CONGRATULATIONS to Lincoln City. They are flying the non-league flag with true spirit and are very deserving of their success.

They came to Forest Green’s New Lawn on November 19 and we outplayed them for 80 minutes.

Rovers were in total charge and leading 2-0 but Lincoln saw a chink in Rovers’ defence. In 10 minutes the chink became a chasm. Three Lincoln goals saw them end the game as winners.

Those 10 minutes were season-defining for both teams.

The Imps have gone from strength to strength while Forest Green Rovers have floundered, proving surprisingly soft-centred. Lessons were learned that day but only by one team.

It is not too late for Rovers, but manager Mark Cooper has to wake up and smell the coffee. He must ask himself several questions, the first being are your current crop of loan signings better than players you are not selecting?

With the possible exception of Charlie Cooper. I suggest they are not. Secondly, he must cease making derogatory remarks about individual players in post-match press conferences. He was at it again on Saturday when two defenders were described as “plant pots”.

One of Lincoln’s strengths is their togetherness. Do we have any at FGR?

There is still time for a surge in form and a return to the awesome autumn results.

Two good innings by Gloucestershire’s Michael Klinger have failed to secure victory for Australia in the T20 games with Sri Lanka. He has hit 38 and 43 making him top scorer in the tournament so far, so his selection has been entirely justified.

I have one worry. If he continues to do well he could make the Aussie Test squad which could limit his Gloucestershire availability.

There was no respite for Cirencester RFC on Saturday. Whiteway opponents Stroud had lost three of their previous four games. I’ll leave the final score for other pages, suffice to say Cirencester finished second.

This will be pointed out to me at the New Lawn on Saturday – frequently.

On a beautiful late winters’ day last week I travelled to the North Cotswolds for the funeral of Eric Gordon. His impressive total of more than 80 Cheltenham Cricket Festivals may never be beaten.

To see Eric with many generations of his family having a picnic (just below the sight screen, Cottage End) was one of cricket’s true joys.

When I battled to preserve the county championship at Lord’s it was the Gordon family I thought of. Thanks to Eric they knew what proper cricket was and is.

Eric served his local club Adelstrop in so many ways as he did his village. A fine gardener he claimed to grow the best runner beans in the Cotswolds.

Two young(ish) cricket fans were at Wembley to see Swindon beat Arsenal at Wembley in 1969.

They only knew each other in later years when they became chairmen of their respective county cricket clubs. Andy Nash led Somerset and I was his Gloucestershire counterpart. We had different aims.

After I had made yet another plea to save the four-day game, Andy, a confirmed T20 man, looked at me sadly and addressed the ECB board thus: “John – we have invented Elvis Presley, why do you want to give everyone Bryan Adams.”

Rod Bransgrove of Hampshire followed up. He knew I was trying to protect the Cheltenham Festival.

“We cannot have the first class programme planned around a Cotswold garden party," said Bransgrove.

You can see what I was up against. I should have taken Eric Gordon with me.