The second period promised to be better, with it being a cup tie Carlisle had to come at us and we knew that could leave them open. To be fair, they did have best of the opening ten or fifteen minutes of the second half. Josh Vickers was once again big and strong and I suspect Chris had made his mind up on the Man of the Match before the hour mark. That’s not to say it was a closed shop, but Vickers had, at times, kept us in it.
We weren’t hanging on for dear life, but a keeper is rarely praised just for doing his job, yet Josh did his superbly. When asked to deliver it forward he used both feet equally as comfortably, he received the ball in some tight positions but remained cool. I’m saying this now because post match several people questioned why he got the award and asked if we’d only done it because it was his birthday. No, we didn’t. we did it because on balance, we feel his performance was worth at least a goal.
Now that’s out of the way, and the first ten minutes of the second half were put to bed, we get to talk nothing but positive because I felt the final half hour we saw some great stuff from City. The wide players got much more of the ball, the midfield spread it nicely in either direction and both Green and Rhead were busy. Matt Green might have had the goal everyone was wanting him to get on 55 minutes, Pett worked the ball to Freck when he might have had one of his low, hard drives. It was a neat move though and the captain’s ball just evaded Greeny at the back stick.
I wanted him to core today, desperately. I’m a big fan of Matt Green, always have been and his hard work definitely tired the opposition defence. He plays a lot with his back to goal, looking to turn and run the channels but a good striker has instinct and the position he took up showed that. He was millimetres from it, but alas no cigar.
Neal Eardley found himself in some space in the area and his drive could easily have made it two as well. Neal was another who played very well today, always willing to whip in a cross but, when he sees a little glimpse of goal, he’s on it. I remember his strike against Cheltenham last season and I back him to get another at some point, although today he was just thwarted by the block.
The temperature was rising in the Bank as Freck had a couple of efforts in the space of a few seconds, and when Greeny and Rheady were replaced minutes later we got a glimpse of how things should be. The two players departing were given a great ovation, the two coming on even more so. There’s a lot of focus on John Akinde at the moment, but the huge cheer that went up when he came on must have been heartening to hear. It shouldn’t need highlighting, he’s got the support of 99% of the fans, even those who feel he needed the break today.
The changes just ensured we kept the momentum going and Lee Frecklington, whom I can exclusively reveal was our other pick for Man of the Match, had a cracking drive saved by Collin in the Carlisle goal. Is it fair to say it was all one way traffic? I think so. There was only ever going to be one side score again at that point.
It would be remiss to say we poured forward at every opportunity, but we were by far the most lively side. Carlisle looked short of ideas in the absence of Ashley Nadeson and their little flurry at the start of the second half seemed to be as much as they had in the locker. Akinde simply took up the channel running, with McCartan the man linking the midfield and attack. He does it well, perhaps on occasion he carries the ball too far, but him and Bruno have got to be the most effective dribblers we’ve had at the club in many a year. The ball sticks to their feet and whilst they do get crowded out at times, it is nice to see them asking questions of defenders with runs, especially late on in the game.
Eventually, the goal had to come. We’d knocked on the door enough and whilst Carlisle hadn’t rolled over, but for the early flurry they’d offered little. Shackell and Bozzy had both been commanding at the back and the changes gave us some fresh legs up front. 1-0 had everyone wondering about a repeat of Mansfield, but 2-0 ended it.
I’m not sure what I cheered more, the goal or the scorer. I think we know 95% of Imps fans are behind big John, some of the talk around him has been silly. I’m not going over old ground, I thought he’d answered his critics against Forest Green and again with commanding performances against Mansfield and Oldham, but today he gave everyone what they wanted to see, a goal. He could have had one before, pulling a smart save from Collin, but there was no doubt about the one that went in.
Again, Bruno Andrade was provider, he’s a beast of a player who I believe will net us a big transfer fee in the future, but right now he’s providing assists and lots of them. His ball was perfect, right across goal to where the danger man was lurking. It was the same goal we scored against Forest Green and Mansfield, a ball that is becoming as reliable for us as a set piece. This time, John Akinde was on the end of it and the smile on his face said it all.
I also liked the celebration between him and Matt Green, a huge embrace on the touch line told a thousand stories in itself. Togetherness.
It wasn’t just the win, nor the goal for big John, but also the clean sheet that will be important. It was a shame to see Josh Vickers head off the pitch in tears, even worse to know he had to go straight in the ice bath and couldn’t collect his champagne from me, but hopefully the injury isn’t serious. He was a big part in that ‘0’ next to Carlisle in tomorrow’s papers and it’ll be a nice platform to build on against Accrington and certainly next week against Stevenage.
What more is there to say? We’re now in the hat for the second round and any little rumblings will have been dampened down. I would call for everyone to keep their feet on the ground, not to indulge each other in ‘I told you so’ tit for tat comments because none of it has any point. Today, in the stands we were together, on the pitch the players were together and we showed how powerful that really is.
I only hope our endeavour gets the draw it deserves, Lee Frecklington wants Leeds United, some bloke on the radio wants a Manchester club, my Dad wants (and I quote) ‘a shit club’ in round three so we can progress further and me, all I want, is for us all to have a week of smiling and remembering exactly what it is that makes this football club so strong from the top right to the bottom.
We’re all Imps.
We’re in the hat for the third round – the last 64
Good result today means more money to strengthen in th new year. So let’s have a go at silencing the non believer detractors with this. It is interesting the critics always moan about Akinde but if we set up with two wingers and attacking full backs the delivery into the box will always be more suitable for a Rhead type centre forward John is more of a technical into feet type forward the reason he is not scoring as often is a lack of creativity from central midfield this is because Danny sets out with two banks of four to defend our last third of the pitch thus Pett/Frecklington our creative middle two only manage occasional forward forays so nothing coming int big Johns Feet around the box we’re he is by far our most dangerous forward. He struggles with playing with Shay McCartan as he is a solo type player again that offers John less support around the box. People need to realise that Akinde is the future while Rhead is the present and the past. Just my own opinion.
Rheady steered it in with his feet… but minor issue. I thought we rode our luck at times. I can’t disagree with man of match in Vickers who made a solid contribution and several fine saves. Harry is keeping his place because of his energy and terrier like desire to take the ball off the opposition. Another glaring scoring opportunity spurned by him from 10 yards.Has to hit target at this level. Rheady and Greeny did their stuff but thought for me the introduction of the other pairing looked more threatening as an attacking options in the last 25 mins. Evident to me that the tenacious O’Connor is the number one choice to sit in front of back four. Frecks is the man to pair with him although Petts is more than an able replacement. For me Petts and Frecks don’t gel so well but Petts will get plenty of game time as I suspect Frecks will be nursed through the season. Really pleased for Akinde but everyone including Danny should know that a dozen kids on social media is not representative of the support who recognise his contribution and are absolutely behind him. One last point Gary, It’s important not to overhype our players or management team. Danny is doing a great job and I am sure is learning all the time but a steady climb is preferable to a meteoric rise. Same for our talented young forward Andrade. He is beginning to add consistency to his guile and pace but it’s still early days in his resurgent career which I firmly believe is attributable to the hard work of both himself and the coaching staff.
Great as ever Gary. Not sure lurking is the right description though. His sprint into the box to meet the cross left at least 2 players in his wake, great energy and a great goal.