It seems a slow news day at present. I couldn’t make the fan’s forum last night, and there’s no press conference up on YouTube at the moment.
To give you something to read, I’ve had to go back to April 1986 and a game against Bristol Rovers. The period between 1985 and 1987 always fascinates me because it’s not littered with legends or big wins—instead, we suffered back-to-back relegations. For some reason, the nuts and bolts of those seasons are more interesting than something well-documented, like the Colin Murphy years.
Going into the home clash with The Gas, City were in the final relegation spot in Division Three with 45 points. However, having played 43 games, we had one in hand of Bury above us (47), and two on both Chesterfield and Newport on 50 points. If we could win our game in hand, we’d claw our way out of the bottom four, with two matches left against sides below us in the table, Wolves and Cardiff.
That meant the clash on April 30th at the Bank wasn’t just huge; it was absolutely pivotal. A draw could leave us in control of our own destiny still, but a win would be massive. Bury were away at Derby County, a game they hoped for little from, so what we needed was a bright start, to come out all guns blazing and hit the Gas, 17th and not quite mathematically safe, with all we have.
City lined up Trevor Swinburne, Simeon Hodson, Bobby Mitchell, Neil Redfearn, Gary West, Gary Strodder, Ian McInnes, Phil Turner, Devon White, Warren Ward and Kevin Kilmore, with Richard Cooper on the bench. In front of 2,233, City took to the field with victory on their minds.
Ten minutes later, we were 2-0 down. Phil Purnell, a non-contract player at the time, watched a big punt from the keeper beat both Strodder and Hodson, before wandering in behind to score. Two minutes later, an aimless right wing cross was going nowhere, until Hodson decided to try to put it back to Swinburne. Instead, he made a hash of it and it dropped to the grateful Purnell, who added a second. It was a big boost for the former non-league man, who was rewarded with a new deal not long after, and turned out more than 150 times for the Gas.
Imagine, a Lincoln City side hitting the self-destruct button early. Over at Pride Park, Ross McClaren netted a penalty for Derby, who were expected to brush Bury aside, and he missed a second before half time. Nobody at Sincil Bank would know that of course, nor care with such a sombre display performed in front of their eyes.
In the end, City needed a stroke of luck, and it came as Bristol Rovers’ keeper Ron Green was stretchered off. Trevor Morgan went in goal and the visitors played on with ten men. George Kerr played his hand early, bringing off Devon White (who would go on to appear 200 times for The Gas) and bringing on Richard Cooper.
Before the break, City got a lifeline. Phil Turner’s free kick found Warren Ward, and his crisp header beat striker Morgan in the goal. Now the game was on, and moments after, still facing ten men as Rovers refused to give up on Green, City got level. Kevin Kilmore, move through the middle in Kerr’s reshuffle, saw his effort charged down by a defender, and as Morgan dithered (rightly so, given he was a striker), Redfearn slotted home.
Now the home fans had something to cheer. Ten men, 2-2 and a keeper in disarray. All we needed was to pile on the pressure. Then, from nowhere, Green appeared. He looked groggy, shaken, and in today’s protocols would have had to miss games, but in April 1986, with 51 minutes gone of our vital relegation clash, he came back on the field to make it 11v11.
Sadly, that was that. With a proper keeper in goal, shot-shy City looked short of ideas once again. Green made one big save from top scorer Warren Ward, clawing a snap shot around the post, but the Imps couldn’t force a second goal. Instead, Bury equalised at Derby, a result that was met with mass hysteria in Derby (crowds as low as 11,000 screamed their local press).
In the end, City were relegated, along with Swansea City, Cardiff City and Wolves. The gap was three points, so even a win against Bristol Rovers wouldn’t have given us a chance. But it does point to the mess we were in that we let in two silly goals early doors, and then only scored against ten men, and a striker in goal.
However, you have to look to the management, rather than the players. Redfearn, Turner, Strodder and White all went on to play in the top flight at some stage of their career, and the like of Kilmore, Mitchell and Swinburne had long and successful careers elsewhere.
I’m afraid in 1985/86 it does feel a lot like the chef couldn’t get a decent meal out of sufficient ingredients.
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