2009/10 – Imps 2-1 Chesterfield
The 2009 Boxing Day date at the Bank was huge, and as in 1995, we were struggling. Still, before the football, there was a funny Poacher story to tell.
A film crew had contacted me in the weeks leading up to the match about the possibility of them filming me for a project of some sort. It seemed a guy wanted a chance to be a mascot, and wondered what I could teach him. I offered him a place in Mrs Poacher’s suit, and he responded by asking if he could come to my house and film a bit of an interview. Of course, I said yes, and so at 9 am on 26th December a bloke (Ant) and his girlfriend turned up on my doorstep. We went to the ground together, and they followed me for my usual pre-match routine. We had a few beers and then migrated into the stands to meet the usual faces. It was agreed that we wouldn’t go out at half time, and that they could film me during the game. Ant also asked if he could wire him and me for sound so they could get our internal mascot audio for their filming. I obviously said yes.
We got out on the pitch and I kept giving him some tips. As Alan Long said hello to the fans, I called Ant over and told him a story about how the situation with Chesterfield’s miners used to be used in songs against them, something I remembered well from the late eighties. I sang the song to him, too, expletive and all. The idea was to try and express that football fans had no boundaries and that they were happy to take a contentious issue, such as the miners’ strike and use it in an abusive manner; it wasn’t my intention to sing it at them. I noted that Alan looked a tad surprised. Anyway, we continued, and as I went around, my beer-fuelled language got more colourful over the headsets. I had a lift to the game, so I’d enjoyed more than two pints in the bar, and I was reverting to swearing as a form of expression.
The teams came out, and as I got closer to the tunnel, I noticed that I could hear feedback…. I turned to Ant to ask what the fuck was going on and clearly heard myself over the tannoy system (which is quite an achievement given the tannoy system at City).
It appears that we were using the same frequency as the system, and some of my comments had been audible across the ground. Most people hadn’t heard exactly what was being said, but Rob Noble had, and he wasn’t too happy. I apologised profusely for causing embarrassment but also smiled wryly, knowing I had another good anecdote to write about.
Come 90 minutes, I didn’t care though, because we had won 2-1. How did we do it? That’s a great question that I still can’t answer!
This wasn’t a classic Lincoln side by any means. We’d won just two league fixtures since early September, and aside from a couple of wins in the FA Cup, we were awful. I thought we’d be going down at the end of the season; that’s how bad it was. We were third from the bottom, just two points ahead of Grimsby. Chesterfield were fifth, just four points outside the top three. They had current Wales manager Robert Page in their side, as well as Kevin Austin, Mark Crossley and a certain Jack Lester, who seemingly scored more goals against Lincoln than any player I’ve ever known.
As for us, we lined up Rob Burch, Paul Green, Joe Heath, Adan Watts, Cian Hughton, Nathan Baker, Stefan Oakes, Scott Kerr, Chris Herd, Brian Gilmour and Delroy Facey, with Paul Musselwhite, Moses Swaibu, Shane Clarke, Chris Fagan, Lenny John-Lewis, Jamie Clarke and Michael Gordon on the bench.
From nowhere, City started brightly. A Stefan Oakes free kick drew a good save from Crossley, and Chris Herd fired wide after his spectacular goal a week earlier against Rochdale. Then, on 25 minutes, the unthinkable happened – City scored. Not only that, but Cian Hughton scored it with a header from close range after Facey’s cross. Hughton was one of the smallest players on the field and he’d given us a lead. Could we hold onto it?
No, we’d do better than that – we doubled it.
It was Facey who bagged, having previously been the provider. Oakes, having one of his best games in a City shirt, crossed from the left with orange-peeler accuracy, and Facey nodded home from 12 yards out. Both goals were in front of the Stacey West fans, then populated by Imps fans starved of any real joy. It seemed that was about to change.
With a two-goal lead, we set about defending, and it wasn’t easy. Page and Small troubled our goal before Lester hit the bar with a header right on the stroke of half time. The Spireites were in the ascendancy and continued in that vein after the restart. Drew Talbot came on and put an effort wide before drawing a save from Burch just past the hour. We shrank further and further back as they pushed on, hunting the goal that would give them hope.
Finally, it came moments after Facey had a good chance to put the game beyond doubt. In front of the Stacey West end, Scott Boden bagged it again, volleying home a loose ball from just six yards out. We went up again, this time hunting a goal from a corner, but Oakes’ delivery saw Facey foul Crossley. He launched the ball forward, and moments later, Adam Watts fouled Talbot in the area. The referee had no choice – a penalty to the visitors.
Up stepped Jack Lester, usually deadly from 12 yards. It was a heart-in-mouth moment, and if our luck was anything to go by, it would nestle in the onion bag within moments. Lester strode up to the ball, and I turned away, as I always do for penalties. A roar went up, but not from Chesterfield fans; Lester struck the ball hard – too hard – and it flew up and over the goal into the Stacey West stand. City were saved!
The game finished 2-1, and it sparked a little run for us; we won the next two league matches against Barnet and Bradford. Those nine points were crucial – we finished just six points clear of relegated Grimsby, whilst Chesterfield finished eighth, two points outside the play-offs.
