Lincoln City played host to Blue Square Premier’s big spenders, Fleetwood Town, on a seasonally overcast Friday evening. Sincil Bank was unusually busy from an earlier hour than normal – and the presence of Premier TV vehicles and cameras only further added to the gathering fans’ excitement – many of them hoping that a 3-1 win against Alfreton Town in their previous game might be a sign of better things to come. However things did not start smoothly from the off – the visiting team bus was caught up in Friday traffic, meaning that kick-off was delayed by fifteen minutes.
When the action finally commenced, Lincoln, under caretaker boss Grant Brown, looked to be a completely rejuvenated defensive force –some stunning rearguard action from Danny Hone in particular – ensured that the scores remained level in the opening exchanges. However the best form of defence is attack, and the Imps went close several times in the first half – most notable was a fierce piledriver of a shot from lively Irishman, Alan Power, which almost caught Fleetwood stopper Scott Davies flatfooted.
As the first half looked to end goalless, there was a worried murmur amongst the seasoned Imps as to how many chances were going to waste. One veteran fan commenting that: “bossing the midfield like this is hopeless when we don’t have any sort of finisher to get on the end of things”. However they soon had something to cheer about when midfielder Josh O’Keefe opened up the scoring with a neat, cushioned header. However, the imps could only hold onto their lead briefly in the second half, Fleetwood soon drew level thanks to a shot on the rebound from Ryan Jackson. As soon as the equaliser went in heads began to drop around the ‘bank and Fleetwood inevitably got themselves back on track the command the latter part of the game and finish with a 3-1 victory.