The Imps might have bagged an important draw in midweek against former Premier League side Hull City, but that wasn’t the only positive to come out of the game.
The stalemate was only our third 0-0 draw of the season, after Fleetwood and Accrington, and only our fourth stalemate of the campaign. It ensured we remained top of the table and with Doncaster losing, it certainly looks a useful point.
It would have been an intense atmosphere had fans been allowed in, which as we know they were not, and likely to have attracted a five-figure attendance with plenty of home supporters. As it transpires, the virtual attendance was equally as impressive, certainly from the Imps point of view.
Hull Live reports that 5559 households tuned in to watch the game with 2790 from Lincoln. Remember, a household is not necessarily one person, which means there could have been several thousand Imps watching live. With it being an away fixture, every single Imp paid for the privilege, which apparently netted the club £23,000. (This has since been proven false, see the story here).
Based on last week’s press release about iFollow numbers, it is also a record for the club. Our last League Oneaway match (not on Sky) was at Portsmouth, and it drew 2,299 households to the service, which was a record for the Imps in 20/21. It seems those records just keep tumbling.
What I would find disappointing were I a Hull fan is how low their household figures were. They had 2769 households watching, fewer than the Imps despite it being a home fixture, and some 600 fewer than our viewing figures for the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Doncaster Rovers. I know they were Championship and are on a bit of a slide, but one thing I always thought about Hull was that they were well supported. They were second going into the game, favourites to go up and yet we seem to be getting more traction with supporters in our quest for promotion. I get the feeling they’re a club on a knife-edge, and a couple of bad results could see them spiralling like Ipswich and Sunderland, both of whom seem rather settled in mid-table obscurity at the moment.
It is bittersweet for me, and for all fans I imagine, talking up the impact of viewing figures when there were so many empty seats in the ground, but it had to be noted. We went to a so-called big club, took a point without really getting out of second gear going forward and we outnumbered them in their own backyard, albeit virtually.
If fans had been in the ground and those figures were the same, I think we’d all call that a result!
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