You want new contracts? Well go and earn them!
By Nathan Jackson
April 15 2011
At the end of each season there is a nervous period for players, especially those at clubs in the relegation battle. Most of City's squad have expiring contracts in the summer and a run of five defeats has seen City fall back into the battle, meaning a lot of players now have a lot of work to do to ensure they are still here next year.
When the Imps won five games in a row back in January and February, fans around Impdon were all of a sudden thinking that the relegation battle for this season was just a long forgotten worry, however, Tilson at the time said that we could go on a run of five straight defeats at some point during the season and be right back in the mix.....and now that has happened.
Steve Tilson has always said that 50 points was the target and a 1-1 draw at Macclesfield moved City onto 46 points and was was followed by the Lincoln boss stating "We only need four more points".....five games later and we're still on 46 points. It's not the first time that the Imps have lost five in a row in recent years, recording similar runs in the 2000/1 and 2007/8 seasons, but if City lose against Crewe then it will be the first time since the 1998/9 season in the then-named Division 2 (now League One) that the Imps have lost six in a row.
The worst part about it is that the team just look so demotivated at the moment and given that a large number of them are out of contract in ten weeks, it makes it even more shocking. It does make you wonder how few of them realise that if you're playing regularly in a team that's getting thrashed at home every week, you're certainlly not going to go up in the footballing pyramid once your contract expires. Some of them need to realise that if they get released then they will face a battle to remain in the Football League, especially as far better players have been released down the years and find themselves in the non-League soon after.
Crewe Alexandra are City's first of the last five opponents of the season and they've already won by seven goals at home twice this season, 7-0 against Barnet and 8-1 against Cheltenham, onimously the latter came in their previous home game....and Lincoln have the second worst goal difference in the division.
Stephen Hunt's loan spell from Notts County ended due to the injury sustained at the end of March. The Imps will also be without Millwall loanee Ashley Grimes, the Imps' top scorer talking himself into a tenth yellow card of the season, meaning he is banned for the next two games. Delroy Facey is also out for the rest of the season following on from the dislocated shoulder sustained at Macclesfield.......the first of City's current run of six without a win.
Normally I would look in depth into who will start, but you get the general feeling that there may be a few surprises in the line up.
Most of the debate will be about the formation the Imps will play. City could easily end up playing a 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 formation and go to Crewe in the aim of getting a draw....it worked for Chris Sutton last year. With no striker capable of scoring a goal available, the big issue will be scoring a goal. Gavin McCallum is the only Imp who will (most likely) play that has scored in the last nine games. The only other goals that have come since the 3-1 win over Oxford have come from either Stephen Hunt or Ashley Grimes, a worrying fact indeed.
In short, don't expect many goals from the Imps.
Crewe Alexandra, a team who everyone talks about like they're Barcelona. Crewe are one of those wierd 
sides that a lot of people think are an excellent team and too good for this level, that despite losing more games than they win. The Alex seem to be in a period of not yo-yoing between the divisions, something that become a regular feature under Gradi during his lengthy first spell in charge.
Their main problem is consistency. Their 8-1 win over Cheltenham two weeks ago is their only win in the last five games, being sandwiched by defeats against Hereford and Barnet, and being their first home game after a 0-0 home draw with Accrington. Infact, Crewe are in very poor form in general, losing 11 of their last 19 games, winning just six in that time.
They've rarely hit consistently during the entire season, a 7-0 home win was followed by a ten game unbeaten run......but seven of those were draws. It's this sort of consistently which is ending their season particularly early. They're not going down and they're not going up, so they, along with Southend, Morecambe, Oxford, Aldershot and Crawley will all, almost certainly, find themselves in League Two next season.
Clayton Donaldson (right) is the obvious dangerman with 23 League goals this season, and Shaun Miller isn't too far behind with 16. Ashley Westwood, Joel Grant and Byron Moore are all on six overall, Ajay Leitch-Smith and David Artell are on five, Danny Shelly is on four, Luke Murphy has three, Lee Bell has two and Antoni Sarcevic, Calvin Zola (now left), Adam Dugdale and Patrick Ada all have one each.
Adie Moses, Anthony Elding (left), Michael O'Connor have all played for both sides over the last five years. Current Crewe goalkeeper Steve Phillips agreed a loan move to Lincoln earlier this season but then fell apart after Trevor Carson became available from Sunderland. It was believed the Lincoln would move for Phillips again in the summer, but Gradi has stated Phillips will be the first choice goalkeeper at Crewe next season. Former Crewe man Anthony Tonkin also once had a trial at Sincil Bank but rejected the contract offered, instead joining Forest Green Rovers.
The clubs have only met four times over in the 2000s so far. The first came in the Carling Cup in 2005/6 when the Imps thrashed Crewe 5-1 thanks to a double from Gary Birch and strikes from Lee Beevers, Maheta Molango and Marvin Robinson.
It would be four and a half more years before the clubs met again with a 0-0 draw at Gresty Road. Crewe managed 18 shots on goal that day but not a single one went on target, meaning a very defensive Imps managed to escape a thrashing. Just over two months later saw the return match as Davide Somma made a goalscoring debut for the Imps, only for a late equaliser from Crewe denying City all three points.
The hatrick of draws was complete this season as Jarrett equalised in the first half after Crewe's opener from their first attack. It's safe to say a lot of Imps fans would take another draw this time around.
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Quote:jal jal
I hope the players that have been told they are not staying aren't in the team or we will never win a game as they won't be trying anymore
Not true that Jamie Clapham Lincoln lad desperate to play for his hometown club.