No Simon Yeo. That's a blow really. The boy has scored in every game since he got back to Lincoln fron New Zealnd, except his first (but that was "Crazy Day" at Mansfield when the board put the manager on "Gardening Leave" so he could tend to his petunias, so we can let that pass).

Bristol Rovers are 8th and claim to have "done their homework on the Imps". Apparently we are going to bombard them with continuous aerial assaults and big tough blokes are going to knock their little angels to the ground if they try and play it on the floor. But if we do - they are ready for us!!!

Their manager appears to be proud of his "homework". He was clearly VERY keen and finished it way ahead of his deadline. He has also managed to get my back up. So here comes the rant.....;)

Now I don't know if it is a coincidence - I really wouldn't like to say, but since Simmo's departure and the return to the fray of the likes of Turbo and Yeo and the introduction to the first team of up and coming young stars like Lee Frecklington and Leon Mettam (note I don't class Ollie Ryan in there!! Boston Fan - huh!) City have started to play some attractive football on the floor.

Yes, we do hoof it into the air occasionally when needs be, like every team in the football league (less so that some of the "great teams" that have visited the Bank this season) - but not as much as critics would like to suggest - and certainly a lot less than when Simmo was around.

I think most of the people that say "Oh Lincoln, they're just a long ball team" are stuck in the past and think we are still managed by John Beck!! They seem to forget that we had Mr Alan Buckley as manager and we played "total football" (of course). We nearly slid through the trap door to the conference on the back of that!

These people who accuse us of hoofing the ball up to 6'7" strikers clearly haven't noticed that Simon Yeo is 5'8". Oh of course they haven't noticed - they probably haven't even seen us play!! But I guess that there will always be these so-called "expert pundits" that are happy to chant that Lincoln are a ugly unattractive long ball team that are only capable of hoofing the ball down the channels like a mantra and convince those that have never seen us play that this lie is the truth - give us a break will you?!

So, I will leave you with a quote from Johnny Beck himself which encapsulates Lincoln's real style of play, uttered by the great one when he was manager at the now-almost-defunct Cambridge United. (I know that this hasn't been much of a preview for tomorrow's match, but their manager's comments have riled me somewhat - Can you tell?!!):##.

"We don't play the long ball. We don't play the short ball. We play the right ball" John Beck.