As is often said in football, there is only one thing that matters: the results that come on the pitch. Of course, every team wants to win, but if both teams are fired up for a result, they can often end in a stalemate. This can throw up some shocking results, a side at the bottom of the league on a poor run of form stealing a point from the hosts at the top of the league, and sometimes it goes further than that as we recently saw rock bottom Forest Green Rovers steal all three points from the league leaders Sheffield Wednesday.
And for Lincoln City, they are currently closing in on what some may see as an unwanted record for the club. The side has picked up 19 draws (50%) in the 38 games they have played this season, going on a run of four games in a row ending in a stalemate. This leaves The Imps occupying 14th place in the table with 46 points, having only won nine games this season. Only Accrington Stanley, Morecambe and Forest Green Rovers have won fewer games, while Cambridge United and Oxford United have the same amount of wins. These are all teams that are currently involved in the fight for survival in the division.
The Imps cannot complain about every draw, however, as there are some results they can be happy with, such as taking a point from Derby County at Pride Park. Especially as they were reduced to 10 men in that fixture. However, the most detrimental result fans would be most likely to lament over is the sides draw with rock-bottom Forest Green Rovers. In fact, they were unable to beat the troubled club on both occasions this season.
But where has it gone wrong for this Lincoln side? They have picked up some impressive wins against some strong sides at the opening end of the season, with wins over Derby County, a hard-fought victory in a visit to Barnsley, and the same result in a visit to Ipswich. At the same time, they have lost (or drew) games they would be expected to win, fixtures such as Cambridge United, where they lost 2-0 and the above-mentioned draws with Forest Green Rovers.
While they have only lost on one occasion to teams fighting for survival this season, a 2-0 loss to Cambridge, most of their results have been draws there also, the team finding themselves unable to beat both Forest Green and MK Dons, while they picked up a point in games involving Accrington and Cambridge also. However, they did manage to take six points from Oxford United, and a victory over Accrington, while they won their first fixture with Morecambe, with the teams yet to play their second fixture in the penultimate game of this season.
There has been some highs and low for the side this season, the draws to Forest Green will be on their low end, however, the most disappointing for the club would be the performances against Peterborough United, both fixtures ended in defeat this season with the team unable to find the net and conceding seven in the process losing 4-0 on their travels and 3-0 at home. Of course, draws against the two teams occupying the automatic promotion spots are impressive and will boost morale for the club, but the most memorable performance for fans this season will surely be their visit to Bristol Rovers, a nine-goal thriller which saw the Imps claim all three points with a 6-3 victory.
One cause for concern for Imps fans will be the manners in which these draws have been brought on, on seven occasions they have drawn a game in which they had the lead, the most concerning would be the 2-0 lead they lost in a game that finished 2-2 with Fleetwood Town. On another seven occasions, their draws have been goalless, most notably two goalless draws with Portsmouth this season. The other five results have come from behind, on three occasions, involving the two teams who occupy the automatic promotion places.
The record for most draws in a season in this country is held jointly by four different teams, Norwich City (23 from 42, 1978-79, First Division), Exeter City (23 from 46, 1986-87, Fourth Division). The other two teams most surprisingly picked up that record in the same season in the same division, Cardiff City and Hartlepool United (23 from 46, 1997-98, Third Division).
Of course, Lincoln have come nowhere close to the consecutive draws in a season, which currently sits at eight in a row, a record which is held jointly by seven different teams! But with eight games remaining this season and the side currently four off the record in a season, it is looking likely that they could at the very least equal this record before the end of this season.
