This article is part of a long-form series on the season by Malcolm Johnson.

October

There was an injury scare ahead of the visit of Newport County, with Gordon Hobson having missed training with hamstring trouble following the Walsall match, but in the event he was able to play. Glenn Cockerill was also now fit enough to return to the starting line-up with David Gilbert making way as Phil Neale was deployed wide on the left with Derek Bell on the subs’ bench.

I was lucky enough for this match to find Colin Murphy’s signature in my programme, but being allocated the Third Prize of a stand ticket for the next match didn’t bother to claim it due to it being a midweek game.

Without a home league win in three games, the attendance was down to around 3,400, the lowest of the season so far, and caused Maurice Burton to deplore not so much the numbers but what he considered the lack of backing given to the team – although he admitted only one goal scored in three matches was not much to get excited about. Against Newport, we did see twice as many goals as that, but unfortunately, the visitors also scored twice – with, almost needless to say, both coming from that former City flop Tommy Tynan. The first of his goals gave Newport an interval lead after George Shipley had earlier put a penalty wide of the post for his first-ever miss from the spot. Steve Cammack equalised with his third goal of the season and then set up Gordon Hobson to give City the lead but some poor defending allowed Tynan to hit an equaliser two minutes from the end.

City’s start to the league season had been no better than moderate, with the point gained from the Newport game putting them 14^th in the league table after eight games. They were yet to win at home, with seven of their ten points coming from away matches. Now the League Cup intervened, starting with a visit from Notts County already played in a Group Cup match. The Magpies were not perhaps the most glamorous of opposition as the first top-flight side to visit Sincil Bank since Stoke City six years earlier, but they were currently placed a very respectable 14th in the First Division after beating Arsenal 2-1 at Meadow Lane.

On the injury front there was bad and good news as Phil Turner, who was back in training, suffered another ankle injury which meant he had to be put in plaster again. But Trevor Peake was able to be rushed back into the side for a surprise reappearance – something of a gamble that City might not have taken but for Cambridge refusing to allow Lindsay Smith to be cup-tied.

The best crowd of the season so far of just under five thousand turned out to see a visiting side who were not wholly without star players as they could boast three internationals in the side – Yugoslavian goalkeeper Raddy Avramovic, Scotland’s Don Masson and current Finnish international defender Aki Lahtinen who was making his first start for the club. After David Hooks had given the visitors an early lead, soon cancelled out with a goal from the returning Peake, the second half developed into a stormy affair with Notts, who had three other players booked, reduced to ten men after full-back Tristan Benjamin was sent off for two bookable offences after 65 minutes, and to nine when striker Trevor Christie suffered the same fate in the 81st minute. In the remaining minutes, City, who only had Steve Cammack booked, were unable to find a way through the visitors’ defence, leaving the tie in the balance going into the second leg.

If the lack of goals at home had been a worry, things were put right the following Saturday as the Imps ran up their biggest win in the Third Division since 1952. Visitors Wimbledon, promoted with City the previous season, were currently bottom of the table with just two points from eight games, and perhaps due to the unattractive nature of the opposition and perhaps due to it being the third home game in eight days, there was another slight drop in the attendance to a new low for the season despite the midweek efforts against Notts County. An unchanged lineup saw City go 2-0 up through Glenn Cockerill after he was allowed to run 40 yards unchallenged and Tony Cunningham with his third goal in five games. The visitors pulled a goal back to be still in the game at halftime, but the Imps then stepped up a gear with three goals in the space of 12 minutes through Steve Cammack, also with his third goal in the last five matches, Gordon Hobson and Cockerill again.

