This is the concluding part of a five-part series, courtesy of Malcolm Johnson.
April
More postponed games now began to be fitted in, starting with the midweek visit of Rotherham United to Sincil Bank. Fit again, Terry Cooper returned to the side in place of Mick Smith and a third home win in a row made it eight points gained from the last ten available. Although deserved, it was only after Rotherham were reduced to ten men with twenty minutes to go that the win was secured thanks to Sunley’s third goal of the season, and strikes from Cockerill and Ward which put them joint top of the scoring charts with Fleming with four each. One of City’s games in hand, the deficit to Tranmere, still in 23rd place was cut to just two points and that to safety from relegation to ten. However, there were just twelve games left to play although eight of these were at home.
Off the field news was of a grant from the Sports Council of £30,000 towards the building of a new gymnasium at Sincil Bank which as well as being used for training purposes would also be available for use by outside bodies. The grant was on condition of the club themselves putting £10,000 into the scheme, and with half of this being met by a donation from the Supporters’ Club an appeal was to be launched to raise the balance.
At home again the following Saturday, mid-table Chester were as defensively minded as City resulting in a non-event of a match which ended goalless. With Brendan Guest suffering from a groin strain Graham Watson took his place in midfield and there was a return to fitness by Phil Neale who came off the bench for his first appearance since January. The fourth clean sheet in a row was welcome for City, but they really needed more points from the match than the one gained although this did bring them within a point of Tranmere and cut the gap to safety to nine points.
A third home game in a row came a week later on Easter Saturday with the visit of more or less local rivals Peterborough United, a team also battling against relegation just two places above the Imps. The attendance was over the four thousand mark for the first time since September as people were obviously encouraged by the recent improved results. With Phil Neale now back in the starting line-up in place of Watson the improved crowd unfortunately saw a disappointing display by City which put an end to their six-match unbeaten run, with a scrambled goal by the Posh just after half time enough to give the visitors the points.
Meanwhile, another player off the books was winger Alan Jones, who after a lengthy period out with a hamstring injury had made just three appearances in the current season, two of them as substitute. He departed to America to spend the summer with North American Soccer League side Columbus Magic and on his return to join Bradford City.
Easter Monday brought a visit to Bury, just outside the relegation zone, and although an unchanged team found themselves two goals down after five minutes, they quickly pulled one back when Keith Laybourne curled a free kick into the top corner of the net for his only goal for the club. “Rivelino? He learned it from me,” he said afterwards. John Fleming’s penalty late on made him leading scorer for the season with five goals and earned the Imps a deserved point.
The following night was another away match with a side just outside the bottom four and produced one of City’s best wins of the season. With Mick Harford having broken his nose in the match against Bury, rather than move John Ward forward Colin Murphy gave a league debut to 17-year-old Gerard Creane, the six-foot apprentice having created a good impression in recent youth team matches. Ward was dropped to the subs’ bench with Brendan Guest returning in midfield. Phil Neale’s first goal for a year gave the Imps an early lead which the Spireites equalised just before the break before two goals from man of the match Glenn Cockerill in the last twelve minutes gave City the points and saw him overtake Fleming in the scoring charts.
The two points from the win at Chesterfield lifted City off the foot of the table for the first time since the beginning of September – although it was only for the space of 24 hours as Tranmere’s draw with Rotherham the following night saw them go back above the Imps on goal difference.
In advance of the retained list at the end of the season it was announced that Dennis Leigh was being released. Graham Taylor’s first signing for the club six years previously, he had been unable to regain his place in the side since being injured against Walsall in the middle of March and like so many players departing City over the years would in due course be following the well-worn path to Boston United.
Although bottom of the table again the gap to the 20th placed club and safety had been clawed back to eight points, but with only eight games left to play City really needed maximum points from their next two home games against Exeter City and Gillingham. The attendance against the Devon side was down by nearly 2,000 on the previous home game, although admittedly there were always going to be fewer supporters travelling from Exeter than Peterborough. Despite the upturn in results City’s recent defensive tactics had begun to draw criticism from some fans, and Colin Murphy was the first to admit that it was not the way he liked to play. He pointed out that playing in what was then considered a more orthodox fashion had resulted in too many goals being let in. Therefore, he had changed the set-up of the team to make the most effective use of the players at his disposal, saying again that rather than spend money on bringing new players in he preferred to make better use of it in the summer.
City fielded an unchanged side from the win at Chesterfield, but a poor display owed much to Peter Grotier keeping the score down, including a penalty save just before the break. However, the keeper was beaten by a second penalty midway through the second half which gave Exeter the points. That really seemed to be it for City as Tranmere pulled off their first win in sixteen games to go back two points ahead of them and the gap to safety was back to nine points again. The game marked the end of the Imps’ recent run of improved results which had seen only one defeat in nine games, and despite having five of the remaining eight games at home really put paid to any lingering faint hopes of avoiding relegation.
The supporters got their wish for an end to the 5-3-2 formation with the visit of Gillingham the following Wednesday night although less than 1,900 of them turned up to see it – the first attendance below 2,000 for over six years. There were no complaints from Colin Murphy – “What have they had to come and see?” he said, but was able to point to the fact that the reversion to a back four resulted in four goals being conceded as a 4-2 score-line was City’s third home defeat in a row.
The change in formation was perhaps forced as it emerged that due to what Colin Murphy described as a long-standing agreement with the player Phil Hubbard had been allowed to leave to join Alan Jones in spending the summer with American side Columbus Magic. With Hubbard having been a key member of the back three the side was further weakened by the departure of Phil Neale back to playing cricket for Worcestershire. Without these two players and the reversion to a back four, Brendan Guest returned to his previous full back position with John Fleming in midfield as Graham Watson and Gordon Hobson came into the side. Young Gerard Creane was left out after his two games as John Ward partnered Sunley up front, with the subs’ bench occupied by Mick Smith.
Promotion-chasing Gillingham, although matched by City in midfield, were generally too good for them in both defence and attack and were two goals in front midway through the first half before David Sunley pulled a goal back. In the second half the Gills went further ahead before City again pulled a goal back with Fleming’s sixth of the season, but the visitors wrapped the game up with a fourth five minutes from time.
Mick Smith came into the starting line-up for the following Saturday’s visit to Oxford as a back five was quickly reverted to again, John Ward and Gordon Hobson making way for the changes with Mick Harford fit again to return up front. Although falling behind early on the Imps fought back with a goal by Harford to put them on level terms at the break, and it looked as if they were on course for a deserved point until eight minutes from the end when Oxford winger Billy Jeffrey scored a goal which City keeper Peter Grotier described as the best ever put past him in his career.
Not making the trip to Oxford, I instead had a look at what City would be facing the following season with the Fourth Division match between Barnsley and Rochdale. As it turned out, Barnsley, managed by future Imps boss Allan Clarke featured a couple of players who would be at Sincil Bank the following season in centre half John Saunders and striker Derek Bell, while Rochdale also included future Imp David Felgate in goal.
You must be logged in to post a comment.