Unmemorable Match – Imps 0-1 Sunderland 1999

In truth, this wasn’t so much a bad game as one that was a tiny bit disappointing, but I didn’t just want to pick both games from last season! It came right at the beginning of 1999, after the Imps had defeated Cheltenham (1-0) and Stevenage (4-1), both of the Conference, in the FA Cup’s opening two proper rounds.

Our reward was a visit from Sunderland, then a second-tier side, but on their way back to the Premier League. They had been relegated at the end of the 96/97 season, finished third in 97/98 and would win what is now the Championship just five months after visiting the Bank. They had a strong side too, Niall Quinn, Daniel Dichio, Lee Clark and Kevin Ball all part of a somewhat iconic Mackems’ side.

The Imps lined up J Vaughan, G Brown, S Bimson, J Barnett, S Holmes, P Smith (80), J Finnigan, T Fleming (86), L Thorpe, P Miller and T Battersby (72). the bench was B Richardson, C Stones L Philpott (86), C Alcide (80) and P Stant (72). The odds were certainly against us, but despite just three wins in 12, we set about the task with gusto as Stuart Bimson struck a 25-yard drive over the bar.

Early intentions were all well and good, but the visitors class quickly took over. Lee Clark’s headed flick put Daniel Dichio clear in the penalty area with John Vaughan making a good block. Sadly, for Sunderland at least, Martin Scott went off with an ankle injury on 12 minutes, an injury which ended the left-back’s career.

In a lively opening quarter of an hour, Sunderland took the lead. Michael Gray broke down the left and found Dichio. In turn, he created an opening for McCann, whose shot took a wicked deflection off Steve Holmes, before bouncing in. City weren’t going to roll over and die though, Holmes fired over from one of many corners we forced. Another in a succession of corners saw striker Niall Quinn clear off the line.

There were good shouts for a penalty too, late in the second half. Lee Thorpe turned Andy Melville and was seemingly tripped to go down just inside the box, but it was waved away by referee Mike Fletcher. To the home fans’ ire, he did the same minutes later when Melville appeared to handle a cross in the area, deliberately. The dying minutes brought more chances for the visitors though, with Dichio twice firing wide. The headline writers got a gift in the last minutes, Darren Williams was sent off for a second bookable offence to spark ‘joy for ten-man Sunderland’ type sensationalism. Oddly, three weeks later Sunderland went out of the cup against ten-men Blackburn 1-0.

The biggest Imps crowd for the next decade and a half, 10, 408, went home dejected, but full of belief that we could turn our season around. We went into the game rock bottom of the division, but won six of the next nine matches, only losing once to bolster that belief. Of course, we were relegated at the end of the season.