If there's one player who will be determined to prove a point in a Lincoln shirt this season then it's Joe Anyon. The goalkeeper was dropped in the middle of last season and replaced by loanees from Sunderland and Aston Villa, but he has done exceedingly well this season.
Anyon joined the Imps just over a year ago following his release from Port Vale. Early on he didn't make many mistakes but then as time went on he started making a lot of errors, costing several points and the culmination came in a home game against Wycombe Wanderers, in which he developed the nickname "Joke Anyon" from his inability to stop making mistakes.
The following week and Sunderland's Trevor Carson came in and Anyon was cast aside. Carson was comfortably better than Anyon but then, two days before we were due to play Rotherham, Carson went back to Sunderland and in came Elliott Parish, a young goalkeeper from Aston Villa who had never played a single professional minute before coming to the Imps.
By this time Anyon was on loan at Morecambe and whilst he was gone, Elliott Parish was letting shots in left and right, only saving shots that were directly at him. Despite returning with several weeks of the season left, Anyon was left out of the first team and many attribute this to being one of the main reasons the Imps went down.
Anyon's days at Lincoln appeared numbered when Bob Dorrian stated at a fans meeting during the summer that Anyon was on the verge of leaving the club, however, come August 13th he donned the club's gloves for the first time in eight months and since then he has done well, very well infact.
In the opening four games City have only gained four points, but without Anyon it would almost certainly be zero. At Southport on the opening day he made several impressive saves, with the best arguably being readjusting his position in midair to catch a deflected shot. He then saved in a two-on-one situation at Telford on Tuesday evening when the game was at 0-0 and he has arguably been the best player in the team so far.
It may be early days but Anyon is going the right way to restoring a good reputation.
It was a great save at Southport (even if it was one for the cameras) but I would like to see the second one he let in at there. However fair play to him for playing so well so far.
Cheers Keith47424 - Hinckley Imp
theimps.ka Best Newcomer award winner 2007-2008 season.
Agree that he is performing well above expectations. I believe he needs to cover his near post better but he's doing well and I'm happy to have him in the side.
It's very hard to judge how last season would have went had we started Anyon towards the end but I genuinely have a feeling we would have stayed up, just on morale itself.
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