Aston Villa Next; Mansfield Take On More Ex-Imps

13th July 2008

We thought last week was a quiet week at Sincil Bank; this week has been even worse!

Events were not helped on Friday when Lincoln City's first pre-season friendly, scheduled at Harrogate Town, was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. All eyes are now focused on Lincoln City's next friendly: the prestigious match at home to Aston Villa on Tuesday evening. This will be the first time that supporters will be able to judge new signings Aaron Brown, Rob Burch, David Graham, Janos Kovacs, Stefan Oakes and Frank Sinclair.

Aston Villa are expected to field a strong side as they prepare for European football later this month.

Meanwhile, Mansfield Town have signed two former Lincoln City players as Mansfield try to rebuild ahead of their debut season in the Conference. The two players in question are Michael Blackwood and Adie Moses.

Imps' fans might have trouble recalling Blackwood but he signed after he impressed as a trialist for Lincoln City FC in their 3-0 victory at neighbours Lincoln United in July 2004. Blackwood became a free agent following the unfortunate demise of Telford United FC, hence no fee was involved.

A left-sided utility player, he can play anywhere on the left, i.e. left-back, midfield or more usually as a striker. Lincoln succeeded in beating off competition from then newly relegated League One club Walsall, who had also given Blackwood a trial.

Blackwood began his career as a trainee at Aston Villa in August 1998 but left in June 2000 without making an appearance. During his time at Aston Villa, he made 9 appearances on loan at Chester City, scoring 2 goals. After leaving Villa, he signed for Wrexham where he made 50 appearances and scored 2 goals in his two-years at the Welsh club.

In September 2002 he joined Conference club Stevenage on a free transfer where he went on to make 21 appearances and scored 2 goals before leaving to join Halesowen Town for a brief two-month stint in March 2003. The summer of 2003 saw him sign for Conference club Telford United where he became a regular in their side by playing 42 matches during his one and only season at Telford. One of those appearances was as a late substitute in Telford's LDV Trophy first round tie at Lincoln, which City won 3-1. Overall, he scored 5 goals for Telford before events off the pitch forced him to look for a new club.

Blackwood became an instant first team regular at Lincoln until he sustained an injury during his sixth game for the club. The injury kept him sidelined for several months and upon his return, he was unable to reclaim his starting place. In May 2005, Lincoln and Blackwood agreed a severance deal and he joined Kidderminster in July 2005.

Moses is a more familiar figure having played at Lincoln City last season. He began his career as a trainee at Barnsley in July 1993. His stay at Barnsley incorporated their dramatic rise to the Premiership, where they became everyone's second team. However, they would not survive in the Premiership and in fact, came close to liquidation as they further slipped through the Championship to League One.

Moses left Barnsley in December 2000 in a £225,000 transfer to Huddersfield Town. Overall, he made 181 appearances for Barnsley and scored three goals.

It was while he was at Huddersfield that injuries began to interrupt his career. He made 78 appearances for Huddersfield between December 2000 to July 2003 before leaving Huddersfield on a free transfer. During his time at Huddersfield, he worked alongside both Lincoln City's Director of Football John Deehan, who was then a coach at Huddersfield, and former Imps' defender Nat Brown.

Crewe Alexandra gave Moses the opportunity to play for them in July 2003. Unfortunately, injuries once again curtailed his career and hence this is the reason why he has played just 63 league and cup matches during the three years before signing for Lincoln. Moses was released by Crewe at the end of the 2005/06 season.

Providing that Moses' injury-hit past is behind him, then he should have proved a good signing for Lincoln City FC as he also played twice for the England Under-21 team during his days at Barnsley.

Moses began his Lincoln City career well by scoring a debut goal. However, towards the latter part of the season, he was dropped and faced a battle to win back his place for the 2007/08 season. He did succeed but quickly fell out of favour with new manager Peter Jackson, and was promptly released in June 2008 when his contract expired.

Moses opted to continue playing despite undertaking a journalism course, and opted to join Conference club Mansfield Town in July 2008.

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