A Second half Camback
My first trip to The Abbey Stadium, so I brought mini Jeff to show him another piece of Lincoln history. For it was here that our one time great, Lord Beck of Jamesons and friend of HM Customs and Excise, learnt his trade in football management.
The first half can be referred to in a simple way.
"A load of sh*te"
Cambridge showed brutally, with the help of some interesting officiating, how to take apart at team who aren't a physical team anymore. A team who want to play. They did it with ease, and if it had not been for the crossbar and a couple of other pieces of poor finishing, it would have been over before the end of the first half. I must mention, no, single out Harry Anderson as being the only player to come out of the first half with any credit whatsoever. Every other player looked like they'd been enjoying too much egg nog and Granny's favourite sherry trifle.
Fortunately half time came and mini Jeff wolfed down his chips.
The second half started with a bit more oomph and frustration grew with the time passing. Anderson looked unplayable. If we want to keep our chance of promotion going forward, we really need to keep hold of him, at least until the summer.
Then a free kick, from Neal Eardley, to beat Shackell's tub thumper. Think back to 2001 at Old Trafford, when a Mr Beckham hit the sweetest drive to beat the despairing dive of the Greek keeper. This was up there...in fact this was better. It had more bend, spin and curve on it than Peter Mandleson, Alistair Campbell and Shane Warne could muster between them.
With pomp and circumstance duly regained, Lincoln pressed for the second. And it came. A beautiful, pin point header from Matt Ree-yad (as pronounced by the Announcer at the stadium) Akinde managed to turn and scuff the ball home from 4 yards. The crowd went wild and the Cambridge United fans were quieter than when someone farts in a crowded lift.
The backs to the wall job then started as Cambridge put all their punters in one basket and desperate tackles and blocks came to the fore. Grant Smith showed why he is an exemplary keeper and I thought his saves and dominance in the box showed that he has been very unlucky to be Vickers' number two. He has improved exponentially since the start of the season, and I imagine the Cowleys rue their decision to effectively cup tie him.
Lincoln held firm and with ten mins of added time completed, that was that. Another smash and grab completed, however given how poor we played in large parts of the first 55 mins, I would say that this was by far one of our more audacious ones.
We go on. Fifty points now, but we must not rest on our laurels. We need to keep our key players and sign some more. As a final addendum I thought Ree-yad and Akinde played well together, but Anderson was a class apart.
Happy New Year one and all!!