Lincoln United 0 v Leek Town 2 - NPL South East Division

Saturday 14th March 2020
BetVictor Northern Premier League, South East Division
at the Sun Hat Villas Stadium, Ashby Avenue
Lincoln United (0) 0
Leek Town (2) 2
Rob Stevenson 3
Tim Grice 38
Attendance: 210
Point & hope picture gallery: Click HERE

Forty eight hours ago, Lincoln United announced that once this season finishes (assuming that it hasn't already done), they will be merging with Hykeham United, whence an amalgamation of both clubs will operate under the name of Lincoln United.
While the Whites have endured a season of woes and strife thus far, as they endeavour to claw themselves away from the relegation places at the foot of the North Premier League South East Division table, the mutually beneficial coming together of the two neighbouring clubs, seems to tick a lot of boxes as regards finding a solution to some of the off-field problems that have beset the Ashby Avenue based club.
So fingers crossed for them... they've always been a very friendly, accommodating and welcoming club whenever I've had the pleasure of visiting this corner of Lincoln.

Win a rare four-pack of Andrex... just one pound a ticket!

Hykeham themselves currently sit at the top of the Lincolnshire League and play their home games at the Priory City of Lincoln City Academy Sports Centre, which is just a short distance away from United's ground, along Skellingthorpe Road, towards Lincoln city centre, from the turning into Ashby Avenue.
Today Hykeham they beat Wyberton 6-1 at home, in a Supplementary Cup game that was watched by a crowd of 47 spectators,

That was one of just five games, coming under the umbrella of the 'Lincs. League' auspices, that went ahead this afternoon, though I note that the ruling body has since suspended any further games that come under their governance for the foreseeable future, via an announcement in red capitals on their FA Full-Time website... I would imagine that the vast majority, if not all, non-league competitions will grind to a similar halt, over the next day or so. 

Such drastic measures will decimate the remainder of the football season, but Que Sera...shit just got real. And regardless of what anybody, including Bill Shankly, may or may not ever have said, football is neither a matter of life and death nor anything even remotely like more important than either of those two things, obviously!
Granted, it's more than just a game, for many people, to whom it is a passion, a past time and lifestyle choice that some of us, follow with a near-obsessive dedication and fervour that borders on religious fanaticism, that definitely warrants being called an addiction... but there is far more at stake away from 'planet football' out there in that place called the 'real world'.
And besides: it's actually common knowledge that 'Shanks' was actually misquoted all along.

Anyway, in the current climate, it's maybe apt of me to provide a few health-related/social-distancing observations pertaining to the public gathering that I attended this afternoon, for your perusal and consideration: the average combined four-sided length of a football pitch perimeter, including a margin between the touchlines and the surrounding fence, is approximately 388 yards, or roughly 325 metres, and today's total attendance was 210.
So even if the main stand seats weren't set back quite so far from the pitch (as they are at Ashby Avenue) and everybody was stood as near to the pitch as the rules would allow, we'd still all have had around at least five feet of wriggle room and breathing space apiece in this open-air setting.
Which to my way of thinking doesn't exactly constitute a tight space environment, or a health risk. Granted, as further more stringent measure are introduced, it may well do and if that becomes the case, then I'mquite sure nobody in their right mind would want football to continue.

But I'm no expert on such matters (and neither are you, so shurrup and listen to the advice that is being given to you by people in the know). In actual fact, I don't even have a University of Facebook medical degree to back up my pontificating, so without further ado... today's football match.

My honest (cross my heart and hope to die) and genuine reason for choosing to watch Lincoln United v Leek Town today was that I had originally planned to visit the Riseholme Campus this morning, to take in the EFL Youth Alliance fixture between Lincoln City and Mansfield Town, before watching West Bromwich Albion v Birmingham City in Lincoln United's clubhouse on the telly (tickets for the game were as rare as hen's teeth, rocking horse shit, hand sanitiser and even bog rolls, so I didn't manage to get one, despite going to great lengths in an attempt to find a spare) and then watch this Northern Premier League South East Division game as a grand finale to a whole day of football, football and more football, before driving home.

