They didn’t react, not by making changes nor in terms of coming out and getting at us. The first chance of the second half fell to them, but once again they were aiming for something in the darkening early-evening sky, rather than between the sticks of Alex Palmer. As for us, we just stuck to our ethos, kept passing the ball and eventually, got our rewards. Johnson lashed a shot over after good work from Howarth, and suddenly the Imps clicked back into place.
The killer third goal was a thing of real beauty in terms of build-up. Anthony Scully made a lovely dummy to allow the ball to run out to Eyoma, the sort of skill we have become accustomed too at the Bank. Eyoma’s delivery found Howarth who saw his effort saved, but Scully had arrived in the six-yard box for our third tap-in of the game. It’s interesting because the criticism a few months ago was we were trying to walk the ball in, and yet the praise on social media last night was raining down. Had anything actually changed? We were still doing the same things, but Burton couldn’t cope with it in the way that, say, Accrington or Shrewsbury did. Still, let’s not look too deeply for the cloud somewhere in the middle of the thick silver lining, eh? It was 3-0, game over and I was already looking forward to my turkey/beef/ham hybrid leftover dinner.
Burton finally rolled the dice on the hour mark, making three changes in one. Kane Hemmings was one player I thought might cause a few problems, you may recall him being a marquee signing for Mansfield back when we made the play-offs and they didn’t. Kieran Wallace came on too, he had six games on loan from Sheffield United back in 2014/15, losing four. Would it make a difference?
No.
Within minutes of the changes it was 4-0, and this time it was like the ghost of Christmas past. Okay, losing 3-1 to Sunderland was just after Christmas, but playing out from the back badly cost us against them and it looked very familiar. O’Hara rolled the ball to Bostwick, under pressure he knocked it to Gilligan and it all went for a Burton (sorry) as Johnson just took the ball off him and slotted it home. Seriously, I find it harder to take the tennis ball from my dog than Johnson found it to retrieve from Burton. I can understand why their fans are angry at their manager – they have a decent squad on paper, but they don’t play to their strengths. I always like the saying ‘we’re a good team, we just struggle in both boxes’, and I saw someone comment that about the Brewers. Lads, if you can’t defend and can’t score, you’re not a good team. Sorry.
It all looked like getting on top of the visitors as Robbie Gotts had an effort deflected on 70 minutes, then three minutes after James Jones had an effort saved after Scully’s neat backheel. I wondered if we might be looking to get six or seven, such was the fluidity and pace we showed in the attacking third. Unfortunately, a little too much festive spirit led to us giving Burton something to cheer. Lewis Montsma looked to shield a ball back to Palmer, but Palmer had other ideas. Montsma took his eye off the ball and looked over his shoulder to Hemmings, who nipped round and scored. I did hear an expletive or two on the replay and rightly so – there was no complacency because we were 4-0 up. I like to see that, keeping a clean sheet mattered and we didn’t manage it.
Montsma made another error on 77 minutes as Burton briefly believed in a Christmas miracle, but this time Hemmings fired over. It was an uncharacteristic display from the Dutchman, but in fairness, he had been spraying some nice passes around and I’d rather we made errors at 4-0 (or 4-1) up with ten minutes to play than make then early doors away at Sunderland. Mind you, after the Shrewsbury goal, there will surely be a few words had on the training ground.
Luckily, any notion of a comeback, however fanciful, was eradicated in the 80th minute as sub Harry Anderson got a goal. He’s heading towards 200 appearances for City and has fallen out of favour in recent weeks, but he’s a great weapon to have from the bench or the get-go. His shot deflected off Michael Bostwick and into the Burton net. For the record, the other two players in the back four which conceded five were John Brayford and Colin Daniel.
It could and should have been 6-1 before the referee brought things to a premature end. Zack Elbouzedi got his chance after the scintillating Shrewsbury performance and he found himself one-on-one with O’Hara. He just took too long, trying to round the former Manchester United man. In fairness, he did get past the keeper, but by then a defender came back and the chance was gone for Zack. It did fall to Johnson, and sensing his hattrick he got an effort away, but he aimed at whatever Burton had been looking at all afternoon and fired over.
That was that. Maybe I misunderstood the rules, but added time seemed very light. I thought 30 seconds per goal (that would be two minutes) and per sub (with could have been as much as three-and-a-half), but the match official clearly felt it was time to pack up and go home. For the second Saturday in a row, we left the field having won by a four-goal margin.
We also now know that when the god-awful year 2020 is over, and 2021 breaks into its first dawn, we shall be top of League One. We are the best team D3D4 will feature on their podcast and despite a couple of knocks, we have kept ourselves not only in play-off contention but in the hunt for automatic promotion as well. As things stand, we are closer to Arsenal and Chelsea in terms of league position than we are Grimsby and Scunthorpe. Has that ever happened? I don’t know, nor do I care too much.
This year has been shit. We haven’t been able to go to games, we haven’t been able to see our families and in some instances, we haven’t been able to walk around the local shops, but in terms of Lincoln City, it has been one of the best ever. We haven’t won anything, I get that, but 12 months ago a dynasty was breaking up. Michael Appleton has just lost to Oxford on Boxing Day and although wins against Posh and Ipswich were on the horizon, he had a huge job to do. He had an older squad of players suited to a different style of football, and he had a fanbase to win over who had become drunk on success. You know, as well as I do, not everyone was behind him and even before we got past Christmas I remember a tweet going out from someone questioning whether he was the right man for the job. 12 months later, little remains of that side, a side with success of its own to boast, but needing new direction.
We’re top of League One, amongst the favourites for two pieces of silverware this season and we’ve done it with an injury-ravaged squad on 40% less money than we had last season. I do sometimes lavish praise on little easily but if that doesn’t demand a round of applause then nothing will.
What it does demand, even now as I take a toilet break before garnishing this piece with Bubs’ pictures, is a quick blast of ‘Hark, now hear, the angels sing’ as I make my way up the stairs. Merry Christmas Imps, and I barely need to wish you a Happy New Year because Michael Appleton has ensured that until January 2nd at least, it bloody well will be.