Sunday 12 April 2009

Game Sixty Five - Chesterfield v Lincoln City

7 April 2009

Months after our first adventure together, it was time for me and Katy to take on our next random adventure together. This time it was to break the Chesterfield curse that has haunted me since the start of the season. As the random adventures have come on gone, Chesterfield was the ground that I've wanted to get to as it feels that every northern trip seems to take us through the town in some way or another. Despite playing the majority of their home games on Wednesday or Friday (not quite sure why), I'd never found the time to make the way to Saltergate.


The ground is a real culture shock to what we have been used to not only in the past but also this season. The shop is simply a hut that sells just basic shirts and keyrings and the corporate entrance.... well..... I think I'll let the photo speak for itself:

Inside the ground, we took the opportunity to make the most of the "facilities" as the open air toilet left a lot to be desired.
The fact that we were Leicester fans remained hidden for a good 30 seconds as I was stumped when a steward tried to start a conversation about who would be playing for Lincoln on the day... I'm still not certain now having seen the game! All I do know is that Chester the fieldmouse was present for the home side.

The terrace was pretty immense though - plenty of room (mainly due to the lack of a crowd), and also a decent view as it wasn't as shallow as many of the other terraces that we have found ourselves on this season. Me and Katy even found ourselves featured on the Lincoln website which continues the seasons run of being media whores.

It wouldn't be a random away game without a picture of the people who had made the trip so me and Katy, or N'Lankeh and N'Titch (as we would be known for the day in honour of Lincoln's left winger), posed for the camera in the bitter wind.

With the wind really picking up by kick off until it was bitterly cold, the game kicked off at quite a decent pace with Lincoln attacking towards us, the away fans, in the first half. With both teams pushing for the play offs, neither side was afraid of going for things and only some brave keeping from the Chesterfield number one prevented the visiting captain from opening the scoring.
At the other end, a couple of deep crosses nearly caught out Burch in the Lincoln goal and one header in particular forced the keeper into a brilliant save.
With 10 minutes of the first half remaining, the home side opened the scoring when Jack Lester exchanged neat passes with Peter Till before firing in past the despairing dive of Burch.

It really was a beautiful evening apart from the wind chill and so I made the most of being at Saltergate, taking photos during half time of the full moon over the main stand and of the pitch under the floodlights.

During the interval, we also continued to have a good laugh like we had during the entire game. In fact, due to the minimal away following, we were able to have a quality natter throughout the match and was a great 90 minutes.

Seven minutes after the restart, a Lincoln corner was blocked and Adrian Patulea smashed home the rebound to spark celebrations amonst our namesakes. LCFC were back on level terms and buzzing for the three points.
From then on the game turned into an end to end affair as both teams knew that a draw wasn't good enough for their playoff ambitions. "Oh when the Imps go marching in" was sang very slowly giving it quite an eerie sound like we were having a camp fire singsong rather than a football chant but it was rather enjoyable to hear them sing their songs in the unique manner.

It seemed to inspire the team on though as the Chesterfield keeper had to be at his very best to keep out Elding.

In the last 10 minutes though, Chesterfield really went for it and a 25 yard free kick smashed into the framework of the Lincoln goal, Burch kept out Jack Lester when through on goal and a string of corners went wasted.
No more goals were to come our way though but it was a thoroughly entertaining game and one of my favourite random games this season. We made the walk slowly back down the hill to the car and spent time warming up before heading back to leicester to the sounds of Danny Baker, hearing Fez's e-mail read out along the way.

It had been a quality night though, one that was well worth doing and I had a great time with Katy as we adopted Danny N'Guessan as a cult hero for the night, starting random words with "N' " for the rest of the night. Friendships like these are what will sum the season up more than anything when the matches are all wrapped up. Yes we've had some great matches and the wins have all been a joy to watch but the companionship is the real joy to take from 2008/09 campaign. I've become very close to some of the people I've seen games with this season, and maintained friendships that developed in previous seasons. I'd like to think the people I've met over the course of the last 9 months or so will remain in my life for a very long time to come. Katy in particular has been a revelation in my life and become a very close friend who I can turn to for advice about anything and I hope she feels the same way about me. Good old football.... It really is N'credible.

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