Football: Disappointment for Lincoln City and Scunthorpe United but joy for Boston United.

Lincoln City

If you consider that back in 2017 Lincoln City weren't even in the football league then finishing 7th in league one is not a bad result.

However I imagine most Imps fans won't be thinking about that right now.

Instead they'll be reflecting on what might have been.

They were so close to making the play offs - yet they didn't.

In the first half of the season Lincoln never looked in any danger of relegation. yet the play offs seemed unlikely.

Then came their unbeaten run.

Suddenly things seemed to have turned for the Imps and they became the form team of the division.

The Imps bounced back beating rivals Oxford

The play offs seemed not only a real possibility but almost likely.

Five wins in a row heading into April seemed to confirm promotion to the championship was possible.

However a draw at Reading and then a home defeat to Wigan suggested the play offs may have been a step too far.

But the Imps bounced back beating rivals Oxford and then Cheltenham to sit 6th in the table with one game to go.

All they had to do was maintain their position and they'd make the play offs.

A decent season but it's ended in disappointment

However today's final game of the season was at home to champions Portsmouth.

Not easy - even though the South coast club had nothing to play for.

Lincoln might have suspected today wasn't going to be their day after they were given a penalty - only for Danny Madroiu's spotkick to be saved.

With the game heading into the final ten minutes of normal time the Imps knew they had to score.

Rivals Oxford were winning at Exeter meaning they would leapfrog the Imps unless the score at the LNER stsdium changed.

It did - but not in the way Lincoln wanted.

Portsmouth finally broke the deadlock on 81 minutes.

And as the Imps desperately tried to score with 12 minutes of injury time Portsmouth got a second.

Game over for Lincoln.

In many ways it's been a pretty good season for the Imps but it's ended in disappointment and it'll be league 1 football once again next season.

Scunthorpe United v Boston United

Rarely has a local derby between Scunthorpe United and Boston United been so important.

And there were no goals at normal time or in the extra period.

So it went to penalties.

It was Boston United who triumphed 5-4 on spotkicks to spark wild celebrations for Pilgrims fans.

Once again the Pilgrims progress because of their ability with penalties.

Scunthorpe may have finished higher in the table - they may have had home advantage but it was Boston who go through to next weekend's play off final.

The Iron had to settle for the play offs

This season the Iron suffered major difficulties both on and off the pitch in recent times.

A change of ownership twice in quick succession and relegation from league 2 and then the National league north were tough to take.

However early on this season in looked like they may well be promoted from the National league north automatically.

The Iron were top of the table for long periods.

However their hopes of finishing first were dealt a blow due to the rise and rise of Tamworth.

The Iron had to settle for the play offs.

However with a decent season behind them they must have been confident.

As for Boston United they had a reasonable season and secured their play off place.

Amazingly Boston United did it again

It's only 2 years since they were in the play off final.

On that occasion they were beaten by York.

This year they were hoping to go one better.

They faced Alfreton Town and the game finished nil nil with neither side breaking the deadline in extra time either.

And it was the Pilgrims who triumphed 5-4 on spot kicks to set up today's national league north play off semi final at Scunthorpe.

And today they amazingly did it again.

Another penalty shootout victory for Boston United but the season ends in disappointment for Scunthorpe United.

Grimsby Town

A quick mention for Grimsby Town.

It's been a difficult season for the Mariners.

Disappointing results saw them part company with Paul Hurst to be replace by David Artell.

However things didn't really pick up.

It was only towards the end of the campaign they began to get key results and last weekend's win against Swindon ensured they were safe from relegation.

They rounded off the season with a 2 nil defeat at Crawley.