By Nathan Jackson
December 26 2010

February was a month where the Imps had eight games, meaning a perfect chance to move away from the relegation zone, however, just one win in those eight games proved to be the case, although the end of the month did see the arrival of Leeds' Davide Somma, a man who's goals saved Lincoln towards the end of the season.

Much like January, February started with several players joining and leaving the club. Steven Lennon joined on loan from Rangers. Aaron Brown had his contract mutually terminated and Chris Fagan left on loan to Jerez Industrial CF. Matt Saunders and Michael Uwezu also returned to Fulham.

With eight games in February, it was going to be an excellent chance for the Imps to gain a lot of points very quickly. The first game of which was a rearranged fixture against Hereford United, but the Imps won’t feel the travelling was worth the trip after a double from Gavin McCallum gave Hereford all three points. It was a performance that convinced Chris Sutton to sign him for the Imps in the summer of 2010, although his first team appearances at Sincil Bank have been limited.

City’s last ever trip to Chesterfield’s Saltergate was also a pointless affair as Martin Gritton’s Chesterfield comfortably beat the Imps. Dominic Green and Barry Conlon scored goals for the hosts and it should have been more before Moses Swaibu pulled a goal back in the 65^th minute, but City rarely looked like equalising against the hosts and it was a third defeat in a row for the Imps.

Richard Butcher left on loan to Macclesfield just as City were travelling up to Darlington. The Imps were very poor and a mistake from Burch saw him beaten from nearly 40 yards from a shot along the ground. It appeared as though Darlington were holding out for a win to continue their increasingly good form, but their time wasting proved to be a mistake as in the 7^th minute of added on time, Danny Hone popped up to score an equaliser for the Imps.

Games were coming thick and fast for the Imps, but City’s continuing run of defeats at Rotherham didn’t end as despite Steven Lennon getting his first goal for the 10-man Imps following Moses Swaibu getting sent off, goals from Adam Le Fondre and Gary Roberts secured the points for Rotherham. It was thankfully the last time that Jarnail Singh ever refereed a game, but more interestingly there was Drewe Broughton on the bench for Rotherham and it wouldn’t be long before he was back at Sincil Bank, three days infact.

Drewe joined the Imps to much trepidation from Lincoln fans, most of whom were fully aware of his career that had a considerable lack of goals. He joined on the same day as Matthew Saunders, whom returned from Fulham, and both played later on in the same night as Accrington made the trip to Sincil Bank.

It was a poor match between the Imps and Accrington. Bobby Grant gave the visitors the lead in a game where City appeared down and out, however, Lennon equalised seven minutes from time following a good passing move. The game appeared to be heading for a draw before a 91^st minute shot from Ian Pearce was converted into an own goal by Darren Kempson, meaning the Accrington Stanley defender had scored the winning goal in both matches between the side during the season.

The win over Accrington papered over the cracks though and the next game would be massive, Grimsby away. The Imps travelled up to face the Mariners knowing that if they avoided defeat, Lincoln would be the team that would secure Grimsby their record run without a win, 23 games. Thing started well for the Imps with Chris Herd scoring in the first five minutes, but a double from Lee Peacock either side of half time gave Grimsby the lead.

Lincoln were seemingly doing their typical thing of losing against poor teams that hadn’t won in a long time, however, the Imps were given a VERY soft penalty. Brian Gilmour stepped up and fortunately hit in the rebound after his initial effort was saved. Chris Herd put the ball in the net a few minutes later but was adjudged to be offside. Adam Watts also broke his leg in this game, but overall the Imps had enjoyed a good day, not losing to Grimsby is often a decent feeling.

City were in poor form though and one of the last side you’d want to face in a run of bad form is Port Vale, and so it turned out to be the case. To say City got off to a poor start at Vale Park would be an understatement. Ian Pearce scored an own goal after just 20 seconds (although Rob Burch’s lack of communication certainly didn’t help matters). Robert Taylor made it 2-0 after three minutes before Chris Herd handballed the ball in the area after five minutes, thankfully Burch saved the penalty to prevent the Imps being 3-0 down after 5 minutes......it would take until the 15^th minute for that to happen as Davies gave City their worst start to a game since before even Chris Ashton failed to remember on the coach. McCombe made it four in the second half.

With City desperately needing goals, Chris Sutton tried his luck in the transfer market towards the end of the month and the result came in the form of Davide Somma (right) from Leeds. Much like most of Sutton’s strikers, Somma arrived at the club with a very poor scoring record, having only scored four goals in his career up until that point.

He made his debut a few days later at Crewe Alexandra and his inclusion broke a club record, becoming the 25^th Lincoln debutant during the 2009/10 season, beating 1946/7’s 24. It was a memorable day for the South African as he scored a spectacular goal in the second half in a game the Imps dominated, however, in true Lincoln style, dominating a game didn’t result in three points as Crewe’s Miller scored with one of Crewe’s few efforts on goal.

A Year in Review : February 2010

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 26/12/2010 23:51

theimps.ka
26/12/2010 23:51

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