When the first two games were both announced as having been postponed a couple of days ago, I thought: "Y'know what...bugger it! I haven't been to Lincoln United in ages so why not!?"
You see, it's like this: currently, there's a very interesting chain of events unfolding for the struggling Whites, which began when the club parted company with their manager Steve Housham and his assistant Nathan Jarman (both fairly big-hitters on the local circuit) and inevitably, as is the way in non-league circles, a lot of footballers follow their manager out of the door rather than swearing allegiance to any given club, which of course led to a player exodus of sorts, that left United a bit short-handed.
However, in the meantime, Sam Wilkinson and Stuart Reddington, have returned to the fold, re-acquainting themselves with their former club and taking on the difficult task of leading/dragging* United away from the drop zone.

As things stand, Lincoln finished the afternoon in eighteenth place in what is a twenty team division. The two sides below them played against each other today and a fifteen-minute Andre James hat-trick in the first half, along with an own goal, helped Market Drayton Town to a much needed away win at Wisbech Town, which moved them to two points and one league position above their hosts, and means they're now only seven points adrift of the Whites, who will be aware of the fact that they themselves have only won eight out of twenty-nine of their own games so far this season, as they check nervously in their rear-view mirror, to see if Market Drayton are gaining any ground on them.

In the 'Chairman's Chat' column, featured in today's match programme; Ian Beaumont mentioned that the club would be limited to how many new signings they would be able to make and stated that there would probably be a few of the Whites Under 18 players stepping up to the first team. That's another fairly commonplace practice at this time of the season, at all manner of clubs outwith the confines of the professional game, where there are no contractual obligations to safeguard clubs from experiencing any kind of en masse walk-out, so to speak.
Either way, the print deadline for his notes must have come and gone earlier this week, because, over the space of the last two days, Lincoln United have signed eight players on, the last time I looked. 'Sam and Reddo' aren't wasting any time and they obviously mean business. Good luck to them.

Today was always going to be an acid test for the new-look home side, because Leek Town are currently at the top of the division, having only lost twice all season... and the gulf in class between the two sides was glaring at the outset of the game, even though United did get to grips with their visitors towards the end of the first half and it was actually a far more level-pegging affair after the break, as Lincoln looked to be growing steadily into the game and imposing themselves more. Although they were unable to salvage a point, at least after the restart they never looked likely to succumb to a repeat of last weekend's 0-5 home defeat at the hands of Frickley Athletic, who are currently managed by Dave Frecklington, who'd previously had a two-year spell in charge at Ashby Avenue between 2014 and 2016.

As the game got underway the indications looked ominous for the home side, as Leek went straight on the offensive looking for an early goal, with Rob Stevenson, in particular, proving to be a real handful as he terrorised the Lincoln defence from the flanks. 

Unconverted chances fell to both Jacob Twyford and Matthew Bell as the Blues (wearing their change strip of green and black today) looked to cash in on their high tempo start.

But Lincoln went behind inside the third minute when their captain Michael Jacklin headed the ball back towards Ross Woolley, but it escaped from the keepers grasp and Tim Grice was onto the loose ball in an instant... Jacklin tussled with the Leek number nine in an attempt to salvage the situation, but could only deflect an otherwise goal-bound knock into the path of Stevenson, who was presented with the simplest of tasks, as he rolled the ball into a wide open goal.

Stevenson was all over the Lincoln back-line like a rash and continued to terrorise them as he provided the service for Billy Reeves and Grice, but neither of them could quite find a finishing touch. 

Meanwhile, Louis Keenan drilled a shot from the edge of the area, that Woolley did well to reach at full stretch and push around the post.

The hosts had ridden their luck while they found their shape and some kind of rhythm, but effectively today marked this team's first outing together, so they were always going to need some time to gel.

