Lincoln City made it 29 matches unbeaten with the final day 2-0 win at Port Vale, an astounding feat when you consider the level of the opposition.
Sadly, we can’t compare budget tables for the comparable unbeaten runs, but I suspect ours is actually one of the best ever. What we can do is look at other unbeaten runs and see how we compare not just in League One, but across EFL history.
A couple of caveats: I’ve taken single-season unbeaten runs only, rather than those that span a couple of seasons. Also, I’ve discounted sides with long unbeaten league runs that include a play-off defeat. Huddersfield Town, in 2009/10 and 2010/11, went 43 regular-season games unbeaten, but that spanned two seasons, with a play-off final defeat in the middle of it. Nottingham Forest were unbeaten for 42 matches over two seasons, 1977/78 and 1978/79, but the split was 16 one season, and 26 the other.
Also, these are EFL only, not the Premier League (sorry Arsenal).
Where does the Imps’ 29-match unbeaten run rank among all-time unbeaten runs?
33 Reading 2005/06 Championship (2.44 ppg)
The finest unbeaten run ever in the EFL, Reading earned promotion to the Premeir League on the back of a relentless and ruthless campaign. Isn’t it ironic that they celebrated 20 years of this achievement on the day we secured promotion at their place?
They opened their season with a 2-1 defeat at home against Plymouth, and then just smashed it. They won 25 matches, drawing eight, averaging 2.44 points per game. They were eventually beaten by Luton Town, but lost just twice all season.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say bettering us by four matches, despite the slightly lower PPG, does make their run better than ours, but it’s tight.
30 – Burnley 1920/21 Division 1 (2.46 ppg)
You have to turn back time quite a bit for this, but Burnley set the longest single-season record, one that stood for more than eighty years. After losing three on the bounce at the start of the season, they were bottom of the table. Then came a 3-0 win against Huddersfield, and a relentless surge through the opposition.
They won 22 and drew eight of the next 30 matches, before finally going down 3-0 to Manchester City on March 26th, 1921. Ironically, they then beat Manchester United 3-0, and got revenge on City a week later.
By today’s standards, that would be 2.46 points per game, less than ours right now. Even if we’d drawn one more game to reach the 30, our PPG would still be better.
29 – Leeds United 1972/73 Division 1 (2.31 ppg)
This was the longest unbeaten run from the start of a season, 29 matches, which was a record I always had in my head as a kid. It came seven years before I was born, masterminded by Don Revie as his side swept to a league title. It did include ten draws, so by today’s standards, it would be 2.31 points per game.
Once the bubble burst, it burst spectacularly, with four defeats, two draws, and only a Peter Lorimer penalty giving them a 1-0 win against Manchester City. They still won the league title, obviously.
29 Liverpool 1986/87 Division 1 (2.51 ppg)
Having won two the previous season, the record books show this as a 31-game stretch. I remember it well, Liverpool brushed everyone aside, until the Merseyside derby, where Everton stopped them from taking Leeds’ record. Wayne Clarke scored the only goal of that game, and it was a huge thing at the time.
With 2.51 points per game, this was a hugely impressive run with a lot of wins. They actually lost a fortnight later against Nottingham Forest, the only two defeats on their record in that title-winning season.
29 – Lincoln City 2025/26 League One (2.58 PPG)
We know what happened here, and what really stings is that we were a single moment away from it being 31 matches (Wycombe and Doncaster). If only we’d bagged right at the end against Wycombe, with that late missed chance, we’d literally be the second-best EFL team of all time. Instead, we’re joint third with peak Liverpool and peak Leeds United. Oh well, right?
Incredible doesn’t do it justice. Six draws and 23 wins mean we have a points per game ratio of 2.58, the highest of all the longest single-season unbeaten runs in history (assuming all were three points for a win).
The bst team of all time in the EFL? It’s not easy to argue against.
28 Leeds United 1968/69 Division 1 (2.21 PPG)
We’re tucked in a Leeds and Liverpool sandwich, a bit like we used to be in the Rothmans books. Leeds were a machine in the late sixties and early seventies, and this was followed by six more unbeaten matches in the following season. 11 draws and 17 wins, as well as a punishing Fairs Cup campaign, is certainly a decent run.
They lost 5-1 at Burnley on October 19th, then drew 0-0 in a horrible run of three matches. Finally, on November 16th, 1968, they won 1-0 against Coventry City, and didn’t lose again. all season. There were another five 0-0 draws.
They averaged 2.21 points per game, and as with all the other unbeaten runs, they ended up winning their division.
28 Liverpool 1893/94 Division 2 (2.57 PPG)
This run is actually 30 matches if you include the two from the previous season. It was also a full season undefeated, which is really impressive, although we are talking about football of a very different era. With 22 wins and six draws, it’s also high scoring in terms of points per game.
We were one of the teams to take points from Liverpool this season, drawing 1-1 at the John O’Gaunt’s ground. Had it not been for Albert Flewitt scoring for us in that 1-1 draw, they’d have an average of 2.64 points per game, so little did he know he was helping us 130 years ago!
28 – Scunthorpe United 2013/14 League Two (2 PPG)
I suppose we ought to give Scunthorpe a nod for tearing up League Two while we languished in the National League. After 16 matches, they were 12th with 24 points, having lost four and drawn six of their opening 16 matches. They won big at Fratton Park on November 23rd (the same weekend of the season we lost against Wycombe) and didn’t look back.
They won 14 and drew 14 of their next 28 matches before Exeter beat them 2-0, and remarkably didn’t even win the league! Chesterfield finished top, perhaps because of all those draws. They averaged two points per game, still a decent haul.
28 – Luton Town 2018/19 League One (PPG)
We were setting our own record in 2018/19, 19 matches unbeaten, which seems like child’s play now. Luton were upsetting the form book, having only been promoted the year before. They started okay, and were tenth after a James Collins brace saw them still defeated at Oakwell in October.
28 games later, they lost again, Charlton ending their run in April. They drew eight and won 20, a PPG of 2.42, which is great, but not ‘Lincoln City 2025/26‘ great.
Conclusion
There you have it. Lincoln City’s unbeaten run, pound for pound, is better than the top nine unbeaten runs in the EFL. Even Arsenal in the Invincibles season ‘only’ got a PPG of 2.36, albeit from 38 unbeaten matches. Few, if any, of the teams mentioned above were 17th in their division’s budget table.
This really is one of the best EFL teams of all time, which does make my planned ‘is it the best Lincoln City team of all time’ article somewhat redundant. I’ll do it anyway, later in the week.
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