Courtesy of Lincolnshire Echo

A pub quiz question for you. What connects Sir Peter Ustinov, William Shakespeare, and Ted Lasso? Answer – they’ve either been credited with or famously used the expression “It’s the hope that kills you.’
At two nil up early on at Blackpool last Saturday we hoped the Imps would keep the home side at bay and come away with an excellent three-point haul. It seems a number of fans were more than disappointed that the home side came back and equalised late on. That’s where the hope thing gets complicated, because before the game I’m sure lots of us were hoping we’d get a result, ie not lose. Any draw on the road is good stuff.
It reminds me of a famous Lincoln City manager of the past who, after we’d won a midweek away game and then only drawn at Sincil Bank the next Saturday, said ‘You’d have settled for four points from the two games.’ He was right – stepping back from being disappointed at not winning our home fixture you’d have hoped for being unbeaten and picking up valuable points that week.  
In my time at Lincoln United we were in the Northern Premier League and staying at that level was very difficult. For three seasons I witnessed our battles against bigger clubs with resources we could only wish for. The last of those seasons was especially difficult and we were in a very lowly position but even then safe from the drop before Covid kicked in and we all stayed at home. Looking at all the clubs above us in the division we could have been in very bad humour but – bottom line – as the season had got underway we hoped we’d stay at that level. And we did. 
When hope becomes expectation is when it gets tricky. There will be supporters who, last weekend, expected us to win when we built a two goal advantage. Football isn’t like that of course. Sitting third in League One will encourage some that we should stay around there, even though we’re far from half the way through season 25-26. Anything can happen.
In August I hoped we’d get 50 points in the season and stay in the third tier. We’re only 15 points off that in mid December. I also hoped we’d challenge in the top ten at some stage and we are doing. I hoped we’d be good at home to entertain our brilliant fans. We have been. None of those were automatically expected though, and it makes for following your team realistically satisfying.