As they regrouped and began to look more organised, it perhaps gave a few clues to the game plan that they'll need to adapt, to grind out a few results between now and the end of the campaign, but needs must and common sense rules apply. Points are United's priority right now... and against a lesser side than today's top drawer opposition, they would probably have held out for a draw.

That man Stevenson was still proving to be a damn pest for the Whites defence and once again he got forward and beat the last man in the thirty-eighth minute, but had his heels clipped from behind, however, he managed to stay upright and keep his run going, the match referee, one Jamie O'Connor, waved play on and sensibly applied the advantage rule, giving Stevenson free passage to deliver a cross towards the back post, where an attempted clearing header diverted the ball back across the face of the goal towards Grice, who shot on the turn and bulged the net to double the visitor's advantage.
It was quite amusing to overhear a Leek fan shout out: "Referee!! That's a bloody foul!", before changing his tune in an instant and suddenly heaping lavish praise on Mr O'Connor: "Great advantage, well-done referee!"

I heard a rumour (in fact I'll fess up, I started it) that Jamie only took up the whistle so that he'd have a cast-iron alibi for why he couldn't get across to the Proact Stadium to watch his crap local football team: Chesterfield, play every week.
Joking aside... it was good to see you again and have a catch-up Mr Referee. Take care mate.
As the teams went in at half-time, Leek had a two-goal cushion, while Stevenson probably already had his name engraved on the man of the match trophy... although it's only fair to point out that Louis Keenan had been covering a hell of a lot of ground filling the space behind the flying winger, that allowed him to operate with so much freedom.
HT: Whites 0 v Blues 2

Lincoln looked harder to break down after the interval, which bodes well for their remaining games... and clear cut chances were at more of a premium, which probably wouldn't have worried the visitors too much while-soever they were still sitting on a comfortable lead.

Woolley held onto the ball when Reeves shot from long range skidded through a sea of legs before Stevenson lofted the ball over the bar from a difficult angle.

Grice and Stevenson combined in the Whites area, but the latter sliced his shot wide of the target.

Having given their visitors the freedom of Ashby Avenue and a virtual right to roam in the opening half an hour or so, Lincoln well and truly had their half of the pitch under a lock-down situation from hereon-in.

Reeves was making a few in-roads deep into United territory on the right, but he'll probably have a few bumps and bruises to show for his efforts in the morning, as his progress was being 'monitored very closely' and occasionally thwarted by some no-nonsense, tried and tested, good old fashioned solid as a brick outhouse block-tackling.

Grice went close to grabbing his second of the afternoon, with what I was reliably informed would've been his 200th goal for this afternoon's visitors, but if they continue to play like they did in the first half today, I wouldn't imagine that it will be very long until that milestone is passed.
Of course, as clubs await Government and FA advice and possible sanctions, pertaining to the Coronavirus outbreak, he might have to wait until next season.

While the first-half wasn't quite all one-way traffic, the over-riding majority of it had been played out in the Lincoln half of the field, but the second period was a far more even kind of scrap, played out more across the middle of the park... and in the air, more often than not, if truth be told.
Even so, it still provided an intriguing tactical battle, even though the game was now bereft of anything like the amount of goalmouth action that we'd seen earlier on.
In fact, after the break, it became the kind of fare that had got nil-nil written all over it... and basically, that is exactly what happened, as Leek's first half prowess saw them over the finishing line, while Lincoln finished the game looking solid, compact, very well organised and extremely difficult to break down... all qualities that they're going to need in abundance, whenever football resumes (or carries on regardless in the NPL).

In the closing stages, Grice broke free on the left hand side of the Whites penalty area and shot across the face of the goal, but the ball flew narrowly past the far post, a fraction beyond the reach of Woolley.
On the subject of Woolley, I thought he did very well to put the mix-up early on to the back of his mind and stay focused for the remainder of the game and on the whole, he actually put in a decent shift all told.
FT: Lincoln United 0 v Leek Town 2