Three wins in a row!

Lincoln city recorded their third win in a row in little over a week on Saturday by beating Tamworth by four goals to nil at Sincil Bank in front of 2,213 fans, of which 143 had travelled from Tamworth and must surely have been disappointed to see their side play so poorly throughout.

Lincoln lined up with Peter Bore returning to the right side of midfield following his injury that caused him to miss the previous fixture away to Hayes and Yeading, he replaced Francis Laurent who didn’t make the bench. Ricahrd Pacquette was also picked ahead of McCammon who also failed to make the bench despite starting the previous match. Nialle Rodney was named on the bench despite not figuring in the match day squad for a number of games now.

The match started closely with little passing or play from either team until the seventh minute when Lincoln took the lead through the returning winger Bore touched home a cross that had bounced from Gowling to Louis before landing at his feet just eight yards out. This goal seemed to set the Imps on their way and they never really looked back following this opening goal as the final scoreline suggests.

There was a change in attack for the Imps after only 21 minutes with Richard Pacquette suffering what appeared to be a muscle injury, he was replaced by Jamie Taylor, himself sadly suffering from various through out this season, he will be very keen to get a decent run of matches until the end of the season to show the fans and the management what he may be capable of next season should he be kept on.

The second goal came from a Tom Miller long throw in the 30th minute of the match. His throw was not dealt with by Tamworth keeper Jonathan Hedge and Danny Thomas divert the ball into his own net under pressure from Bore. The Imps were finally showing the home fans a much needed good performance. And at half time the score was 2-0 to the Imps and it was a very comfortable one as well.

The second half kicked off with Danny Lloyd replacing Peter Bore, likely a precaution following his recent injury problems that have caused him to miss a few games. Lloyd played down the left causing Sheridan to switch to the right flank as the second half got under way.

Only minutes into the half the Imps were awarded a penalty. Yet again a Miller long throw caused problems for the Tamworth defence as a lose ball played to Gowling caused him to lose his marker before he was hacked down by Charlie Collins. for me it was a stone wall penalty. Alan Power stepped up and smashed the ball straight down the middle to make it 3-0 and effectively game over as a contest.

The fourth and final goal came eight minutes from time, another own goal for Thomas. This time it was caused by a brilliant counter attack from the Imps with Power charging down the right crossing theball towards Lloyd who was completely free down the left. His cross was intercepted by Thomas who could only manage to turn it into his won net and confounded a terrible day for Tamworth. Lincoln made a late change with only five minutes to go with Rodney replacing Sheridan on the wing.

The final whistle blew and the Imps were greeted by cheers and applause form the fans who have waited along time to see so many goals in a match not going in the wrong end. Tom Miller was named as man of the match by the sponsors and for once I fully agree with them. The stats after the game show that we only had one shot on target and only one shot off target. This is due to penalties, for some reason unbeknownst to me, are not counted as shots. And own goals are not recorded as anything on target or off target, as a defender can’t shoot at his own goal.

A great week for the Imps all round. In the space of seven days the side has picked up nine points and moved to 17th in the table with a five point cushion over the relegation places. I think we can all agree that things are definitely looking up and who knows, if we continue to win games maybe the fans will come around to Holdsworth as manager for next season.

We play again tomorrow night at home to Cambridge, this is set to be a much sterner test but we can go into this full of confidence and goals.