2002/2003 marked the return of Keith Alexander's second managerial spell at Lincoln City. At the start of the season Lincoln had just come out of administration and had only a handful of players on the books at the club. Alexander worked miracles and put together a team that started out as clear relegation favourites but finished in the play-offs final at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.
The play-offs semi-finals pitched Lincoln City against old rivals Scunthorpe United. The first leg played at Sincil Bank was an amazing encounter. Eight goals saw Lincoln win 5-3. All eyes were now on Glanford Park. Tickets for this match went on sale for Imps fans four days after the 5-3 win at 9am on a Wednesday morning. Play-off fever had hit the city of Lincoln. Local interest was huge! At 6am the queues stretched far back and it has been suggested that anyone who turned up about this time didn't get a ticket. My friends and I had joined the queue at 5am.
The match was an evening kick-off and the evening's entertainment started with Scunthorpe manager Brian Laws parading around the edge of the pitch with a huge Scunthorpe United flag. All this did was add fuel to the hearts of the Lincoln players and management.
2,000 away fans were packed into the away end at Glanford Park and the atmosphere was typical of a passionate local derby with so much riding on the outcome of the match. Scunthorpe seemed to have the majority of the chances in the game with Alan Marriott the busier of the keepers as The Iron looked to claw back the two goal deficit from the first leg.
With the game heading for a goalless draw Simon Yeo was provided with a perfect pass from midfield to race clear of defender Jamie McCombe, who was later to play for Lincoln. It was a one on one with Tom Evans and Yeo finished calmly from the edge of the box to send the hoardes of Lincoln fans behind the goal where Yeo had scored into dreamland.
The Imps fans celebrated like they had won the biggest football prize available. After a pre-season of much uncertainty when Lincoln City came close to cease trading, Keith Alexander had performed a miracle. The relegation favourites at the start of the season had made it to the play-off final . What an achievement!
It must not be forgotten that without the help of the 'Save The Imps' campaign and huge fund raising efforts then Lincoln wouldn't have had a league team at the start of the 2002 season.
Lincoln City went on to lose the play-off final to Bournemouth but that was a day out that most Imps fans hadn't bargained for at the start of the season.
