The last two and a half years have been a fantastic time to be an Imp but perhaps surprisingly comparing 2018, our first full calendar year back in the Football League, to the other calendar years we have competed in the Football League no new club records have been set.
Postponements towards the end of a year has a knock-on effect the following year in the number of games played so the 45 played in 2018 falls well short of the 51 games played in 1977. This year we played 22 times at Sincil Bank compared with 27 times in 1967 and City travelled away on 23 occasions compared with 26 in 1977.
23 games were won, 13 at home and 10 away with all three figures falling short of the yearly records of 29 won in 1951 and 1982 (both years saw 48 games played) with 1936 seeing 21 homes wins in 25 games and 2006 saw 12 away wins in 23 games.
13 games were drawn in 2018, 7 at home and 6 away, with the records being just 2 drawn in 1896 albeit from just 29 games (in a minimum 40 game year 5 were drawn in 1925 from 41 games) whilst 1896 didn’t see a single home draw in 12 games (again for a more accurate comparison 1936 and 1951 both saw just one home draw from 25 and 22 games respectively). Three years have seen no away draws: 1892 (just six played), 1939 (nine played) and 1907 from 20 games.
Just nine Football League games were lost in 2018 with two at home and seven away whereas the 1912 Imps lost just 5 in 19 games and in a minimum 40 game year 1976 saw just seven defeats in 42 games. Two home defeats in a calendar year is impressive but in 1912 (just nine games) and 1901 (17 games) the club remained unbeaten throughout the year. In years with at least 20 home games played one defeat is the record achieved in 1980 (26 games), 1930 (24 games), 1975 (22 games) and 1976 (21 games). Away from Sincil Bank 2017 saw just 4 defeats from 12 games equalling the record from 1950 when 17 games were played. When a minimum of 20 away games were played just six games were lost in 1991 (25 played), 1997 (23 played), 1976 (21 played), 1981 (20 played) and 1992 (20 played)
75 City goals were scored in 2018 with 42 coming at home and 33 away which all fall well short of the club records of 117 in total in 48 games in 1951, 77 home goals in 25 games in 1936 and 45 away goals in 23 games in 1927. City’s defences were breached 51 times in 2018, 27 times at Sincil Bank but just 24 times away. In 2017 City conceded just 20 times in 25 games but in a 40+ game year the record is 29 in 1980 when 50 games were played. Whilst 1912 (9 games) and 1911 (7 games) saw just 6 goals conceded at home and 2017 saw just 11 (in 12 games) conceded away from home it is 1980 that not surprisingly set the record lows in a year that saw at least 20+ games played as just 11 were conceded in 26 games at home and 18 in 24 away games.
Finally, 51.11% of the games were won in 2018 compared to a record of 62.79% in 1930 (27 wins in 43 games) with 28.89% ending in draws. Just 5.26% were drawn in 1907 (2 in 38 games) with 12.20% the lowest % in a 40+ game year was again set in 1925 with 5 drawn games from 41 played whilst 1980 saw the lowest loss % with just 8 defeats in 50 games making 16.00% losses compared with 20.00% in 2018.
NB All the above relate purely to the regular season Football League matches and do not include Play Off games.