Character Tested: Cambridge 1-2 Imps

One player who had impressed me in the first half was Harry Anderson. Not so long ago he was being pulled up on his end product, but he deserves huge praise for his attitude and his bullish aggression. He’s not like normal wingers, he doesn’t fly past full backs with grace or poise all the time, he fights. He battles and bullies and in the first half, he’d been our main aggressor. 

John Akinde had a decent game too, putting in a strong shift leading the line. I wasn’t convinced that him and Rheady would make a good pairing, but we won a few aerial duels even if it hadn’t resulted in anything positive. It does make us a little more long ball though, but no more so than some we’ve played this year.

The early stages of the second period were scrappy. They’d identified Anderson as a threat and seemingly looked to target him, with Reggie Lambe scything him down in front of our fans. It was the sort of booking a players gets secretly applauded for by his own fans, ‘taking one for the team’. I rated Lambe too, he’d had a good game, but when he committed another foul a few minutes later I thought he was lucky not to walk.

A sickening clash of heads on 56 minutes led to a long stoppage, then oddly a yellow card for Harry Anderson. He jumped into an aerial duel he was more than entitled to go for and yet when the two prone players eventually got back on their feet, he was carded. He came back on with a bump on his head, but he’d also got more motivation to get something for the Imps.

On the hour I thought John Akinde was felled when through on goal too, a simple punt up field from Smith into the channel found the big man who got involved in a simple race with the defender. For my money, he was pulled back, but had it been the other way around I might not have seen it the same way. City were asking questions though, the home side were showing some mental fragility, maybe because they were defending the corner dominated by red and white shirted fans, maybe because they’ve been poor for so long they feel it’s always going to be tough to close out a game.

When we finally got the break our first half performance barely deserved, it came thanks to Harry Anderson. He collected the ball in the middle of the park and found the energy to surge towards goal, all the while being pulled and pushed around. only when he got within yards of the penalty area was the attention enough to take him off his feet, earning us a free kick 22 or so yards from goal.

Matt Rhead performed his usual trick of blocking the keeper’s view, much to the ire of the easily irritated Forde, but when john Akinde joined in too it looked, albeit briefly, like an emerging double act. Surely Matt Rhead, written off more times at Lincoln than any other player, couldn’t be the man we end up relying on to partner John Akinde in the second half of the season? Could he? As he blocked the keeper’s view and did his usual routine, a pang of nostalgia stabbed me in the gut. He’s a legend you know, our Matt. An unorthodox one, but a Lincoln City character we’ll never forget.

I have a habit of saying things like ‘we never do anything from free kicks’, something I said once more, probably in hope more than anything. As Neal strode up I didn’t for one second think it’s fly high and wide, but I couldn’t have called the precision with which he beat the keeper. Could Forde have done better? some on social media think so but I suspect it was perfectly placed to beat him. The crowd erupted and I suddenly felt there was only one winner.

Checking my phone alerted me to MK Dons taking the lead, meaning a win was going to be crucial and within five minutes we’d sealed it. The move started again with Eardley, another of his pinpoint deliveries found Matt Rhead to nod down in the area. His ball landed at the feet of Big John with his back to goal, be he turned and scooped his effort into the back of the net. It wasn’t a classic, but it did give us a 2-1 lead.

What it highlighted to me was how dangerous Akinde is when he’s not just the target man. With Matt Rhead doing to nodding down, we got to see the poacher in action, a man happy battling for possession in the six yard box. His goal against Newport was similar, this one perhaps a bit more convincing and measured. It isn’t one you’ll see again and again, but he showed a true striker’s grit to not only turned in the area, but also finish despite the attention of defenders and a keeper. 

That’s five in six now for Akinde and the arguments about our forward line seem to have abated.

The best was yet to come as the thrilling final fifteen minutes turned into almost half an hour. We had eight minutes of injury time allocated, of which I timed us playing almost 11, meaning there was 26 minutes of football to be played after we scored. Cambridge looked like they might get an equaliser and at one point a game of pinball in the area should have brought them joy, but in the end Grant Smith made a superb save to bring the phase to a close. Smith then superbly tipped a free kick onto the post too, proving his credentials as a keeper and giving him lots of confidence going forward too.

Cambridge weren’t laying siege as such, but they were fighting for their lives and those final 26 minutes could have seen us draw 2-2, or even win 3-1 as we looked to get away on the break. Our biggest travelling support of the season, 2,276, watched on in agony and ecstasy as a miserable opening 45 minutes were washed away.

Someone who was laying siege to an opponent was Northampton and as we played past five o’clock for yet another week, they snatched a late draw from being 2-0 down. Junior Morais, sent off against us in the last-minute of our FA Cup tie, turned from Imps villain to hero as he pegged back the Dons meaning as the final whistle finally blew at the Abbey Stadium, we’d not only won 2-1 but opened up a six point gap at the top of the table.

What more is there to say? The clear Man of the Match was Harry Anderson, but John Akinde was certainly second and after that any one of three or four for their second half performances alone. If we win the league, we won’t win it by sweeping teams aside and bagging four or five a game, but we’ll do it by fighting, scrapping, competing and demonstrating the character we have, both in the team and as a club, time and again.

We won’t get carried away but thus far over the festive period we have six points from nine, with Port Vale the visitors on new Year’s Day. That won’t be easy, but it shouldn’t be as tough as the last two matches and coupled with the fact a resurgent Cambridge visit Stadium MK, you wouldn’t bet against us still having at least a six point lead over them as we travel to Goodison Park.