Busy Week Ends On A High

1st March 2008

It has been a busy newsweek over at Sincil Bank.

First, Lincoln City FC's manager Peter Jackson has been awarded the League Two Manager Of The Month for February. The award comes after Jackson guided Lincoln to five wins from their six matches of February. A modest Jackson was delighted to receive the award but reminded everyone that it was a team effort that has lifted Lincoln City away from the bottom two relegation places.

The award will also be a huge boost to Jackson ahead of his cancer battle, which begins in earnest next week when he starts his treatment.

It has been a relative busy week on the transfer front as Lincoln have allowed two to depart while another has arrived. Departing Lincoln is midfielder Jamie Hand who has joined Conference club Oxford United on loan. In his place, Lincoln have signed Scunthorpe United's midfielder Alex Morfaw on a month's loan. Morfaw is a Cameroon Under-23 international and looks to be a good signing on paper.

Hand's departure is initially for one month, but Oxford have the option to extend the loan until the end of the season. Oxford are enthusiastic over his signing, so it could be that Hand will turn his loan move into a permanent one during the summer, as Hand has been told that he does not have a future at Lincoln City.

Also departing Lincoln City is defender Phil Watt, who has had his contract terminated by mutual consent, just over a month after he was placed on the transfer list.

Perhaps the best transfer news of the week is a story about who is not leaving Sincil Bank; for midfielder Lee Frecklington has agreed a two-year contract extension that keeps him at Lincoln City until June 2011 unless of course, another club buys him off us. That is the most likely outcome, as personally, we cannot see the very talented Frecklington remaining at Lincoln until 2011 but it will now have to be a substantial bid to take Frecklington away. Earlier this year, Lincoln turned down a reported bid of £250,000 for Frecklington from Peterborough United. Now that Frecklington is under contract until 2011, it is expected that he will only leave for an amount that breaks our record transfer fee received figure.

Unfortunately, Frecklington is currently sidelined with an ankle injury and therefore did not feature in Lincoln's 1-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday afternoon. There was only an unused substitute's role for Morfaw, as promising youngster Shane Clarke kept his place in the midfield.

Lincoln had the best of the first half and created several opportunities that should really had led to goals. Almost predictably, Wycombe began to create their own chances and started to look dangerous as the first half drew to a close. That said, Imps' goalkeeper Alan Marriott was untroubled throughout.

The start to the second half was even affair, as both sides created chances. Lincoln probably had the best when Lee Beevers headed wide in the 59th minute from a corner. Seven minutes later, Lincoln did indeed break the deadlock when Louis Dodds curled home from 25-yards out to give Lincoln a lead to defend. To The Imps' credit, they opted to attack rather than merely defending their lead. From then on, the only side that looked like scoring was Lincoln but again, worringly, they did not take their chances. This led to a nervous finish as Lincoln's supporters crossed everything in the hope that final whistle would quickly arrive.

Overall, a good performance and the ideal way to send Jackson off on his enforced break. We wish him all best for treatment and hope that he makes a speedy recovery.

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