Swansea City arrived at Sincil Bank in April 1997 with 13 points from their previous five matches, but left on the wrong end of a comprehensive beating as the Imps produced one of their most satisfying home performances of the season.
Much of the excitement that season had come on our travels in 96/97, not least in big cup matches. Nobody in the Third Division had scored more away goals, yet reproducing those performances in front of our own supporters had proved more difficult. Brian Halford’s report in the Lincolnshire Echo made clear that this was the afternoon it finally came together, with City taking charge from the opening stages and refusing to surrender the initiative.
City lined up John Vaughan, Jason Barnett, Steve Holmes, Tony Dennis, Jon Robertson, Super Kevin Austin, Gareth Ainsworth, Worrell Sterling, Phil Stant, Steve Brown, and Colin Alcide. The hosts included former Liverpool midfielder Jan Molby.
Alcide tested Roger Freestone with a header inside two minutes, setting the tone for an afternoon in which his aerial strength would cause Swansea considerable problems. There was an early escape for visiting defender Joao Moreira, too, when Ainsworth went down after getting around him, but no penalty was awarded. With Everton having recalled John Hills, Moreira had come into a reshuffled Swansea side and found himself facing a particularly difficult assignment.
The breakthrough arrived in the 18th minute, although there was little conventional about it. Alcide hooked a loose, bouncing ball towards goal from 15 yards, catching Freestone away from his line and sending it looping over the goalkeeper. It was his tenth goal of the season and gave us a deserved lead, with Steve Brown and Tony Dennis linking play and Ainsworth and Jason Barnett supplying the balls to trouble the visiting defence.
Swansea were largely restricted to occasional raids before the break. John Vaughan turned aside David Penney’s drive, while Kristian O’Leary stabbed wide, but we reached half-time with only one goal to show for our superiority. Given that City had kept just two clean sheets in their previous 22 matches, there was still work to do before anyone could relax.
That uncertainty disappeared during an 18-minute spell in the second half. Ainsworth had already forced a save from Freestone before Christian Edwards brought him down in the box in the 56th minute. This time the penalty was given, and Ainsworth took responsibility himself, putting his spot-kick high to the goalkeeper’s right to double our advantage.
Five minutes later, Stant had his first of the afternoon. Brown’s chip struck the underside of the bar and dropped close to the line, leaving the striker to force home the rebound from two yards. Swansea, who had arrived in such good form, were now three down and struggling to contain an Imps side whose attacking play was finally receiving its reward.
The fourth was the pick of the goals, with Ainsworth again central to it. He left three defenders behind and delivered a low ball from the byline for Stant, who used the inside of his back foot to flick it past Freestone. It took the striker to 11 goals in 18 league appearances for us, and Halford’s account described the crowd rising to acclaim the combination of Ainsworth’s run and Stant’s finish.
There might even have been a hat-trick. Ainsworth escaped Moreira once more and cut inside, with Stant waiting unmarked for a pass, but went in search of his own 24th goal of the season instead. Edwards cleared, while at the other end Alcide helped protect the clean sheet by heading Molby’s deflected effort off the line. Vaughan also stretched to keep out a 25-yard strike from Kwame Ampadu.
John Beck was understandably pleased, particularly with the rare opportunity to enjoy the closing stages without the result hanging in the balance. Afterwards, he said:
“It was nice to rest easy late in a game. Except for the Manchester City cup match we have not been able to do that.
“I was very pleased with the performance. We out-thought, outfought and outplayed them. We defended well and scored four magnificent goals.”
For all the contributions of the goalscorers, the Echo selected Barnett as its man of the match, recognising his defensive strength, work across the pitch and crossing from both flanks. Beck’s own assessment was that praise belonged to the whole side:
“It was good to see the players grasp the initiative right from the start – and never let up. It was a day when you could not pick out any individual. All the players did their job very well.”
The win completed our fifth league double of the campaign and left City ninth on 59 points, two behind seventh-placed Cardiff. With four matches still to play, there was still something to chase, and the 3,348 inside Sincil Bank had seen a performance to encourage hopes of a strong finish.
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