The saying ‘game of two halves’ always amuses me because although it is right, it is also staying the obvious. In the second 45 minutes they had the wind behind them and were able to retain possession much more. Dino Mammria, a no-nonsense manager whom I have a bit of time for, clearly changed things around a little and approached the game differently. It wasn’t enough to affect the result, but it left us under the cosh. Of course, we react in those situations and decisions made in-game are often the reason we win matches.
It’s not always a sub either, sometimes it’s the little things, shifting a midfielder deeper, dropping a player further back or marking someone a little tighter. Often, as fans, we won’t see the change immediately but when you’re close to Danny on the touch-line you can hear the little tweeks he makes, with the advice of his ever-expanding backroom staff. There’s blood and thunder on the pitch, but a game of chess going on off it.
Grant Smith made his first save five minutes after the restart which set the scene for the second period. We weren’t truly threatened as such, but it became tougher for us to get out, with a gale holding the ball up and Stevenage finding a rhythm. I liked Campbell-Ryce, I thought he offered a great out for them and had pace to burn. Maybe it was because he came up against Harry Toffolo and his injury, but I thought he looked dangerous. I was disappointed with Revell, he’s a strong lad but he wasn’t able to impose himself on our back two. Maybe that is because they’re so bloody strong. Who knows?
What you do need in a game like this is an extra leg up and the travelling support certainly made sure they were heard and effective. The Lamex rang out to Lincoln City songs and it clearly spurred the lads on. Tom Pett might have had his goal in the second half, firing over, but then the hosts surged forward but couldn’t find their way through. It wasn’t end to end in the traditional sense, it was a fight, not too easy on the eye but certainly with enough in it to hold the attention of a neutral, if there was one in the ground.
It was nice, in a way, to see Scott Wharton get a run out. It’s never good for a player to go off injured, but Harry Toffolo had looked at 65% for most of the game and that meant a reshuffle. Wharton isn’t a left back as such, but he’s composed and can travel with the ball. One surging run in particular remind me of what he looked like last season, making it all the more difficult to see him on the bench so often. He’s the big loser in the Jason Shackell signing, which is a shame. Still, he played his part today and didn’t let us down when he came on.
The last twenty minutes or so didn’t carry any real threat for City. There was a little mild peril perhaps as Stevenage hunted the goal, but this wasn’t the Lincoln City of recent weeks, likely to leak at the back. There was a resilience today, that togetherness that Danny lauds off the pitch was as evident as ever. Bodies were put on the line where they needed to be, but the game was managed well. Not by time-wasting I might add, but by shepherding players into less effective positions, by keeping the ball out of the danger areas and by keeping cool heads.
The big chance came in the last-minute for the hosts, the one they wanted came from a free kick courtesy of Joel Byrom. His curling effort was saved superbly by Grant Smith, a player who wasn’t called into action enough to be Man of the Match, but did everything right and was reliable and strong.
That was pretty much that. Six minutes of injury time brought little more danger and City were able to hold on, having blocked, tackled and manipulated the game in increasing amounts. As I’ve said, the back four were superb, including Scott Wharton in that when he came on. Michael O’Connor screening in front was excellent too and at times late on made it a back five. After the first thirty minutes it wasn’t a big attacking game for City, but even so players like Bruno, Harry Anderson and Lee Frecklington played their part. John Akinde was excellent, he gave a solid performance in the lone striker role and even tracked back hard when he needed to.
It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t straightforward but it was a great win for the Imps. Credit to Stevenage, they make a formidable opponent and are sure to be around the top seven by the end of the season, especially as they’ve already avoided defeat at home against MK Dons and Colchester.
They didn’t avoid defeat against Danny’s Imps though and whilst the win is great, lets not get carried away. We’ve got Morecambe up next, a side likely to sit with ten men behind the ball and hit us on the break, a game we have to go out and win not just by fighting like today, but also by showing creativity and guile.
Ten days ago I was arguing against us being something like 19th in the form table, but stats can be made to say what you want. Here’s a good one for you: we’ve lost once in 14, counting Checkatrade games as draws. We’re unbeaten in eight matches too and have two clean sheets in three.
We’re back on track, but if we’re to stay there we’ll need the walking wounded to recover quickly and we’ll need to show the same fight in the next 26 league games.
With all the bluster of your report Gary, Lincoln City FC depend greatly on three players to be where we are, namely Neal Eardley, Jason Shackell and Michael Boswick. Opposition teams I have seen in recent weeks offensively are better organised and more creative than ours. Im sure Danny is aware. Going forward there is no way in Gods earth that Harry Anderson in current form is a Div 1 player let alone Div 2. No doubt he is combative but creatively we have to look elsewhere. We wont compete in Div 1 with what we have on average. There will need to be major investment in players going forward.