[4] Its first reported football match was a draw with the Grantham Conservatives at the Cowpaddle on 1 March 1878.
[5] The club's ethos was amateurism and working class: The Albion was a regular entrant in the Lincolnshire Senior Cup from 1882,[7] its best run being to the semi-finals in 1883–84, losing to Spilsby by the only goal.
[8] The arrival of professional football, and the foundation of Lincoln City, had a deleterious effect on the club, as it lost a number of players to the Cits.
[10] Despite the hopes of the Athletic News that "the experience may bring more support and more members to the club", the club appears only to have played twice more; losing in the first round of the local cup to Grimsby Humber Rovers[11] and a low-key friendly against a Wesleyan chapel side;[12] the club arranged further fixtures but did not seem to play them off.
[13] The club did not have a permanent enclosed ground; it hosted matches variously at Cowpaddle[14] or South Park.