City fielded an unchanged 12 for the third time in a row for a visit to Brentford, with Colin Murphy saying that two wins from the next three games could put them in the promotion race. Unfortunately, that wasn’t how things turned out…

First of all, the Imps produced what Maurice Burton described as their worst half hour of football since they were relegated three seasons back as the home side took an early lead, doubled it, and were 3-0 up after only 25 minutes due to some “atrocious defending” by City. After receiving Colin Murphy’s thoughts during the half-time interval, City improved to be the better side, but could only manage a consolation goal near the end when Tony Cunningham robbed a defender to score his fourth goal in six games and make him top scorer for the season so far with five.

There were further reports that Second Division Cardiff City were intent on making Colin Murphy their new manager and was seeking permission to approach him from Dennis Houlston. However, the City chairman said he had heard nothing about it and didn’t expect to, referring again to the agreement between clubs not to poach each other’s managers during the season. Despite denials, Maurice Burton worried that the situation might unsettle the players and harked back to Watford’s “long and concerted campaign” to tempt Graham Taylor away from Lincoln.

With concerns over the defensive display at Brentford, it was good news that Steve Thompson was working his way back to fitness, getting on to the pitch for half an hour of a reserve match, and with Trevor Peake’s recent return, the loan period of Lindsay Smith was not extended.

Of the other teams promoted from the Fourth Division at the end of the previous season, Doncaster Rovers were currently doing the best, occupying third place in the table and were, therefore, tough opponents for City to visit in their next game. In spite of the display at Brentford, Colin Murphy stuck by his players to once again field an unchanged team. City dominated the game for the first half-hour with an improved display but poor defending involving both full-backs allowed the home side to take a lead, which they held at half time. With an hour gone, Derek Bell came on in place of Phil Neale and hit an equaliser with his first goal for 13 months, but almost immediately, some more poor defending allowed Doncaster to take the lead again. Two more goals from the Rovers in the last ten minutes produced a scoreline that although it was rather a false reflection of the balance of play nevertheless emphasised certain failings in the current side.

The recent worries over the future of Colin Murphy were now put to bed with the announcement that he had accepted a year’s extension of his contract with the Imps which would now run until May 1985. The manager himself said that his intention at Lincoln was to build a football club and not just a team, and it was important to get the time to do it. Commenting on the development of the team, he mentioned creating a healthy surplus on transfers and that one player a year could be sold for the next four years. Since he had been at the club, he mentioned developments such as improved floodlights, the new gymnasium, and the appointments of a new groundsman and a commercial manager. As for the future, “who is to say that we won’t see a new grandstand and the pitch turned round the other way?”

The next game was another occasion of renewing acquaintance with old adversaries as it was Bristol City’s first visit to Sincil Bank for 20 years. Managed by European Cup-winning manager Bob Houghton, assisted by later England boss Roy Hodgson, the visitors had just suffered successive relegations from the First Division amidst mounting debts – although this hadn’t prevented them from paying £160,000 to Newcastle for ex-Imp Mick Harford in the summer.

Colin Murphy had promised to put things right following the conceding of seven goals in the two recent away defeats but his hands were rather tied when it came to making changes in defence due to Phil Neale being unfit with an injury sustained in the Doncaster match and the continuing absence of Steve Thompson. So the only changes were in goal with 18-year-old Stuart Naylor making his first-team debut and Derek Bell coming in for his first start since March, playing on the left in a very attacking line-up with what were really four strikers. Bell had been rather hit by injuries in the previous season, which had restricted his appearances, but although fully fit since the summer had been unable to displace either Gordon Hobson or Tony Cunningham from the starting lineup.

Despite the recent away defeats, the attendance was actually up by almost 500, perhaps prompted by the big win against Wimbledon. But after recently seeing former City flop Tommy Tynan score two goals against the Imps at Sincil Bank, we now saw a former City success do the same thing as Mick Harford put the visitors in command before half time. Sub’ David Gilbert came on in place of Steve Cammack, with Gordon Hobson pushed out to the right and Derek Bell moved into the middle; this paid off with an hour gone when Bell pulled a goal back, but in the end, it was Harford that was the difference between the two teams.

