Death, taxes, people moaning about the club on the internet and Accrington in the Mickey Mouse Cup. Certainties, the lot of them.
What is not a certainty is us going there on a Tuesday. Accrington Stanley on a Tuesday night in December is so quintessentially English it makes me feel nostalgic, but it would be misplaced nostalgia for Imps fans. The truth is, whilst last season they came to us twice on a Tuesday in the space of a month – we’ve only been there twice on a Tuesday night since 1926.
However, we have played them plenty of times in this competition – four since we came back into the Football League. There are always goals – 17 in just four matches or one every 21 minutes. Twice, we’ve gone to penalties, and twice, we’ve knocked them out in normal time.
In drawing Stanley, they become the only team we have played in every season since our promotion – we went there whilst there was a league between us in 2018/19, and now we go there again with a league between us.
Ahead of tomorrow’s clash, here’s a run down of our last four meetings against Stanley in the competition.
Tu 05 Dec 2017 Lincoln 3 – 2 Accrington
11 days separated their visit to ours in the Checkatrade Trophy and a League Two fixture. At the time, all the cool kids said we’d take being knocked out of the competition for league points, but as it turned out, this win was probably worth more financially, as it formed part of our winning run.
Malik Wilks opened the scoring for them on seven minutes, with Ollie Palmer levelling after 37. Sean McConville then scored a bizarre goal, a shot from near the halfway line coming back off the bar, hitting Paul Farman and dropping in. Shockingly, it was 2-2 before halftime, a goal credited to Matt Green, which looked a lot like a McConville own goal!
The second half certainly calmed down, with just the one goal. Sean Raggett enjoyed getting the third goal in a 3-2 win, and on the hour, he won it for us. Of course, it was a header from a corner and his last goal for us.
The breathless game provided plenty for the 3,026 in the ground to enjoy, and two late Farman saves ensured that we wouldn’t go to penalties.
City went in strong, lining up P Farman, S Habergham, L Waterfall, S Raggett, S Long, E Whitehouse, H Anderson, A Woodyard, (86) J Ginnelly, (89) O Palmer and (81) M Green. Subs were J Vickers, (81) R Dickie, N Eardley, B Knott, (86) N Arnold, C Stewart, (89) M Rhead
Tu 04 Dec 2018 Accrington 2 – 2 Lincoln
Same day (first Tuesday in December, not the date) and our first visit to Accrington in a cup since 1961. If we went strong the year before, we went the other way this time around. We were holders, they’d won League Two, and neither side were fully committed to the game in terms of team selection.
In a crazy game, Matt Green gave us a sixth-minute lead (his last Imps goal), only for Scott Brown to level a minute later. Jamie McCombe, in his final professional game, put us ahead on the hour, only for Accrington to level on 70 minutes through Jordan Clark. That took the game to penalties, where Kellan Gordon and Matt Green missed, handing the home side a 4-2 win.
The game was notable for being Tom Shaw’s only Lincoln City appearance, Jamie McCombe’s last and Jordan Adebayo-Smith’s only senior outing.
Full line up – S Slocombe, S Wharton, J Wilson, A Crookes, N Eardley (45), K Gordon, E Chapman, J Luque, M Rhead, M Green, B Mensah, and J Adebayo-Smith (63). On the bench, Grant Smith, J McCombe (45), D Idehen, T Shaw (63), T Akinola and E Sartorius
Tu 12 Jan 2021 Lincoln 4 – 0 Accrington
Surely, after nine goals in two games and a penalty shootout, our 2020/21 match couldn’t be any more exciting, could it?
Yes. Yes, it could.
Michael Appleton’s side was in full flow, going into the game on the back of wins against Burton (5-1), Northampton (4-0), Wimbledon (2-1) and a draw against promotion rivals Peterborough (1-1). In the previous round, we hammered Shrewsbury 4-1 on their own ground, and it felt like we might be on for winning it again.
Accrington never got going in a one-sided affair that lit up lockdown. Zack Elbouzedi opened the scoring, putting us 1-0 up in the first half, with his last goal for the club. We shifted through the gears in the second, with goals from Robbie Gotts (his last goal on his final performance) and Brennan Johnson ending the game as a contest. Jorge Grant got in on the act as well, adding a last-minute fourth.
The team that played that tie? A Palmer, M Melbourne, A Jackson, Tayo Edun, T Eyoma, J Grant, (63) B Johnson, L Bridcutt, R Gotts, Z Elbouzedi and A Scully. City named just four subs, three of whom are still with the club and still classed as prospects! They were Sam Long, Sean Roughan and Freddie Draper, with Remy Longdon replacing Johnson on 63 minutes.
We kept on pushing – Hull were beaten on penalties in the next round before Longdon’s miss in the shootout against Sunderland denied us a trip to Wembley.
Tu 10 Jan 2023 Lincoln 2 – 2 Accrington
What is it about Accrington in the cup and last goals for the club? Our tie last year also saw a player hit his final goals for the club.
It does make sense – we often field weaker sides in this competition, and as all the games have been knockout stage, they come in December or January before many players are shipped out. Stands to reason, then, that players often score their final goals in Imps colours in the Accrington tie. Unbelievably, this tie was this year but it seems a long time ago.
Ethan Hamilton and Lukas Jensen lined up against us, but neither were able to prevent Tom Hopper’s opener. Jensen tried to clear the ball, Hopper charged it down and it bounced off him and into the net. City should have been cruising, but on-loan striker Aaron Pressley levelled for the visitors. In the second half, O’Connor’s foul led to a penalty for the visitors, and Pressley gave them a 2-1 lead.
All looked lost, but with ten minutes to go, Max Sanders saw his deflected cross header in by Hopper for the striker’s last goal in Imps colours. It was enough to send the game to spot kicks, and the Imps brought on Jordan Wright to try and save the day. Sadly, City’s penalties were poor – Mandroiu fired wide, Jensen saved Sanders’ kick, and Poole smashed his effort against the crossbar.
The Imps lined up: (89) C Rushworth, R Poole, A Jackson, P O’Connor, T Eyoma, (69) E Bishop, (89) L Sorenson, (76) C Vernam, T Hopper, D Mandroiu and J Diamond. On the bench were (89) J Wright, J Benn, E Ahui, (69) M Sanders, (89) T Oakley-Boothe and (76) J Makama.
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