner was now fit to start and rather surprisingly played in the middle of the defence with Gerard Creane left out altogether as City returned from the West Country with their first-ever three-point haul. In front of Plymouth’s lowest attendance since the war, a first goal for David Gilbert and a first since his return to the club by Glenn Cockerill saw a comfortable 2-0 win for the Imps.
Joining the club on a week’s trial from Ledbury Town of the West Midlands League, the club from whom City had signed goalkeeper Kevin Rose two years earlier, was 23-year-old attacking player Errington Kelly. However, after appearing for the reserves he was not kept on and joined Bristol Rovers shortly afterwards. It was to be the middle of the following season before he was back at City again.
It was now time for the second leg of the Hull City League Cup tie and Phil Turner was missing again due to an ankle injury suffered against Plymouth. This meant a return to the side for Gerard Creane with Phil Neale again on the subs’ bench. The Hull manager Mike Smith had said an early goal would be vital, but he was not reckoning on it being scored by City through David Carr. Although the home side equalised later in the half City played well within themselves to win through 4-1 on aggregate.
With Trevor Peake, Steve Thompson, and now Phil Turner all in plaster, City were struggling to fill the centre-half berth.19-year-old Gerard Creane, although trying hard, was proving to be not really up to the mark for Third Division football, and with David McVay seemingly not being considered for that position, Colin Murphy brought in an experienced player on loan. This was 27-year-old Lindsay Smith, who had made over 200 appearances for Colchester United before joining Cambridge United, playing around 150 games for them, mostly in the second tier, including being a regular starter in the previous season when he had been voted Player of the Year by the supporters. The loanee went straight into the side in place of Creane as the only change for the visit of Carlisle United, who included not only future Imps goalkeeper Trevor Swinburne in their side but also a 20-year-old attacking player called Peter Beardsley. However, the future England star was unable to provide any spark to a mediocre 0-0 draw, which Maurice Burton suggested was the worst match seen since the last time City were in the Third Division.
Slightly worrying news for Imps fans was that Cardiff City were said to be interested in tempting Colin Murphy to become their new manager on a salary of £25,000 a year. This was despite an agreement by clubs supposedly in force at the time not to poach each other’s managers. However, nothing more was heard of this for a time and City now welcomed Millwall to Sincil Bank for the first time in 17 years.
Despite the disappointing game the previous Saturday, the attendance for the visit of Millwall was up by around 300 to a little under 4,000, but this may have been due to a larger contingent of visiting supporters. Further injury woes came with Glenn Cockerill being absent due to a leg injury received against Carlisle. Phil Neale took his place in midfield with Derek Bell coming into the squad on the bench – where he remained throughout to the disquiet of Maurice Burton when he considered that main strikers Gordon Hobson and Tony Cunningham had yet to muster a goal between them in the five league matches so far. The only goal of the game came in the 36th minute from Millwall, who included recent £90,000 signing Sam Allardyce in defence, and although City battled hard after the break, they were unable to force an equaliser.
The following Saturday saw another meeting with some opponents of the past as City paid a visit to Bristol Rovers’ Eastville ground for the first time since 1960. Derek Bell again remained on the bench with Glenn Cockerill still missing, Murphy stuck with an unchanged line-up. His faith was justified as goals in each half from Tony Cunningham and Steve Cammack saw the Imps through to a 2-0 win to make it three games unbeaten away from home. This run came to an end, however, in the following midweek trip to Walsall. Before the match, Colin Murphy made what, in relation to the Imps, was possibly the first example of a comment that has since become almost a cliché: “If we had drawn at Bristol and drawn again tonight, we would have been delighted to take two points from two difficult matches. By winning at Bristol, we have already picked up three, and in that respect, anything we get tonight will be an extra bonus.”
Unfortunately, there was to be no such bonus for the Imps as although Glenn Cockerill was fit enough to be on the bench in place of Derek Bell the Imps went down to a 2-1 defeat. Tony Cunningham’s second goal in two games gave City a first-half lead and made him top scorer for the season so far with three, but the second half saw an equaliser from Walsall’s player/manager Alan Buckley. The Imps looked good for a point until seven minutes from the end when an error by the usually-reliable David Felgate allowed Walsall striker Don Penn to put the ball into an empty net.