I felt better about our measly attendance when I saw it was sixth best in the league...then immediately worse when I looked at the numbers. Our average of 2943 pales in comparison to Luton's 6563—or even to 2nd best Stockport's 4161. Looking at it by capacity, we're averaging just 29.08% of the maximum. Luton are at 63.72%, Stockport at 40.40%, and the hapless Hayes & Yeading at 6.44%.
At least we have the best away record in the league. That'll hold us in good steady as the season progresses. (Our home record, on the other hand, is way down in 11th, with three draws, a loss, and two wins).
I've felt all along that I'm doing a lot with a little when it comes to personnel at Lincoln. Turns out that "little" is not quite a fair term. Our current salary per annum is £778K, which is fifth highest (Luton lead the way with £1.41M). Telford are fifth in the league and getting by on £384K a year in player wages. I guess I should stop complaining about budget.
We play a clean game (and so do league leaders Mansfield, I was pleased to see). Just eight yellow cards, giving us the third best discipline. I don't like dirty play, so I'll take that as a sign my boys play clean and honest—rather than being pansies.
On the players front, Shuker's holding equal third on the assists charts—behind fellow aging stars Lee Hendrie and Steve Jones. Power, Barnes-Homer, and Atkinson are all passing well—at greater than 80% completion rates. Koroma loves to go for a run, and the stats show it. His 3.46 dribbles a game place him second behind York winger Matty Blair.
Barnes-Homer's record in front of goal is a wasteful one—just 37% of his shots have been on target. Peter Bore, meanwhile, has covered an astounding 128.2 kilometres—that's 10.9 kilometres a game. Olembé was averaging a staggering best-in-the-league 12 kilometres a game before his injury and subsequent leave of absence. We miss him for more than his passing and shooting. That's a lot of running power we've lost.
Power has averaged slightly more than a key pass every game—13 from the 11 times he's played. That puts his importance in perspective for me. Marques and Gowling dominate in the air against most opponents. Now I have some numbers to prove it. Marques's 22 key headers is sixth best in the league, while Gowling's 19 key headers is 10th.
The official verdict on my best performers so far this season puts Olembé at top (and 11th in the league), followed by Barnes-Homer, Russell, Marques, Bore, Gowling, Koroma, Shuker, then Power. None of my other players are listed in the top 100.
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