A Defensive Mystery?

11th September 2007

So here we are, almost in mid-September, which begs the question: "where has 2007 gone?"

Another mystery is where has Lincoln City's defence gone? After writing on here three weeks ago, that Lincoln City had two winnable games against Accrington Stanley and Dagenham & Redbridge, The Imps had to spoil it by losing to Dagenham.

It was a frustrating time in Essex for Lincoln's fans, as it probably was for Lincoln City's players. They looked fairly comfortable at 0-0, although their attacking options were short on the ground. Unfortunately, an 88th minute free-kick was conceded by Dany N'Gussan's enthusiasm, which gifted Dagenham a goal; the ball was played into the penalty area where Dagenham's Paul Benson rose highest to head the ball in the net.

This was a shame for Lincoln, not least because they lost a point, but a clean sheet would have given the defence a much needed confidence boost. A day earlier, the transfer window closed without Lincoln signing a new defender or indeed any player. Their hopes of signing central defender Ashley Westwood from Chester City vanished as he opted to join League One club Port Vale.

So on to Friday 7th September when Lincoln City FC entertained Bradford City FC. This was the first league meeting between the two clubs since the tragedy of the Bradford fire disaster in May 1985.

It began with a minute's silence, which was impeccably observed by both sets of supporters. Indeed, all the proceedings prior to the first half were very well organised by the club.

With that in mind - as the football took secondary place - a draw would have been a fair result. Unfortunately, it was Bradford who came away with all three points.

Lincoln opened the scoring midway through the first half when Louis Dodds' shot was adjudged to have crossed the line. The officials deemed it a goal, although, as it happened quickly, few were probably really sure that it was.

Ten minutes after Lincoln took the lead they were pegged back when Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu scored for Bradford. It was a poor goal to concede and again raised immediate questions over Lincoln's defence.

With just over ten minutes of second half remaining, Bradford broke on the counter-attack and promptly scored. This was another poor goal to give away as Bradford's two forwards outstripped the Lincoln defence. Ryan Amoo, playing at right-back, was given the criticism by a section of fans. Unfortunately, it seems that Amoo could become the new Paul Mayo, in that any mistakes that he does make will be vilified by a small section of fans.

Next on Lincoln's fixture list is a tough looking trip to leaders Darlington. Don't you just know that Imps' summer transfer target Jullian Joachim is destined to score against us!

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