Lincoln City

Lincoln City v Reading

Sky Bet League One
LNER Stadium

Saturday 21st December 2024

12:30pm

Journey Time to the ground: 3 hours 25 minutes.  We ended up setting off later than planned, leaving home at 8am.  After a quick stop for fuel outside Shrewsbury, we travelled cross-country and parked up on South Park, one of the official club car parks, for £6.  This wasn't a car park as such, but a park so we tried to find some firmer ground and hoped it didn't rain too much!  The car park was a five-minute walk from the ground along a canal.  With it being an hour before kick-off we had a look at the club shop then made our way into the ground.    

Ticket Price: £25

Programme Price: The club no longer produces programmes but teamsheets were 50p.

Attendance: 9,396 with 843 Reading fans.

This was my first trip to Lincoln and we had decided to start off the Christmas period with some festive football.  We had tickets in the away end in the Stacey West Stand behind one of the goals.  The stand is named in honour of the two Lincoln City fans that lost their lives in the Bradford City fire in 1985, however all I could think of was Gavin and Stacey, especially with the upcoming Christmas Special to look forward to.  This is a single-tiered all-seater stand which was shared with home fans for this game.

To the left of the Stacey West Stand is the Greenlinc Renewables Stand which houses the team dug-outs at its front.  It is a single-tiered all-seater stand that runs half the length of the pitch, straddling the half-way line.  Between the Greenlinc Renewables Stand and the Rilmac Stand is the Uni Imps Stand, a small single-tiered all-seater stand for the use of University of Lincoln students and staff.  Opposite the Stacey West Stand is the Rilmac Stand, another single-tiered all-seater stand.  To the right of the Stacey West Stand is the GMB Stand.  This is an impressive single-tiered all-seater stand with the most vociferous Lincoln fans congregating in this stand close to the Stacey West Stand.

Reading started the game slowly and fell behind in the eighth minute when Bailey Cadamarteri reacted quickest to stab home after Joel Pereira had saved well from Conor McGrandles' header from Sean Roughan's left-wing cross.  Reading gradually made their way into the game but the game hinged on a four-minute period late in the first-half.  In the 33rd minute Reading were denied a clear penalty when Sam Smith was shoved in the back by Roughan when clear on goal but ref Adam Herzog waved the appeals away.  This was compounded in the 37th minute when Louie Holzman was shown a straight red card for bringing down Ben House on the edge of the box with the striker through on goal.    

Lincoln dominated the second-half against ten men and hit the post twice with House hitting both uprights before Reeco Hackett guided the ball into the bottom right corner from Lewis Montsma's long ball over the top to secure the win for the Imps.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere overall was good with the Lincoln fans in the GMB Stand particularly impressive with their noise and Dambusters chant complete with flying action.  The atmosphere in the away end was slightly subdued due to Reading starting the game poorly and not really creating much to inspire the away fans to make much noise. 

Journey Time home: 4 hours.  We got back to the car at 2:40pm and faced a bit of chaos trying to get out of the car park as cars appeared from all directions.  The traffic wasn't particularly heavy on the way home and as it had been an early kick-off and was the last Saturday before Christmas, we decided to stop in Shrewsbury to get some food from McDonalds and do some shopping at TK Maxx and Sainsburys.  After a two and a half hour stop for shopping, we ended up getting home at 9:15pm.

Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Lincoln, although it was quite tiring with the early kick-off and being quite a trek from home.  It wasn't the best game from a Reading perspective but it was nice to be at a well-attended game with home fans that really got behind their team constructively.