Lincoln City thrashed Fulham 4-0 on an icy Sincil Bank pitch this afternoon – before an angry Ian Branfoot questioned whether the contest should have been called off.
The dire defeat leaves Fulham in twentieth place in the Third Division – the lowest position in the club’s history – but Branfoot insisted afterwards that the atrocious conditions made it difficult to play football at all. He told the press afterwards: “I thought it was silly that the game went ahead at all. The players weren’t happy with the conditions and neither was i. But that is no excuse because both teams have to play on the same pitch.
The problem was we didn’t compete. It was back to the old Fulham. If we had competed, it would have been a much closer game.”
The poor playing conditions meant that City striker Steve Brown borrowed a pair of trainers from groundsman Nigel Dennis after referee Graham Barber deemed the pitch playable. He drilled home Colin Alcide’s cross to give Lincoln the lead in the 33rd minute and Gareth Ainsworth made it 2-0 four minutes later when he reacted quicker than the sleepy Fulham defence to a Steve Holmes’ flick on.
The result was a foregone conclusion before Ainsworth volleyed home his second of the afternoon from sixteen yards out with nine minutes remaining. Fulham’s misery was complete when Jon Whitney scored his first goal for the Imps from 20 yards, smashing a superb finish past Tony Lange from twenty yards after latching on a lay-off from substitute Phil Daley.
LINCOLN CITY: Richardson; Holmes, Whitney, Minett, Robertson, G. Brown, Ainsworth, Onwere, Alcide (Daley 76), S. Brown, Barnett (A. Johnson 79). Sub (not used): D. Johnson.
BOOKED: Daley, Whitney.
GOALS: S. Brown (33), Ainsworth (37, 81), Whitney (88).
FULHAM: Lange, Jupp, Herrera, Cusack (Hamill 63), Moore (Blake 45), Angus, Thomas, Morgan, Williams, Brazil, Bolt (Brooker 71). Subs: Blake, Brooker, Hamill.
REFEREE: Graham Barber (Guildford).
ATTENDANCE: 3,693.
