By Nathan Jackson
April 16 2006

We may be just 1 point off the playoffs but we might as well be sitting 22nd after today's disgustingly abysmal performance. Lee Frecklington's late goal rescued a point for the Imps that was very undeserved as the Imps tried to throw away and remote chance of the Imps reaching the playoffs.

Firstly, I apologise for me not writting a match report but if most of the players can't be bothered to put in the effort then why should I be bothered to put in the effort to write about their half arsed effort? For the official match report, go http://www.redimps.premiumtv.co.uk/page/FirstTeamReport/0,,10440~29371,00.html for the official match report.

Right, let's get started, I'm not going to beat around the bush, that is by far the worst "performance" we've had since the Buckley days, it was truly abysmal and only a clown would try and tell you that we have a chance of going up. Hoof is definatly the name of the game at Sincil Bank again and after playing decent football during the middle of the season, it's irritating that we've gone back to a tactic that doesn't work anymore.

The thing that baffles me the most is that neither of our leading goalscorers made an appearance. Gary Birch, our leading goalscorer and leading assists doesn't even make the bench and Marvin Robinson, arguably our best finisher and our most in form striker is relegated to the stands. Who does Keith pick instead? Francis Green, a striker who has a serious attitude problem and quite frankly, if he hasn't been offered a new contract, I'll be delighted because he is utter rubbish. In the past 2 and a bit years, all he has done is waste chance after chance after chance and then continued to blame it on other players. It's frustrating that he seems to have a guaranteed starting place these days because he definatly isn't earning it.

Then we have Martin Gritton who must be odds on favourite to go down as the biggest waste of money in the history of this club. I've seen all the games that Gritton has played for this club and it was no coincedence that the only time he's been semi-convincing is when his was playing a bunch of teenagers from Sheffield last week.

I never leave a game before the full time whistle but today I was tempted to leave after 60 minutes, it was really that bad and the only positive that I can think of is that for the first time all season, we were the shit team who scored a late equaliser. There was also no great coincedence that the goal came from one of the few players who gave a crap.

Yet again, the defence was crap and there can be very few excuses this week because that was arguably our strongest defence. The Bury goal was a complete joke, the scorer had 5 players around him and not a single on made a tackle, NOT ONE SINGLE PLAYER MADE THE EFFORT TO TRY AND STOP THE PLAYER FROM HAVING A SHOT. The defence is the reason why we aren't comfortably in the playoffs already. Everyone says the attack isn't scoring enough goals, if you look at the goals scored, you'd notice that we've scored a relatively similar amount as the previous seasons, however, with 4 games to go, this defence has already conceeded more goals than in any of the previous 3 seasons and yet they never seem to get the blame.

I was saying back at the beginning of the season that we wouldn't make the playoffs and I've been saying it all season. One fan on another message board said that I hadn't been saying to all season but all you have to do is look at all the match reactions. We aren't good enough to make the playoffs and unfortunatly, the players are determined to prove me right. Everyone can argue that we're just a point off the playoffs but who in all honesty can see us winning them? If the previous 3 squads, who were all better than what we have now couldn't do it, then this squad has no chance.

I'm going to make this easier on myself, Lee Beevers, Matt Bloomer,  Jamie McCombe, Jeff Hughes and Lee Frecklington were the only players who cared and all 5 played quite well, they will not feature in the below rants because I feel including them would take away the attention from how crap that virtually everyone else was.

Alan Marriott - 4 - Yet again, he only has to face one shot and guess what happens, yep, you guessed it.

Gareth McAuley - 2 - We all know you don't want to be here but you could at least play like you cared. Have you actually heard of the word tackle?????

Paul Morgan - 3 - I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt because he's been out for ages but let's face it, he hasn't had a single decent game this season.

Nat Brown - 4 - Anonymous

Scott Kerr - 3 - Any chance that you could actually aim somewhere from your set pieces because they only ever seem to hit the first defender or go over everyone and out for a throw in. Also, it would help if you looked up before passing the ball.

Steve Robinson - 2 - Who remembers when we were excited when his name was announced by the tannoy system at grounds up and down the country, doesn't that seem like an eternity ago? I'm amazed how a player has gone from being so good to being bloody awful. You'd be hard pushed to find a pass of his that ended up as his intended target and he is definatly the weak link in the midfield.

Francis Green - 0 - Your attitude is awful, I'm sorry Francis but you, more than any other player, were guilty of being crap and the most annoying part about it was that you blamed your crap performance on the other players. Do you actually know how to jump? If yes then you are allowed to jump for a ball rather than just standing their moaning that the ball wasn't straight to your head. You are not as good as you think you are and how the hell Keith prefers you over players that are quite frankly better than you is a joke.

Jamie Forrester - 2 - Is this really the same guy that we were all saying was great a few weeks ago? I can't actually recall him doing anything noteworthy and along with Green, he possibly was part of one of the most ineffective striking partnerships that the Imps have ever seen

Martin Gritton - 1 - Won a few headers but other than that, was just his typical self..