Jordan Roberts

I remember once, maybe ten years ago, lamenting how Lincoln never signed wingers. I’ve always loved a wide player, be it David Puttnam, Gareth Ainsworth, Dany N’Guessan and even Mustapha Carayol. There’s few sights in football more beautiful than a wide player knocking the ball past a full back and roasting him alive in a foot race.

This season we’ve had more wide players than ever before and sadly, some just haven’t lived up to the hype.

That’s unfair on Jordan, he’s another talented player who just wasn’t going to get a game on a regular basis. He did look lost on his introduction against Bury and after that, he drifted off the scene. Towards the end of the season he did get a few late runs from the bench, but you could probably count his touches on your fingers. 

Again, like Gordon and Mensah before him, the right man at the wrong time entirely.

Danny Rowe

Danny Rowe got it right. Come back in after impressing last season, smash goals in your first few matches and convert from being a wide player to avoid the troubling problem of Bruno and Harry.

Rowe is a winger, but Danny had him through the centre and for a short while it looked as though he was going to take League Two by storm. Jorge who? Tyler what? Ilias when? No, the main loan signing was Danny Rowe, at least for three matches.

After that, dare I say, he tailed off a bit. Shay McCartan and him battled for a starting role and I wondered if maybe injury restricted Danny as it did last season. After that explosive start I felt he just went off the boil. He still had those driving runs in him, but as teams retreated at Sincil Bank it became harder for him to impress.

His best games came away from home, Bury and Yeovil certainly two that stand out. Why? Space. Those sides had to attack us and that left green pitch for Danny to run into. It remains to be seen if our inability to break two banks of four down is because of players or the way we approach most fixtures.

Danny Rowe started 12 matches for us, played 17 in total in the league and scored four goals. He’s likely to go back to Ipswich this summer and whilst it pains me a little to say it, I do think we can use the squad place in a more constrictive manner. I like Danny, we sponsor him, but if we need a versatile player to fill a couple of roles I’d like to see Kellan Gordon back and make a big saving on wages to spend elsewhere.