By Nathan Jackson
February 27 2011

Lincoln City have a quickfire chance to regain some pride after losing to lowly Barnet when they host Oxford on Tuesday evening. City have an awful record on Tuesday nights recently and won't have an easy side against an Oxford side aiming for a second straight promotion.

To say that Lincoln City don't have a good record on Tuesday evenings in the last year would be an understatement. City's last win on a Tuesday at Sincil Bank came over a year ago, but to be honest the bad record on Tuesday nights at Sincil Bank goes back even further.

Since the beginning of the 2007/8 season, City have played a total of 17 matches on a Tuesday night at Sincil Bank, only six haven't ended with a City defeat and City haven't even averaged a goal a game, whereas the goals have been flowing at the other end with an average of two goals against conceded each game.

It's not a good record to say the last and is in danger of continuing against an Oxford side who have done well since coming back up from the non-League.

City's form isn't brilliant going into the game, after initially winning five in a row, the Imps have now picked up just four points from the last five games, including a bad 4-2 defeat to Barnet at the weekend. What's worse is that the Imps aren't even playing well, the passing accuracy has gone seriously downhill to say the last and neither striker is getting good service these days and because the old signs of poor defending are returning, this could potentially spell trouble is things don't improve soon.

After two defeats in a row, there may be some changed to the regular starting XI and the player who will feel most under threat is Julian Kelly. The loanee has been one of the main causes of all the goals against in recent weeks and with Paul Green waiting in the wings, the injury-prone defender would certainly fancy his chances of replacing the man from Reading.

Elsewhere, Scott Spencer and Mustapha Carayol are primed for a potential starting place. Spencer has barely seen any action since joining over a month ago, whereas Carayol has been only coming off of the bench in recent weeks. Despite deserving his chance, you would be surprised if Tilson stopped using his first choice partnership of Facey and Grimes for the first time since before Christmas.

THE LIKELY CITY STARTING XI
	Carson couldn't do much about any of the goals against Barnet due to the shoddy defending that allowed the numerous crosses in from the wings. Looking for his first clean sheet in three.
	It's really strange that we can have a half decent defender on the left side but a completely incompetent one on the right. Out of the two loanee wing backs, Hunt is by far the better of the two.
	If we had a right defender who was capable of defending the right hand side then Watts and Hone would be getting a lot of praise as both are playing reasonably well, but unfortunately Julian Kelly is destroying the chance Watts has to established a reputation.
	See Watts.
	Crap defender who is strangely keeping his place in the first team. His horrendous backpass changed the game against Chesterfield and his effort, or lack there of, of tackling Marshall on Saturday was laughable. If Oxford score, don't be surprised if it comes from his side of the pitch.
	McCallum was a good outlet at Barnet on Saturday and had a goal disallowed in his last appearance at Sincil Bank.
	He's not a right winger and the sooner Tilson realises the better. I noticed quite a few times at Barnet that he likes to run forward, but he is always the last player to return to his general area of the pitch, even to the point where Grimes and Facey are already back in their normal position.
	Josh O'Keefe, the only thing rarer than him making an impact is him being dropped. O'Keefe has scored some good goals this season but other than that you'd struggle to find a game where he made a true impact....and yet he never seems to get dropped.
	Following the poor performances of Ali Fuseini, it wouldn't be a big surprise to him dropped, Howell moved into the centre and Carayol put on the right hand wing.
	It says it all about Grimes that he doesn't seem to do a lot for most of the game before setting one up, scoring and then missing a penalty. The former Swindon man hasn't performed overly well in recent weeks but has constantly been getting the goals and is well on the way to making it to 20 goals for the season.
	With Scott Spencer desperate to face his old club Southend in a few weeks, Facey should be on the look over his shoulder given that downturn in form over recent weeks. His poor form has coincided with City's sudden change from a winning side to a team that has only won 1 of the last 5.

The sides haven't meant since December 2005 and at the time they were one of the sides City seemingly had an easy time of beating. The sides faced each other for five seasons from when Oxford came into the division in 2001 before getting relegated in 2006, the meetings were often controversial.