Something that probably did not concern too many of the supporters on the terraces at the time was a mystery over an increasing number of shares in the club which were being advertised for sale. The total came to around 100,000, which would have been enough to take control of the football club, but it was said none of the existing directors were likely to be selling their holdings. Chairman Dennis Houlston refused to comment or be drawn into any controversy, and major shareholder and non-director Dennis Bocock – a name that keeps cropping up from time to time in these chronicles – said he knew nothing about it.

City had not previously lost three games in a row since the dark days of the end of the relegation season in May 1979, and following the Bristol City defeat they had now slipped to 18th place, just three points clear of the drop zone. It seemed clear that new players needed to be brought in – but as Colin Murphy pointed out, the return to fitness of Phil Turner and Steve Thompson would make a difference, and it was no good signing new players only to end up with a surplus. But now it was time for the League Cup again with a visit to Notts County for the second leg of the tie, level at 1-1.

Living in Nottingham, playing Notts County suited me just fine, and in the latter part of the 1960s, I’d been able to see the Imps pay regular visits to Meadow Lane. However, since then the Magpies had risen to higher things under their legendary manager, Jimmy Sirrel and had become an established Second Division club until their recent elevation to the top flight. They were still placed just below halfway in the table, and the previous Saturday had held West Ham to a draw in front of 12,000 supporters, just about double the number who turned up to see City play, including around 700 or so from Lincoln (or in my case, Bulwell). As with so many clubs at the time and earlier, the match programme for a League Cup tie was a minimal affair, with one of its only four pages taken up by advertising.

Team changes saw David Felgate restored to the side, David Gilbert start where he had left off against Bristol City, and Derek Bell do the same as Gordon Hobson was omitted from the side, said to be suffering from ‘a slight knock’. Notts team changes from the first leg saw later Imps winger Gordon Mair come into the starting line-up and with giant centre half Brian ‘Killer’ Kilcline suspended, the long-serving Pedro Richards came into the side. Tristan Benjamin and Trevor Christie, the two players sent off at Sincil Bank, were both eligible to play, having served their suspensions.

After the recent run of defeats, City came good in this match, getting off to an ideal start with a fourth-minute goal from Tony Cunningham and were the better side until Mair equalised for Notts just after the half-hour mark. On 64 minutes, they went ahead through Don Masson, but City were still in the game with David Gilbert prominent, and just after Gerard Creane replaced Trevor Thompson, it was the ‘diddy’ left winger who put over a corner for Glenn Cockerill to head the Imps level. Four minutes later, George Shipley hit the winner, and although the result of this game has rather tended to be overlooked as it was ‘only Notts County’ it was nevertheless the first time the Imps had ever beaten a top-flight side away from home – and something they have only managed on two occasions since, albeit one of these was in a penalty-shoot-out.

Criticism for the recent poor defensive displays had seemed to centre on the full-back positions, but aside from thoughts of improving the squad, it was the necessity of coping with players missing through injury. Trevor Thompson had now joined Phil Neale and Phil Turner on the unavailable list following the game at Notts County, and with Nolan Keeley out of favour, although presumably now over the effects of his injury the previous March, it was imperative reinforcements be found. So, just in time for the visit to Oxford United, a month’s loan deal was arranged with Luton Town for their 20-year-old reserve defender Wayne Turner. Left-footed and capable of playing either at full-back or in midfield, Turner had made five Second Division appearances for the Hatters, including one in the current season.

For the game at the Manor Ground, the new loanee went straight into the side at left-back with David McVay moving across in Thompson’s absence, with the one other change seeing Gordon Hobson back in the side, playing on the right with Steve Cammack left out.

After an uneventful first half, City took the lead not long after the break when Derek Bell scored for the third league game in a row but owed it to a penalty save by David Felgate to preserve the lead. This lasted until six minutes from the end when the home side equalised, but another saved penalty by Felgate in the very last minute preserved the point for City.