City turning form books upside down

Last updated : 23 November 2004 By Gary Hutchinson
Free scoring but throwing points away as well!!
Nobody could have failed to see exactly what Lincoln City are capable of after there 3-0 drubbing of Darlington but their home form has been blamed for holding them back. A quick glance at the current league statistics however identifies more than one problem at the Bank.

Sure the home form has been poor. City lay just third from bottom in the 'home games' league table, below Kidderminster Harriers who are bottom of the full league table. In nine outings the Imps have picked up just ten points and conceded 16 goals. Thats 3 more goals conceded at home than any other team! The top three home performers are predictable enough as they also lie first second and third in the full table namely Scunny, Swansea and saturdays opponents Yeovil.

Away from home its an altogether different picture. City have snatched 17 points on their travels and conceded less than 3/4 of a goal a game. Leyton Orient are second having taken 3 points by the odd goal in 7 at Sincil Bank. Yeovil lie in eleventh and will be hoping their average away form will be enough to overcome Citys dismal record at Sincil Bank on Saturday.

Lincoln also top another unwanted league table in being the team who have thrown away the most points this season. They've ended up drawing five games that they were winning and lost one they were winning, that seven goal thriller against The 'O's. That equates to a total of 13 lost points, the same amount lost by Orient. The tightest teams in the division are Mansfield, Swansea and Rushden who have all thrown away just two points.

It seems that an inability to hold on to a lead is just as bigger problem for the Imps as the pathetic excuse for home form. Indeed had City been as tight as The Stags, Swans or Iron then they would sit proudy atop of the Division Two table by four clear points. Had the home form eclisped the away form they'd be second to Scunthorpe.

So is concentration at fault and not our Sincil Bank showings? The stats suggest that had we been able to hold on to matches a little better then our free scoring forwards would have us heading for a return to the glorious summer of 1976 (not in my living memory I'm afraid) and a Championship title?

Throughout October and November the Imps were second in the form tables behind Orient (Oct) and Scunny (Nov). If consistency is the key then the Imps are heading in the right direction. Last seasons march to the play off semi finals was kicked off by a weak August that saw us languishing in the bottom half of the table.

Finally if you fancy a flutter on Saturday plump for a lot of goals. Yeovil are the leagues highest scorers whilst City are joint fourth highest. Both sides however fail to feature in the tightest twelve defences in the division with City in 13th and Yeovil in 17th place. Infact the 36 games the two sides have been involved in have produced a whopping 106 goals!!