If the first half was slow without real threat, then the second more than made up for it. Michael clearly had words at half time about the tempo, with the Imps looking much more fluid and coherent in the opening exchanges. The first real chance of the half, and the second decent shot on target for City, came from Johnson. The Forest man exchanged passes with Grant, then Hopper, before curling an effort at goal which Jay Lynch held with ease.
After a relatively slow hour, Ollie Rathbone was forced off with an injury and, in my opinion, the biggest threat the hosts had went with him. Whilst Rochdale hadn’t really threatened, when they did, he looked like making something happen. Whilst their main attacking intent came from one player, ours came from all over the field. Harry Anderson whipped a beautiful cross in as the hour passed by, with Hopper just offside.
Rochdale did begin to go longer to Humphrys, and it almost brought them a leveller on 66 minutes. He drove into the right channel, bullied himself some space and drew a good save from Alex Palmer. The West Brom man didn’t have a lot to do, but the one moment he was called on, he was equal to it.
Had he scored, maybe the game would have been different, but a confident City put all fear of that aside to take a 2-0 lead. It started with Edun, breaking down the left before pulling back to Grant. He went further back to Montsma, who only had one thought as he picked up the ball 30-yards out. His low drive should have been saved by Lynch, but it beat the keeper low to his right and ended the game as a contest.
Brennan Johnson had a great chance to make it three with 20 minutes left on the clock, all from a Rochdale free-kick. Their delivery was poor and the clearance found Johnson. He broke at pace, as he does, turning the defence inside and out before drawing a strong save from Lynch.
That brought a good spell of pressure from City, two corners in succession almost brought a third. Both were played short, the second working it’s way to Grant who fired narrowly over with lynch confident it wasn’t on target. Another corner a couple of minutes later found Joe Walsh with a good header, Lynch making amends for Montsma’s goal by scooping the ball away.
There was a brief chance for Dale with ten minutes left, but Kwadwo Bola driving into the side netting. It was nothing and something, a very rare foray in the second period which perhaps typified the game. Rochdale looked like a side in 18th, not terrible but definitely not a top ten prospect, whilst the Imps were exactly the opposite. It could and should have been 3-0 at the end with James Jones lifting a delicious, lofted ball over the area from the right, with Max Melbourne steaming in with a good effort saved again by Lynch.
Michael Appleton, rightly, believed his side dominated. “Absolutely delighted, it is always nice to win away from home in any game. I thought we dominated and controlled the game from the first five minutes or so.
In the second half, it was certainly an easy watch sat here in the office. Across the field, the Imps were comfortable on the ball and never looked like conceding. The opening period smelled a lot like the last couple of weeks, not always perfect but never so bad you thought we’d concede a hatful. Yes, passes were misplaced, but never in key areas and never consistently by one player either. Tayo Edun took a little bit of criticism from Mark Hone on the radio for his defensive positions and there’s no doubt he did struggle at times, but equally he had a hand in the goal, winning the ball and claiming the assist. In the second period, he was much better positionally and had a hand in the second goal too.
It was also a great afternoon for the midfield three. Grant played with his usually panache and grace. I think he looks like the kid at school who was just better than everyone, almost like a 21-year-old playing for an Under 15 side for a chuckle. Everything looks easy, even with three players around him he’s calm, measured and knows where his out ball is. Around him, Jones and McGrandles were both busy, the former with his usual chances and of course, the goal, whilst McGrandles did exactly what he always does, run.
Talking about running, Tom Hopper must have covered every blade of grass up front. I thought his skillset was evident more in the first half, when maybe the hosts had a foot in the door. Any ball out to him got held up or laid off, and he always seemed to be chasing down a defender when it mattered. He doesn’t chase lost causes, we’re not talking Kevin Gall running here (if you know, you know). Instead, he chases the right balls, hunts the right player and is clever with his positioning in terms of angles. Watch him next time a keeper has the ball at his feet, he ensures it gets played in a certain direction, by cutting off the other option, even 20-yards away. Clever play and another good outing from him.
The plaudits will obviously go to Montsma and I feel a little too ‘on trend’ waxing lyrical about him, but if his average rating isn’t above 8 for this game, I’ll drink a can of my Brewdog Christmas IPA out of a sweaty welly. He plays with an effortless ease, much like Grant I suppose, gliding around the field, spraying passes with utter confidence. At times, I’m sure he thinks he’s Dennis Bergkamp, at others, he is Frank Rikjaard. He heads, tackles, chases and harasses like a proper defender, but then strides away with the ball like a slick midfielder. Every Imps fan knew as soon as he got 30-yards out with defenders backing off what was going to happen. The goal settled nerves too and allowed us to be far more expressive and ambitious in the dying minutes.
This was a strong win, routine in that we expect to win games against sides who are 18th in the table, but not a given. No games are easy at this level and one week ago we went to Plymouth and lost 2-0. Remember, Rochdale thumped them 4-0 in midweek, which shows what they do have in the locker. Maybe they didn’t show it today, maybe we stopped them showing it. After all, these wins, the incessant cascade of points that we seem to be getting, they’re not by accident. We’re not second, two points off top, six clear of seventh, by accident. We’re not genuine promotion contenders because we have played easy teams. We’re not surprising everyone by fluke or error.
We are the real deal. We might well be punching above our weight in terms of budget, stature and all that, but the one thing that rarely lies is the league table. Yes, there might be two-thirds of the season to go, but that is just more time for this team to gel, to improve and to develop.
Dare I ask, but are we actually promotion contenders? Not just for a top-six spot, but for a top-two place? Early indications are that we might just be. Please, don’t wake me up from this dream.
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