Stevenage fan column – Lincoln lowdown from the commentary box with Dean ‘Deano’ Thompson

Dean 'Deano' Thompson with the lovely Carol (Image: Archant)

The fixture calender is a cruel mistress and it’s just Lincoln away rather than a short trip down the A1 to Barnet or up the A10 to Cambridge from Stevenage.

I’ve been travelling the country now for seven seasons as the sidekick to Steve Watkins on BBC 3CR and it’s great fun as we meet the most passionate, loyal and eccentric football fans.

For home games we usually like to arrive about 1pm and find something to eat and drink.

Steve will set up and I will take a wander to chat to fans, kit men and stewards to gain any interesting snippets of information.

The commentary box's version of Statler and Waldorf - Dean 'Deano' Thompson with Steve Watkins (Image: Archant)

I always head for the away team arriving to meet some of the Stevenage fans to gauge the mood and again refer to them in commentary – I always get a hug off the lovely Carol!

Boxing Day 2017 at Lincoln, let’s say we haven’t been looking forward too.

It had been a tough run of one win in 10 until we beat Chesterfield 5-1 on Saturday.

I like to make our commentary as inclusive as possible to make our fans feel welcome, part of a small community.

We take messages, tweets and comments. We’re a small club and everyone knows each other.

The game started brightly at Sincil Bank. The home support was bouncing, noisy and enthusiastic. With 9,500 of them in the ground, they drowned out the ever-enthusiastic small band of 250 Stevenage fans away to our left.

Seven minutes in and Stevenage should have silenced the home fans but Newton’s header was saved and Gormans follow up cleared off the line.

A chance that manager Darren Sarll would rue in his post match interview.

Two more chances came. One saved and a teaser missed at the far post before Lincoln too over.

At 3-0 down commentary can become like Test Match Special when not a lot happens and you talk about the lovely bakewell tart you were given at half time. It was great to see the Stevenage fans stay until their team went over to applaude the support, as always.

A very patient, loyal and enthusiastic fan Base who are looking forward to the January transfer window as much as I’m sure their manager is...