Freddie Draper has now scored in all three EFL divisions while on the books of Lincoln City. Granted, his League Two goals came on loan, but he is the first player to score in each division while contracted to us, heading up, not down.
Harry Anderson scored in the National League, League Two and League One in Imps colours, becoming the first player to score goals in three different divisions while heading upwards, albeit one season in non-league and while on loan here.
However, we do have a handful of players who scored in three divisions for the Imps, while belonging to us and wearing city colours. All of them were on a downward trajectory, or partly downward, but they still hold a unique place in Imps history.
The main issue is that on very few occasions in history have the Imps played in three different divisions within the timeframe that would allow a player to score in all three. Between 1919 and 1921 we were Division Two, then Midland League, then into the new Division Three (North). Between 1961 and 1963 we dropped from the Second Division to the Fourth Division, and between 1985 and 1987 from the Third Division to the GMVC.
Those are the periods that players got to score in three different divisions, but who were those players, I hear you ask?
Fred ‘Yaffer’ Ward
The very first player to score in three divisions for the Imps was Frank Ward, better known at the time as Yaffer Ward.
Yaffer enjoyed three spells with the Imps, first turning professional with his hometown club in August 1914 and making his debut at Clapton Orient in February 1915. A tough-tackling left-back, he became a regular after the First World War and helped City win the Midland League title in 1920/21, securing a return to the Football League.
Technically, he scored in four different divisions for the Imps. He netted in the War League Midland section on January 25th, 1919 against Grimsby, but that probably doesn’t count. He then scored on New Year’s Eve in 1919, in the Second Division at Huddersfield Town. A brace on October 23rd 1920 helped us to a 6-1 win again against Hull City Reserves in the Midland League, before he scored in the then-new Third Division (North) against Stalybridge Celtic in March, 1922.
Financial difficulties prompted his sale to Wigan Borough in 1922, but he returned in September 1925 (scoring again in Division Three North) before moving to Rochdale the following year. His third spell began in 1928, mainly with the reserves, although two first-team outings in 1930/31 established a club record of 15 years and 296 days between his first and last appearances, which stood until 2007.
Across his three spells, Yaffer made 108 Football League appearances for City and scored ten goals, seven from the penalty spot. He later became landlord of the Golden Eagle on Lincoln’s High Street.
Comments Welcome!