By Nathan Jackson
December 28 2005

There is a real sense of deja-vu about Lincoln's away trip to Grimsby Town following boxing day's differing results. Before the meeting last season, City had drawn at home after dominating a game and Grimsby had just won 2-1 away from home. Identical to what happened before last season's game

The match against Boston made me realise something, I hate local derbies, granted there's the bigger crowds, not far to go for the away fans and you can make a day out of the trip, but you can't relax during the match, it's horrible so just when one derby finishes, we've got another one just a short 49 hours and 50 minutes after the last one finished. Oh the joy.

However, the Imps are starting to put together a nice little unbeaten run and there are striking similarities going into this season's away game at Grimsby. Last season, in the games before the meeting at Blundell Park, City had drawn at home after controlling most of the match and Grimsby had just won 2-1 away from home. The exact same thing has happened this season but will those be the only similarities or can City make it 3 wins in 4?

Suspensions are starting to clear up and although Dean Keates has to sit out this one, Scott Kerr returns from his one match ban. Whether this means Keith will revert back to a 4-3-3 or stick with the 5-2-3 that played against Boston. If Keith does decide to revert back to 4-3-3 then Luke Foster should keep his place after having a great game against Boston, this will also likely mean that Beevers will be put back on the bench with only 2 games to go until his likely departure in January. Unfortunatly, Asamoah will more than likely start.

Who I think will start (Right to left)

Marriott

McAuley  Morgan    McCombe  Mayo

Kerr   Brown   Foster

Birch    Logan     Asamoah

 

After 2 relegations in a row and an 18th place finish last season, Grimsby appear to have finally turned the corner and a win against the Imps would see them top spot for at least 24 hours before Wycombe play Orient on Thursday. Grimsby are a rarity in football these days, they have stunning away form but their home form is shockingly poor, having lost 5 of their 11 games, amazing for a 2nd placed team.

A 1-1 draw at home to Oxford started the season off (and that's their only league home draw to date) was followed by an excellent 2-1 away win at Bristol Rovers. However, they failed to build on this result when Darlington beat them at Blundell Park the following Saturday by a 1-0 scoreline. However, they did eliminate Derby from the Carling Cup following a 1-0 win at Pride Park and that was a turning point as just 4 days later, they won at Barnet by the same scoreline and a few days after that came a 2-0 win at home to Rushden. However, Stockport visited Blundell Park 4 days left and convincingly beat the Codheads 3-1. However, Grimsby responded fantastically to this with 2 away wins in 4 days, 2-1 at Chester and 1-0 at Peterborough, that confirmed a new club record for consecutive away wins. Torquay then left Blundell Park following a 3-0 defeat but then came the night that most Grimsby fans call their best performance since beating Liverpool at Anfield in 2001.

Tottenham Hotspur visited Blundell Park in the Carling Cup, the game was shown live on Sky and Grimsby controlled the game against a near-full strength Spurs team. It appeared to be heading to extra time until Kalala struck in the 87th minute to give the men from Cleethorpes a well deserved victory.

However, just like the previous Carling Cup game, this proved to be a turning point and a 1-1 draw at Boston was viewed as a major disappointment. However, they soon forgot about this result and thrashed Notts County 4-0. Another disappointing draw came at Shrewsbury where neither team broke the deadlock before Wycombe beat Grimsby at Blundell Park in a top of the table clash. However, just like last season, Grimsby went to Cheltenham and battered them, winning by a comfortable 3-0 margin. However, Grimsby soon found themselves eliminated from LDV Vans after losing on penalties to Morecambe.

In another top of the table clash, Orient took all 3 points from Blundell Park before Alan Shearer's elbow came along to the coast. Shearer did give Newcastle a 1-0 win but then went on to cry like a baby about how Justin Whittle had elbowed him, so what Alan? You've done it your entire career. The quote that I found amusing was when Shearer said about Whittle, "he's not a great player". That's funny Alan because in his career, he's won more than you have, you've only won 1 trophy in your career Alan, even players like Marcus Richardson have won more things that that. Grow up you big over-rated baby.

Anyway, back to Grimsby, after Shearer picked up his rattle, Town made a trip to Northampton again came away with a 0-0 draw. The FA Cup 1st Round brought Bristol Rovers and the visitors left Blundell Park with a ticket to the next round after a 2-1 victory. A win did finally come Town's way though when lowly Macclesfield Town lost 3-1 at costa-del-Grimsby, however, the Mariners lost by the same score at Wycombe.

However, Grimsby had kept up with the top of the table despite not having the best form and they travelled to the Kassam Stadium and much like Lincoln, left with 3 points after a single goal victory, however, it was exciting 3-2 game rather than a dull 1-0. They followed this up by thrashing Rochdale 4-1 at Blundell Park before Bristol Rovers made the trip to Grimsby again, this time in the league and again, Rovers left with the spoils after a 1-0 win. Grimsby's last game was a 2-1 win at Bury on boxing day.