Day 18

Burnley offered Dominic Knowles for £6,250. We neither have money nor desire for the striker, who I've never heard of before, so I said no. We were also offered Elliott Frear, who I have heard of, by Exeter, but he wouldn't be worth the £4,000 price tag to us.

As I had feared, Couñago signed for Prat instead of Lincoln. My first reaction was a petulant "jerk! Lincoln is a bigger club and...and I picked you first!" But I'm not really surprised. I had a feeling that he'd be more interested in a move back to his homeland, and Prat have enough money to pay him £575 per week part time. I wish I could earn £30,000 a year working only half a week, every week. (And playing football, no less.)

My first look at Kanouté in a Lincoln shirt will have to wait. The defender missed today's match because he's with the Mali Under 20s for the Under 20 World Cup. He's unlikely to return until mid-August, if not sooner (it's the 22nd of July today).

We went a goal down on 19 minutes, then conceded a second just thirty seconds later. Twenty minutes into the match, we looked dead in the water.

A penetrating run from Barnes-Homer nearly set up Koroma for a goal, before Olembé popped up to convert a fine pass from Koroma a minute later. Gowling was unlucky not to pull scores level on the stroke of half time with a headed effort on the edge of the six yard box.

Maccesfield scored again in the 55th minute—their second goal from a long throw. That pretty much killed off the Lincoln fight. We had a few more chances, but never looked like scoring. The only positive, other than increased match fitness, was that Olembé played well.

After a favourable report from scout Mark Bradshaw, I approached West Ham about signing Matthias Fanimo on loan for the rest of the season. He could be good cover for Olembé, and might be able to adapt to the right flank—thus solving our right wing problem.