The second half flew past, perhaps because I kept thinking about the 5 pm press conference, but I didn’t ever feel we were going to get back into the game, even though we weren’t out of it either. I just felt Doncaster had their ‘refuse to lose’ head-on and, as we pushed more men forward, they were more likely to take the win. It was entertaining, but something at the back of my mind stopped me becoming too invested in it.
We weren’t getting mauled, but Jon Taylor’s pace did have Tayo Edun on toast a time or two and he could easily have made it 2-0, but for a great stop by Palmer. Johnson, by far our most potent threat, could have levelled as he fired across goal not long after as the game opened up a bit. I think what disappointed me the most was our threat from set-pieces; we had plenty of corners and a couple of free-kicks in good areas and I don’t recall us getting one effort on target from any of them. Given how good we looked with Montsma and Jackson earlier in the season, it’s another area I feel Doncaster had tied up nice and tight.
Being honest, it was a tough afternoon for a few players. TJ Eyoma had a rare ‘six’ at full-back, and Tayo Edun certainly struggled against the pace thrown at him. Lewis Montsma’s passing was awry, as was Conor McGrandles in the middle of the park. There was no ebb or flow to our approach, but we kept on pushing and pressing where we needed to. I felt we might get one chance that we’d rue missing and we did, Theo Archibald coming on and firing his first touch into the side netting. In Theo, I see a bit of the Brennan Johnson, a maverick winger with skills to pay the bills. If that touch is his third or fourth, I think it goes in, but having come straight on and having it as his first sight of the ball, he just didn’t catch it right.
That was more or less that. I’m not sure what was more unwatchable, bumbling Boris and his circus clowns on the TV in the late evening, or the iFollow stream which was woeful for different reasons from normal. I got on fine, nor spinning wheel at all, but I missed half the game due to incessant replays, often going over the top of proper action. At several points, there was a chance and immediately the replay came on, whilst the chance was still alive, leaving us to rely on commentary as we got to watch what had just happened, rather than what was happening (which is what I pay for). I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, iFollow is awful. Sadly, it is critical to the club and it is a great way to watch every minute of Imps’ action, but it is head-scratchingly bad at times.
When the final whistle did sound, signalling our first away defeat of the season, I felt miserable and down, but not for the defeat. Being honest, the better side won. No complaints, it was a game in which we competed, but didn’t quite reach the levels we have of late. To play Devil’s Advocate, we should be happy that we’re going to the Keepmoat as equals and when the home side win, they’re delighted to have done so. In 2007, we went there in the Carling Cup and were thrashed 4-1, with the two clubs never so far apart. This result, whilst not ideal, is part of a bigger picture in which we seem to be an established League One side capable of sustaining top ten football. I’ll take that, even if we can’t be in the ground to give our players that little push they need, and to create memories of our own.
Lockdown is now imminent, the future of the club, and others like us, is still up in the air and we are living in such unprecedented times, driven by fear, uncertainty and division. When you consider the bigger picture (not the nefarious power-grab Big Picture pedalled by the big clubs), the wider problems and the environment that is 2020, it makes a narrow 1-0 defeat at Doncaster seem almost insignificant.
It isn’t, but it seemed that way for a while last night, more or less until I sat down here to write about it. We’re back on the horse this week with the first of four home games in a row and you know, 100%, that when the whistle blows to start the game on Tuesday we’ll be bang at it, again, doing what we do best, again. At least there’s one constant in this mad world: Michael Appleton’s Lincoln City will compete admirably against whoever stands in front of the.
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