Is There Hope?

8th November 2007

A few days ago, The Forgotten Imp wrote, rather optimistically, that it was possible to gain a draw against Chesterfield on Tuesday evening - how wrong we were!

The match ended as 2-4 home defeat for Lincoln, and unfortunately, the score line did not deceive to flatter!

New manager Peter Jackson opted for a 4-3-3 formation with experienced duo of Gary Croft and Adie Moses included in the Imps' defence. Unfortunately, the defence were awol on several occasions, although we are not blaming anyone as such, as this was a team disaster.

There were, however, some good points from this match. One of the few saw a good performance from Dany N'Guessan, who scored a 44th minute goal to provoke hopes of a Lincoln comeback. Alas, Lincoln were already 3-0 down via a first half hat-trick from Chesterfield's Jack Lester. Imps' right-back Paul Green would comment after the match that his team "showed too much respect to Lester" i.e. they were in awe of him. If that was the case then there seems little hope of beating Nottingham Forest on Saturday when the two clubs meet in a FA Cup tie at Sincil Bank.

One change at least will have to be made for the Forest match as Imps' loanee Hamza Bencherif is not allowed to play against his parent club Nottingham Forest. In our opinion, Jackson should make several other changes to his starting line-up, perhaps bringing back Jamie Forrester and Ben Wright into attack. We would also be tempted to give youth teamer Danny Hone a first senior start, with a view to him starting in Lincoln's next league match.

Jackson, after the Chesterfield match, said that he saw enough during the game to give him hope that Lincoln can pull clear of the relegation zone. Many supporters will probably disagree, but there were some moments of positive play from The Imps. The scoring of two goals - Bancherif scored Lincoln's second consolation goal - is a considerable improvement as Lincoln have looked unlikely to score at all during certain games this season.

Another positive was the second half display of Lee Frecklington who showed some neat touches and moments of skill to suggest that could soon recapture his form of last season.

So is there hope?

The answer is yes! However, a long winter could be ahead unless Lincoln start believing in themselves and begin to cut out silly mistakes, particularly in defence. While promotion is a non-starter, The Imps should have sufficient resources to turn this season around and finish in the middle to top lower half of the table.

Up The Imps!!

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