What we needed was an early goal. Against Macclesfield in 2017 we made it exciting by conceding ourselves, but we came out of the blocks looking like a side who wanted it. Cheltenham were organised, efficient and clearly not there to be hammered, but they didn’t have a great amount in the final third. In the other areas of the pitch though they looked like a good work in progress team.

I thought big John had a real purpose about him. He got a ball across the area for Bruno, he had a half-volley of his own and put a header over all in the first 15 minutes. Everyone was hungry for it, but him and Tom Pett grabbed me in the first quarter of an hour. Pett, seemingly a lightweight winger when he joined last season, has morphed into an excellent box-to-box midfielder with nice control and a decent tackle. It’s remarkable what our coaching team see in some players.

Just after the 15 minute mark, it happened. Shay McCartan, never one to bag an easy goal, cut inside from the left and seemingly missed his cue to lay the ball off for a teammate. He had other ideas though and on an afternoon where his parent club all but rubber-stamped their League Two status, he gave us the first glimpse of our promotion.

Shay doesn’t score easy goals, but he does score important ones. The second at Swindon for instance, the winner against MK Dons at home, our 6500th and, as it turned out, the one that sent us into League One. It was a worthy effort too, although the keeper might have fancied doing better. It bounced just in front of him and the Imps were 1-0 up.

The chants of ‘the Imps are going up’ rang out across the stadium and for the first time it felt real. I’ve believed we’re going up since the summer, but as the furore died down and play restarted, it became so much closer. We’d peeled the first bits of paper from that Christmas present and revealed handlebars. 

The chants of ‘the Imps are going up’ rang out across the stadium and for the first time it felt real.

We’ve sung about promotion for years. Under Keith the songs rang out loud and proud, even back under Murph the second time, under Thommo and of course, John Beck. I’ve sung ‘the Imps are going up’ at times when in fact, we haven’t gone up and whoever we’ve been singing at would be best served not believing us. Yesterday, they’d better believe us.

For the rest of the first half we gave the sort of performance I expected. It was methodical, probing for chances and getting a few, none really clear-cut. Neal Eardley had a free kick just over, John dragged an effort wide and yet the opposition never crumbled. It wasn’t domination on our part, they were playing neat football outside the final third, but if one team was going to extend the lead it was us.

Mark O’Hara was excellent in that opening period. For a big lad he moves with real grace, but when called upon he sticks his head in too. Of all the loan players we currently have, Rowe included, I want to see O’Hara sign for us the most. Tall central midfielders are a rarity, especially ones whose height isn’t their gimmick. You can see why he played top flight football in Scotland and why given a chance, he’ll be a big asset to us next season.

The other notable performance for me was Bozzy. If he doesn’t win Player of the Year I’ll be shocked. He’s just so consistent, any balls in the air seemed to be gobbled up. he doesn’t even have to jump half the time, he takes a step back, gives the forward a nudge and has a clear header. 

Bruno was clearly struggling though. I guess the injections and pain threshold has been breached, although he tried to get on the ball it wasn’t easy. The visitors had done their homework and ensured there was no space to exploit behind and with him being at 75%, there was none of the unpredictable trickery we’re used to seeing. It’s not a criticism, but maybe now promotion is sealed he’ll get a game or so to recuperate properly.

That was the first half. All around during the break we checked the scores, but did it really matter? If we won, we’d be up. The others can do what they liked, although I did still want to see MK Dons and Mansfield lose. Not quite sure why I’m so keen on Bury to join us, nor Tranmere, but they’d be my picks, along with Exeter in the play-offs.

Yeah, my apologies, but it’s so long I’ve had to throw in an extra page to include all the words and pictures I could