It was a pretty dull affair at Sincil Bank in the 2001/2 season. Neither side had really done enough to win the game as it entered added on time, however, a Lee Thorpe goal in the 91st minute won the game....but it didn't end there. Within a minute Thorpe tangled with Wayne Hatswell to kick off a 22 man brawl in which both Thorpe and Hatswell were sent off.....but it doesn't end there. A minute later Martin Thomas elbowed Alan Marriott to earn himself a red card.

It wasn't long before Ian Atkins was in charge at Oxford and they enjoyed a good run of results against City, winning four matches in a row against the Imps but playing against Ian Atkins' Oxford was horrible. Up until the point they scored they were excellent, but as soon as they scored, even if it was as early as the 5th minute, all they would do is time waste and sit behind the ball for the rest of the game. However, City did get revenge on the final day of the 2002/3 season.

The two sides had the best defences in the division and the final day saw City face Torquay and Oxford host York. A point would guarantee the Imps a place in the Playoffs, but a defeat would leave the door wide open for Oxford and York, who were both just behind the Imps. An City defeat meant that all Oxford would have to do to get in the Playoffs was win....Oxford did there bit and won 2-0 and with five minutes to go it was them heading into the Playoffs, however, a deflected Simon Yeo shot equalised for the Imps and the reports indicate that the party atmosphere at the Kassam suddenly died when they heard we had equalised.....I've always said that seeing that moment would have been one of the strangest experiences I'd ever have seen.

Oxford got the quick revenge though and beat City on the opening day of the next season. The return trip after New Year resulted in a 0-0 draw that was celebrate like a win by the Imps and it's been a tale of Imps dominance against the U's since then. It started with the away game of the 2004/5 season when the Imps produced one of the most one-sided 1-0 wins you'll ever see. City had four goals disallowed in the first half alone, Francis Green scored just before half time before Sandwith hit the bar from 35 yards and Carruthers hit the post from close range.

By this point Oxford were already on their downward slide and despite coming to Sincil Bank that season with the Manager of the Month award, Ramon Diaz left Lincoln with a 3-0 defeat thanks to goals two goals from Yeo and one from Taylor-Fletcher. 2005/6 saw the Sincil Bank game end 10-a-side and City came from a goal down to secure the first three points of the season.....it was also Derek Asamoah's first goal for the Imps. The last meeting came on a Friday night before Christmas as loanee Richard Logan scored what would turn out to be his last goal for the Imps in a 1-0 win at the Kassam.

The clubs haven't shared a large amount of players over the last eleven years, but all but one have been at Lincoln before they were at Oxford. The only player to have been at Oxford first was Jude Stirling, who was released by Oxford and secured himself a contract at Sincil Bank after a trial....the less said about his performances in a Lincoln shirt, the better. Marvin Robinson, Kevin Sandwith, Luke Foster, Ryan Semple and Ben Futcher have also both played for both.

Former United players Anthony Tonkin, Nigel Jemson, Djoumin Sangare and Simon Heslop have all had trials at Lincoln over the past eleven years. Jemson and Heslop weren't given deals but Tonkin was offered a contract, but instead decided to go to Forest Green Rovers.

Oxford were generally the proverbial Jekyll and Hyde in their spell in League Two. After surprisingly going down in the 2005/6 season, Oxford initially did very well in their first year before falling away and finishing in the Playoffs, losing to Exeter in the semi finals. Two also-ran seasons followed before last seasons' Playoff winning campaign.

I went to their Playoff Final against York City and there was only ever going to be one winner really. York had a lot of possession but Oxford took their chances well. Despite coming up at Conference Playoff Winners, a position that usually yields a team who adapts to League football better, they weren't fancied by many to go up.

Despite the doubters, Oxford are currently challenging for a second successive promotion and they have made a very solid return to the Football League, although it did start slowly with just three points from their first four League games. Inconsistency followed before a win at Chesterfield kick started a run of seven wins in nine games.

Their recent form has been less impressive with just two wins in the last seven outings, although they did comfortably win their last away game 3-0 and they have kept three clean sheets in their last five games.

Looking at Oxford's squad and it has a lot of potential. It's a side that includes Alife Potter, Mitchell Cole, Jack Midson and several other of the Blue Square Premier's best players of the last few years. They are also managed by former Lincoln player Chris Wilder.

Can Imps end evening Sincil Bank hoodoo against Oxford?

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 28/02/2011 23:22

theimps.ka
28/02/2011 23:22

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