Games do turn on moments, and this one turned on two immediately after the restart. Within seconds, we were ecstatic as an Imps set piece, once again, resulted in a goal. The Gas had the better of the corners in the first half, but a free-kick from a corner-like position caused trouble at the back for them straight away. Who else, but Lewis Montsma steamed in to claim the goal. I think it has gone down errantly as an own goal, but my understanding is if the touch from our player is taking it in, he should get the goal. It wasn’t that on which the game turned on for me though; it was the fact Montsma collided with the post. He hurt his shoulder, received treatment and had to go off before coming back on.
Naturally, that left him out of position as he raced back on the field and he had barely got back to the centre of defence before the best goal of the game made it 1-1. A deep cross from the right wasn’t cut out and in swooped Daly with a header to draw things level. It wasn’t a great goal to conceded and I ask if Montsma hadn’t gone off, would we have had him in a better position to defend the ball in? I think so but again, it is one of those things. I suppose all you ask is for consistency, which as you’ll know we didn’t get later in the half. Still, even with a couple of minutes of the second half gone, 1-1 was a fair reflection of the game I think.
Had we not conceded immediately, I believe the game would have been different. The Gas might have had to come on to us more and we would have been able to bring pace on from the bench in Archibald and maybe even Soule. As it was, with an immediate retort, the balance remained as it was and that Rovers to stick to their game plan. They weren’t necessarily defensive, but they had no reason to come on to us having hit back straight away.
Within ten minutes the final goal of the game arrived from a penalty, and for me, there are no complaints. It looked like the Lincoln players felt Adam Jackson’s foul came outside the area, but it didn’t. It was a foul, it was inside the area and they Gas rightly got a chance from 12-yards, which they took. Alex Palmer wasn’t far away from the save, but he didn’t quite make it and City trailed 2-1. Oddly, the Gas scored the first goal against us at Sincil Bank in the league last season, and the first penalty against us at home in the league last season too, an honoured they have once again secured for themselves. Did someone say bogey team?
The game changed after that, they went from three at the back to five and were happy to defend their lead. We needed a change and the first surprised me; TJ Eyoma for Remy Howarth. I can see the logic, Harry Anderson dropped into the full-back position which made us more attacking, and I guess with Howarth ahead of him we hoped to push further on to the Gas. I’m not sure it worked, Howarth had a tough afternoon and struggled to make a serious impact on his full Football League debut. The same has to be said for Anthony Scully, he came on up top for Hopper and wasn’t able to affect the game. Hopps had a slow afternoon, dare I say he didn’t look like scoring and had Callum Morton been fit, he would almost certainly have given us another dimension. Maybe, in that scenario, Scully comes on in the right-hand side of attack too, but again, that’s football.
The one change I felt that could make us more potent was Theo Archibald coming on and if we were to get a leveller than I felt it would come from the left. Jorge Grant hadn’t had much joy out there, but when he dropped into midfield I felt we began to look a little more threatening thanks to Archibald’s pace. It was harsh on McGrandles coming off though, for the first time this season I thought James Jones was a little below-par and might have been the man to make way. The midfield trio just didn’t work in those latter stages and the intricate passing we enjoyed in midweek was replaced by a misfiring machine that looked ill-at-ease with what they were being asked. We know they’re not, they’ve done it before, so the only conclusion I can draw is either Rovers pressed and harrassed perfectly, and we were having as close to an off-day as we’ve seen this season.
I do have an issue with an incident not long after the subs. First, Harry Anderson drove a decent ball across goal in what was probably a better chance than it looked before a scramble almost saw us grab the leveller through Montsma. In the panic, two Gas players went down with head injuries as we looked to mount another attack. Now, I have no problem with that, but both required treatment and the game was rightly stopped, but afterwards, they were not required to leave the pitch, why? Montsma was, so why was the ruling different here? It wouldn’t have made a difference though, because this ridiculous drop ball rule meant that Rovers were actually able to mount an attack from the incident, instead of us getting the advantage we clearly had. Again, it wouldn’t have changed the game, but surely we are due a little consistency from officials? Maybe, because we lost, I’m inclined to pick at these little moments more than if we’d won the game.
Adam Jackson’s sending off came not long after and again, I have a bit of a complaint. I’m not sure why he was so far forward bursting into the box anyway, it looked like us trying far too hard to force an attack, and as he was on a yellow he was always at risk with a wild tackle, if that is what it was. Now, I’ve watched it back a few times now and I don’t see any contact at all with the Rovers man. My gut feeling is, in an attempt to wind down the clock, the defender feels he wants to go down and in doing so, inadvertently draws what looks like a straight red Jackson barely deserved. Again, it had no bearing on the result, but it is a really weak yellow, let alone a red, considering some other challenges (from both teams) that went unpunished.
That effectively ended the game, even though another fifteen minutes elapsed. Our approach then went to getting lots of balls into the box, but having nobody on the end of them to finish. By the time the final whistle came, Dad had already left (I’ve seen enough he said), and I was sat there more in blind hope than belief. The whistle went, we were beaten and that was that. For the first time in a while, I almost let the result ruin my Saturday evening, which is a mark of how much I believe in this side. Even for those successful three years, I didn’t get down after a defeat as I expected us to lose matches, but this one I really didn’t.
It is hard to be critical though, at least scathingly so. Some players will know they didn’t have good games, others were playing another 90 minutes after midweek and we were missing some key faces. The fact we lost meant we dropped one place to second, a position I would have snapped your hand off for at the beginning of September, so it really is about the bigger picture. Michael said we’d lose games, go on bad runs and staying together was important and that is definitely still the case. What will I add by saying ‘this player looked off it’ at the end of my article? Sure, some of the lads have had better games, but these are the same players that put us top in the first place, so I won’t be scathing, I’ll leave that to social media.
What I will highlight are some of the positives. I thought Eyoma was unlucky to come off when he did, but I felt Harry had a better game at full-back than he had out wide. I thought Jorge Grant was consistent throughout, and probably borderline Man of the Match again. Personally, I thought McGrandles worked really hard all game and was unlucky to be taken off when he was, plus it would be harsh to blame Alex Palmer for either of the goals; he had a confident game in goal and claimed a few crosses, as well as making no fuss stops from long range when called upon. I feel Theo Archibald is closing in on a start very soon, especially if we choose to mix up the midfield a bit, as I think we might do for three games in eight days coming up in a week’s time.
I also thought it interesting we saw Michael take very decisive action as soon as it was needed. Last season, some were critical that he sat with his bench unused until late in the game, but we certainly tried to change things and that is promising, even if it didn’t come off.
I do try to see positives in negatives, just as it is important to see negatives when everything is positive. In terms of the season, this is a result we won’t cherish, but I don’t think it was a terrible performance (woeful I heard from someone on social media. Woeful? You were at Oxford at home last season, right?). I didn’t quite work for us, but we now have seven days to prepare for three matches that, if they yield five or six points, I’d be delighted with. We’re still in good shape, I still feel a finish of between 10th and 12th is achievable and I still believe in this exciting young side. Sometimes, you lose matches when that is what you deserve and yesterday, despite my referee moans and squad depletion groans, that is exactly what happened.
Next Page – Bubs Extended Gallery
Remember, you can discuss this match on our forum, click here to do just that
Widget not in any sidebars