“Winners don’t wait for chances, they take them.” Anon
To be fair I don’t really think I was that bothered about the result. My mind had gone back twenty years to a lively conversation with messrs Howard and Harewood who were keen to explain why they had sold our ground to themselves. They didn’t mention profiteering but they did imply that the average football fan knew nothing about business. Just as well perhaps. Anyway, having never seen the promised all seater stadium that we were going to be grateful for in Milton, I felt very emotional at the news that the Abbey was ours again, thanks to Paul Barry, his two American associates and hours of complex negotiations. I can only say that the feeling was like the one you get at Wembley or when we’ve got promotion. We haven’t had that many moments of triumph but this was one of them.
Of course last year Lincoln smashed us, largely because of Tony Scully’s son. Fortunately, he is now at Wigan. We’ve come a long way too. Nowadays we have a really strong bench, a plan B and some very exciting new players who we have yet to see the best of. It was great to see queues outside the shop, the very popular kidzone, the CFU cabin doing brisk business and, inside the ground, Big Joe giving his autograph to a young lad pitch side. We have a palpable sense of connection with these players. A warm feeling runs through the whole club.
The first half was unusual because the referee had a good game. He put things right in the second half. We looked a bit leggy but Digby is a real leader and there was no lack of urgency. Lincoln as ever were direct and physical but not very good. Their fans were very unhappy afterwards with their lack of threat but they are never easy to play against. Our forward line is very potent these days and Tracy can and does trouble any defence. Keep doing it. Joe picked up two sharply taken goals, one involving a swivel and turn reminiscent of his goal at Newcastle. He is a real handful even to the most robust of defenders. Someone needs to explain to me what referees have against him. I wanted to tell Sam Allison about all the things he wasn’t seeing. Actually I did but he wasn’t listening. Justice for Joey.
To be honest the second half was plain dull. We lacked inspiration. Joe might have got a third. The Imps had plenty of possession but posed no real threat. If we want to measure progress we should say that we won without playing that well. It was never in doubt and we still have the new players who offer a different kind of promise. Most of all we are a team. We may not have a big ground but it’s ours. We may not have many fans but we have the best. And the team…well they are fifth and we are United!
Andrew Stephen