The second period went exactly as I expected it too. I thought we’d come out of the blocks quickly again, we make a habit of doing just that, but as the game wore on we were always going to find ourselves under increasing pressure. The key was to get into the game once more, grab another goal and then do what we do best; frustrate.
When the goal did come there was an air of controversy over it. Harry Anderson broke free and showed his usual direct running to get into the area. He went down and the referee pointed to the spot. This incident is one that changes depending on the angle you see it from. There’s a GIF going around (forwarded to me by a Grimsby fan…. why so interested in us?) where Harry looks to take a dive. I’ll tell it how it is, he seems to do a jump and have the referee fall for it. At first glance, I thought he dived.
My Dad didn’t, but then he does have a picture of Harry Anderson and him on his mantlepiece. My Dad said it was a clear foul and when you see it from behind, there was contact. The defender takes Harry’s trailing leg, not intentionally, but he clips it enough to send our right winger off-balance. To the letter of the law, it’s a penalty. If it was against us I’d be saying the same thing, no matter what a short clip shows.
John Akinde does one of the things we pay him to do in the minutes after, staying cooler than the Fonz and more collected than a Lincoln City programme in my filing cabinet. He strides up and sends the keeper on holiday. 3-2 to City and we’re back in control.
That’s more or less where my article could end, because from that point on until the final whistle it was all about Bury. That’s me being objective. It might have been when Danny Rowe came off a little afterwards, but one of those two incidents basically caused us to go into our shell and invite them on to us.
They moved it about well, probed and battled, but our rear guard held firm. Jason Shackell was obviously immense and I felt with O’Connor in midfield we found more mobility than in the first half, allowing us to repel the Danny Mayor threat a little more. I know Bozzy is a huge favourite but for me, he’s a centre back. He doesn’t have the same industry as O’Connor, he’s a brute strength man, a player who kicks what moves and then goes back into position to do it again. O’Connor plays the ball and darts about more, which helped us in the second period.
It also helped that Bozzy was back in the middle kicking balls away. He thrived back alongside Shackell and both Harry Toffolo and Neal Eardley were excellent in those final thirty odd minutes.
Bury knocked on the door time and again, but at no point did they get anything too clear-cut. The XG data (Expected Goals, the NTT20 lads love that) will doubtless favour them, but data only shows one side of a performance. There’s no numbers for grit, resilience and fortitude. If there was, we’d be top of all the charts and not just the one that matters.
The two changes didn’t help our rhythm at all. Mark O’Hara didn’t get a touch to my knowledge, but it was a difficult game to get dropped into to. The same goes for Jordan Roberts, he did see a bit of the ball but wasn’t able to use it effectively. They’ll both be improving once they settle in, but my gut feeling would have been to bring on a player up to speed with our tactics. I wouldn’t have brought big John off though, he was blowing on 75 minutes but he still fought for the cause. yes, he unorthodox and I grant you we haven’t got the clinical finisher we saw at Barnet, but he was an important figure in those dying moments. With three centre halves, we had to have the mobility he offers, even if he was running on empty.
Eventually they did get the goal they wanted and when it came it was as disappointing defensively as the second one. Their lad has got a free header, unchallenged by any of the players around him. Could our lads have dealt with it better? Easy question to ask after 86 minutes of our lads running their bollocks off. I saw enough criticism on social media last night to believe we had crumpled and folded, but we didn’t. We got asked a question that we usually have the answer for and we forgot that answer. 3-3.
I genuinely thought they’d go on to win 4-3 at that point, such was the size of the blow, but it didn’t happen. Game management, call it what you like, but there was ten minutes of football left to be played and in that time we ensured the best footballing side in the division didn’t get another chance. MK Dons couldn’t do that. That’s why we’re top.
The end brought lots of smiles from those in attendance, despite us conceding late. Objectively, it was a superb point and if we take the same from trips to Mansfield and Forest Green, we’ll be in good shape for a top three finish. The race for the title is going to be close but if it were a race, we’ve just negotiated one of the toughest legs and are still out in front.
Now we have to go and do it against teams we should be beating, but seven from nine is a good haul and if we keep that up over the next nine games we’ll be in a tremendous position for a trip to Ipswich next season. Only a fool would bet against Bury joining us.
It was a pity that the match and whole programme as seen on Sky Sports appeared to be presented by the Bury Football Club Appreciation Society; overall they seemed to have little good to say about City, whilst drooling over everything that Bury did.
Agree with most of what you say Gary.
Two observations though, 1. For me Frecklington is under performing, he is in danger of being eclipsed by the quality being brought in around him, so he needs to step up and start commanding the midfield. 2. I watched the game on Sky and thought that the commentators, particularly in the studio, were incredibly biased towards Bury, talking them up as if they were the all conquering leaders of the league. I think there is a bias against this amazing rural based club that is Lincoln City…..maybe being understated will be a good thing in the long run, I certainly hope so!!
You shared my thoughts perfectly. i had my hands under my bum. That stat popped up that Bury scored goals in the last 15 minutes. So it was. Sometimes you laugh at stats at your peril. Should Rheady have come on to help Big John against their back 3, maybe? On the plus side we stopped them winning a 7th win on the bounce. We were worthy of a point. I tried to follow Michael’s commentary on Radio Lincs but the game on TV was a full minute behind the actual action. So, I watched it with the volume off. I probably enjoyed it better as I understand The Sky commentary was mainly Bury biased. So, we put that one to bed. Onto Meadow Lane next Saturday. One final mention, what a game it was despite all that rain. Up the Imps.
An excellent well-balanced article in my view. I felt the Grimsby match was a turning point, putting the tiredeness of the mad Christmas period behind us. I was surprised at the extent of negative comments on social media – Bury played to win and were superb when they went for it – they set up in an attacking way and made only attacking changes, – I felt it was them pushing us back, not us dropping back, and to get a point was something not many will achieve as you say. We must give them a lot of credit. I was slightly concerned at the time about bringing Roberts and O’Hara on, but I am not sure it would have made a difference. Also wondered about Grant Smith on a couple of occasions, but I reckon that was harsh given a deflection from a powerful shot for one goal and generally horrendous conditions. 7 points from 9 as you say – a terrific return from three difficult matches for one reason or another. A week’s rest now and a chance to get the newcomers familiar with the “processes”. I think Steve Thompson said there were only cup finals left now until the end of the season – that’s what it feels like to me. So far so good. Up the Imps!
A pretty good assessment but one thing that was missing was a comment about Frecklington, he was awful.
He barely played a forward pass, it was all sideways or backwards and he got caught in possession so often my calculator lost count.
Frankly I don’t think it would be too harsh to say the team carried him, it’s about time he was dropped, we have plenty of options so should be using them.
Apart from that it was a cracking game, you can’t help feel a little disappointed with the result, but no one can deny it was a riveting game to watch.
A fair reflection of the game Gary, but just great to be there and see the contrast in styles. Bury are the Luton of last season good to watch but we are just such a unit and good to watch in a completely different way.
I thought big John and Shackell were the two best Imps , and although I would have liked us to have had more of the ball in the final quarter , I just thought we deserved and rightly got something out of the match.
Heavy pitch , Midweek travel to Yeovil and a top of the table clash in front of the cameras a point was a good return . If you were a Bury fan looking at it, playing at home, you never got in front at any time of the match , that is a massive statement by the Imps. UTMI.
Any news on bolger was he taken off as a precaution or is it worse