Gainsborough Trinity 7-0 (December 22nd, 1982)

There were a couple of notable points around our friendly against Gainsborough in 1982. Firstly, it was played in the middle of the season, December 22nd, during a 59-game campaign. It wasn’t the only mid-season friendly we played – in January, we went to Worksop Town and won 3-0. Finally, if you were hardy enough to go to our league game on December 18th and the friendly four days later, you’d have seen 16 Lincoln City goals; five from Gordon Hobson and five from Glenn Cockerill. Why? Because the game came immediately after the 9-0 win against Bournemouth, Harry Redknapp’s first game as a football manager.

Friendlies during the season are not uncommon, but you don’t usually see a full-strength side. That’s what City put out, despite the approaching furore about a lack of funds and a threadbare squad. This was the same season goalkeeper Stuart Naylor started up front, and the same season the board refused money for reinforcements, arguably costing us promotion. Still, for 70 minutes, we toiled against Gainsborough, going in 3-0 at halftime and adding four in 16 second-half minutes. Still, referee Terry Johnson called it off with 20 minutes remaining, preventing more goals for the Imps. “My heart told me we wanted to play,” Colin Murphy said of the game “But, you are scared to death about injuries in a match of this nature.” Five days later, City drew 1-1 with Walsall, losing against Huddersfield 24 hours later.