On one side is the large all seater Co-op Community Stand. This large single tiered covered stand opened in 1995 and has a capacity of 5,700. Opposite is the Selenity Stand, a small old looking covered stand (although in fact, it is comparatively modern being built in 1987). It is seated, but only runs half the length of the pitch, straddling the halfway line and hence there are gaps on either side. One gap has now been partly filled by a tiny covered Family Stand. Both ends are small covered affairs. The Bridge McFarland Stand is all seated and has a row of executive boxes running across the back. This stand has a couple of supporting pillars at the front. The other end is the 'Stacey West' all seated, covered stand, for home supporters. It was named in memory of the two Lincoln supporters who lost their lives in the Bradford City Fire at Valley Parade in 1985. Unfortunately, this stand is normally only open for games where a larger than normal attendance is expected.
Away fans are located in the Stacey West Stand at one end of the ground, where up to 2,000 fans can be accommodated. This covered, all seated stand, generally has good views of the playing action, although it does have a couple of supporting pillars at the front of the stand that could affect your view, especially if your team has a very large following and you are unable to move seats. On the plus side, the acoustics of this stand is very good, meaning that even relatively few travelling fans can really make some noise.
GROUND LAYOUT
A CO-OPERATIVE COMMUNITY STAND
B SELENITY STAND
C BRIDGE McFARLAND STAND
D STACEY WEST STAND (AWAY)
Lincoln City have got off to a flyer this season topping the league table winning five of their six league games and drawing the other which means they haven't lost yet, let's just hope that the "Venues To Visit" jinx doesn't arise again as it did last week in Elgin.
The Imps played Mansfield on Tuesday night in the EFL Trophy Northern group H competition. The Stags won the match 2-1 but went behind after only 6 minutes, Matt Rhead notching his first goal of the season for the Imps although it was very short lived as Mansfield's Calum Butcher equalised two minutes later.
The winner came with eighteen minutes of normal play left when Stags Tyler Walker came off the bench and the first thing he did was put the ball in the back of Lincoln's net, what a substitution that was although Dan Cowley's priority may be getting Lincoln into league one.
Crawley Town Lye 16th in the table on seven points winning two games, drawing one and losing three, Town have scored eight times in their six matches but have conceded ten, looks like old frailties are raising their heads again for the Reds this season.
Crawley also played at home in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night drawing 1-1 with Tottenham's under 21's, the Reds went on to win the match 5-3 on penalties.
There's only been one match between these two at Sincil bank on the 28th October last year and it finished 0-0, let's hope there are some goals to celebrate in today's fixture.
The only other game these teams have played against each other was in February this year at the Checkatrade.com stadium which Crawley won 3-1, goals from Jimmy Smith, Josh Payne and Mark Connolly for the Reds with Matt Green equalising for the time (52 minutes) for Lincoln.
LINCOLN CITY ... 0 CRAWLEY TOWN ... 1
Not a classic by any means this afternoon at Sincil Bank, Lincoln were stifled by a well organised Crawley side who weren't afraid to use strong armed tactics against the Imps who seamed stunned and frustrated at times.
Filipe Morais and Jimmy Smith were running the show for Crawley on an interim basis with new boss Gabriele Cioffi watching from the stands who must have been impressed as his new side snuffled out the league leaders and earned a hard fought three points.
Referee Matthew Donohue played his part in the crawley victory although he booked five Crawley players there was a lot that he let go, it was almost a carbon copy of last weeks game in Elgin were the referee seemed bias in favour of Stirling, Mr. Donohue did seem to have a soft spot for Crawley and as a classic example the only goal of the game came after a Lincoln player was fouled but the referee waved play on and while the Imps player was still on the ground Filipe Morais crossed the ball into the Imps 18 yard box and was turned into his own net by Michael Bostwick in first half injury time.
Things didn't get better in the second half for Lincoln when only nine minutes in frustration got the better of Lincoln's captain Lee Frecklington who went flying into a tackle with Crawley's Mark Connolly who was left flickering around on the floor like the hooked fish in the goal celebration in Chris Kamara's Ladbrokes advert. The referee seemed to let play go but fighting broke out between opposing players and other officials must have been screaming in his ear-piece from the side lines about the challenge and so he stopped play and eventually sent Frecklington off.
The sending off did liven up Lincoln a tad but now down to ten men and a goal behind it was always going to be an up hill task to get back in the game and Crawley had done a great job of containing the league leaders thus far had just got to stick to their guns and not do anything rash which they did and saw the game out 1-0 winners.
Felt sorry for Lincoln somehow with a sell out crowd of eight thousand three hundred and they turn out a lack lustre performance such as today's, make's you wonder if they're strong enough to maintain their challenge at the top and to be honest I didn't see anything to suggest that today but then it might just be an off day. That's the second they've lost at home now in a week they can't continue in this vein the change must come soon, VERY SOON!!!
MATCH DETAILS
