By Nathan Jackson
January 2 2006

Following the disappointing home draw with Darlington, the Imps face a tough trip to improving Mansfield Town. Despite not losing against the Stags during Keith's 2nd reign, the Imps will have to be careful that the defence doesn't faulter again and is Yeo due his first start?

If I hadn't been watching all but 2 games in the last 4 years, I'd be surprised at our recent form but the fact that I sit here with a slight ambivelence says it all really. During those 4 years, I have lost count of how many leads we've given away, especially 2 goal leads and even if we've gone on to win the game, it's still not good enough, it says it all about how bad this division is that if City had won on Saturday, we'd currently be 2 points off 7th placed Wrexham and would have possible moved ahead of them before Saturday's visit to the racecourse, however, the typical 2005 match and more importantly, a typical Lincoln City throwaway could finally have ended our season.

However, an interesting game against Mansfield is up on Monday and the Imps usually beat the men from Field Mill, winning 3 of the 4 games since Mansfield returned to this division 2 years ago, however, just like our once proud defensive record, that was then......this is now.

 

One of the worst kept secrets in Lincoln's history became official on New Years Day when Simon Yeo official re-signed for the Imps and it's an almost certain that he will start against Mansfield. The Imps will definatly be without Paul Morgan who is out until March at the earliest. Keith finally had the sense to drop Asamoah to the bench and out of all the strikers, Marvin Robinson will more than likely partner Yeo after breaking his scoreless run against Darlington. The defence should be easy enough to figure out and hopefully, Keith will start Luke Foster and Jeff Hughes (for some strange reason, started upfront), who both had excellent games against Darlington.

Who I think will start (Right to left)

Marriott

McAuley  Cryan    McCombe   Mayo

Kerr    Brown  Mayo

M/Robinson  Yeo   Hughes

It's no coincedence that Mansfield started to collapse after sacking Keith Curle last season and bringing in the worst excuse for a football manager in football league history, Carlton Palmer and Mansfield have been on a downward spiral since and have been in relegation form since the sacking of Curle.

This season saw a Carlton Palmer ran Mansfield side return to the manager's former side, Stockport County on the opening day and despite taking a 2 goal lead, the final score was 2-2 and Stockport were well in control for most of the match apparantly. After having a relatively good home record in recent seasons, Mansfield's first home fixture saw Rushden win 1-0 at Mansfield, however, 4 days later and the men from Field Mill destroyed lowly Torquay, 3-0. However, Mansfield collasped at Peterborough, 2-0. A 3-0 win on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Stoke however provided the Stags with a welcome victory.

However, away form returned to normality when they went away from Boston with a disappointing draw and then a defeat that definatly didn't go down well in Mansfield as Notts County beat the Stags 3-2 at Field Mill and then, Keith Curle showed Mansfield what they were missing as a Chester side full of ex-Mansfield players, beat the Nottinghamshire side 3-1 at the Saunders Hondas Stadium. A 2-2 draw at home to Darlo was followed by yet another defeat, 2-0 at Rochdale however, 3 days later, Mansfield claimed a great win over former Premiership side, Southampton when the Saints lost 1-0 at Field Mill.

This was a mere "breather" and results returned to normality when Wycombe won 3-2 at Field Mill before another disappointing away draw, this time it was a 1-1 draw at Macclesfield before a 3-1 defeat at Orient. However, Mansfield convincingly beat Shrewsbury 4-0 in what is described by a lot of Mansfield fans, as the performance of the season. Unsurprisingly though, this was followed by yet more defeats, a 1-0 defeat at Carlisle and a home defeat to Hereford in the LDV Vans. Another 4-0 home win soon followed though when Barnet visited Field Mill but a game with 5 goals in it went the visitors way as Millwall beat Mansfield 3-2 in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup. However, 2 shock away victories came when Mansfield won 2-0 at Cheltenham and then 4-3 at Rotherham in the FA Cup.

Unsurprisingly though, another convincing away win was seen at a Mansfield game, however, this time is was the visiting team to Field Mill as Bury won 3-0 at Gigg Lane. However, Stockport then lost 2-1 at Field Mill. Then came the FA Cup 2nd Round and Grays Athletic made their way to Field Mill for the televised game and typically, Sky Sports threw their rattle out when the upset didn't happen as Mansfield ran out 3-0 winners with the popular tv channel describing it as a flattering result, they were right, it was very flattering to Grays who should have lost by at least 5 goals.

After a 3 goal home victory, came a 3 goal away defeat as Mansfield lost 4-1 at Wrexham. Just like Rushden had done to Mansfield earlier in the season, the Stags claimed a victory at Nene Park with a 2-1 victory. A disappointing 0-0 draw with Peterborough was followed with a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Sixfields, a ground where Mansfield won twice and scoring 5 times on their way to the playoff final in 2003/4. A exciting 3-3 draw with Bristol Rovers on Wednesday was followed by Saturday's away win at Oxford.