Pat Hoban

In the summer of 2016, Pat Hoban was in the privileged position of being wanted by new Imps boss Danny Cowley. At the time, Matt Rhead was in two minds as to whether he would stay or not, and the released Oxford United man was on our radar. He’d been superb for Dundalk in Ireland and seemingly had a future in Lincoln.

He wasn’t just wanted – he’d practically agreed to a deal. The Echo (back when they covered Lincoln properly) even wrote a piece about him signing a one-year deal, which accidentally got published before the club signed him. I’ve done it with Morgan Rogers, it happens, and so we all waited for Pat Hoban to be announced.

Only the news wasn’t made official; just hours after the Echo announced his arrival, he was parading around Field Mill with a Mansfield shirt. It seems that as the deal was all but being signed, he got a call from a Football League club and off he went.

Pat played 24 times for Mansfield, twelve of which were starts. He bagged himself six goals, four in League competition and two in the Checkatrade Trophy, before heading back to Ireland with Dundalk, where he’s won two titles and finished leading scorer in the division twice.