The second half certainly had incident, with everything but a red card from the referee. It started with the story of the first half being played out again, Jordan Graham getting on the ball, driving at our back four and shooting straight at Alex Palmer. I felt if a goal were coming, he was the man to provide it, but he did fade a little as the game wore on.
We looked to have found our second wind too, and Grant had the first Imps chance of the half on 49 minutes. Johnson was the creator, always looking to get on the ball and drive forward. He delivered from the left, only for Grant to shoot wide.
The next ten minutes were punctuated by a long pair of stoppages, something I felt did help change the game a little. Firstly, Olly Lee got a whack n the nose (Bridcutt I think), which saw him needing treatment. It took a couple of minutes, and barely sixty seconds had passed when Conor Ogilvie took a nasty whack from Tom Hopper. I felt Ogilvie actually tried to foul Hopper in the middle of the park, and in doing so he got a nasty looking wound on his head. He was down for five minutes or so, covered in blood, and yet he somehow passed concussion protocol and came back on. I suspect, if there is such a thing as concussion protocol, it consisted of someone saying to Ogilvie ‘are you okay?’ and him saying ‘yes’, before carrying on. He spent the next forty minutes with his head heavily bandaged, and by the end of the game was looking a bit ‘Terry Butcher’ with claret all over his face.
Before the hour mark struck, the Imps has sealed the points. Rogers and Johnson are beginning to look like they’re getting an understanding, and the former teed up the latter on 53 minutes, with his effort coming back off the bar. Shortly after, Johnson entered the area and was tugged back by Jackson, and by tugged back I really am stretching it. The referee pointed to the spot, and although there seemed to be no complaints from Gills players, it looked a little soft to me. Johnson was tugged back, an arm was raised and the referee doesn’t have a lot of choice, but if Johnson tries to stay on his feet, it isn’t given. Maybe it was a penalty won, but you do have to be in the box and running at players to get it.
Jorge Grant, the victim of saved penalties against Peterborough and Doncaster, stepped up and made no mistake at all. That’s three in a week he’s taken, and the second in a row he’s scored. You could see by his celebration that this one meant more than Tuesday night, being in the league and essentially putting the game almost beyond the hosts.
If that put the Gills on their knees, five minutes later they were on the canvass. Liam Bridcutt found Rogers with a neat pass and the on-loan Manchester City man went on a lovely run, twisting his way into the area and shifting balance to get a shot away. Jack Bonham parried it, straight into the path of Tom Hopper, who nodded home from three yards out. There was a shout for offside from the defence and I think had it been against us, I might have been inclined to agree. Still, it was a nice move by City, and the run from Rogers deserved a goal on its own.
Oddly, having perhaps not played as well as we did against Doncaster, we found ourselves 3-0 up with 25 minutes, plus what turned out to be nine minutes of stoppages remaining.
Gillingham went go for broke, bringing on John Akinde on 66 minutes, and thirty seconds later the big man nearly pulled a goal back for his side. His first involvement was a flick on for Dempsey, who this time struck the ball cleanly and concisely, drawing a good save from Palmer. The passage of play continued and eventually, a deep cross found Akinde, who had taken up a position in the box, only for his header to come back off the bar. It was the closest the hosts went all night and it turned out to be their best chance to get even a consolation from the game.
Vadaine Oliver felt he had something more to say in the game, and yet another ball into the area was headed over by him on 72 minutes. The hosts like a big ball into the box, and yet every time they tried one of three things happened; our defenders dealt with it, Palmer dealt with it or they fluffed their lines under pressure from our defenders, or Palmer. Last year, a young Imps side wilted under the same tactics, this season, it is a very different story indeed.
The 79th minute brought a move which could have come out of a Lincoln City book of old. Good work from Akinde, who did more in his cameo than in many of his Imps outings, saw him get away down the left using pace. He lifted a ball in for Oliver, who saw his effort go wide. Two Imps old boys couldn’t combine to undo us, and the footballing Gods finally gave us a break. After all, how many times has a script like that been written? Too many.
City took advantage of the lead to make a couple of changes, bringing off firstly Eyoma, then Johnson. Both had put in a strong shift, but it gave us a chance to blood Regan Poole, with the former MK Dons man handed a debut. Harry Anderson also came on for Johnson, who had been a constant threat with his direct running.
We could have made it four late in the game. Firstly, Morgan Rogers drove a good 35 yards from the middle of the park to the edge of the area, gently teasing in Hopper in the left channel. He took it slightly wide to the left and looked to put the ball across Bonham’s goal, but it rolled wide of the post.
Deep into stoppage time, City did score a fourth, and it was certainly less dubious than two of the goal that were allowed. Harry Anderson, on as a sub, played a ball that is now something of an Imps trademark across the front of the six-yard box, and Grant strode from an onside position to stroke the ball home. He was onside, no doubt at all, but the linesman’s flag said otherwise. At 0-0, you fume, but at 3-0 with a dubious penalty and maybe an offside too, you shrug your shoulders, mutter ‘them’s the breaks’ and think about Hull away on Tuesday.
I haven’t seen any post-match reaction, but I imagine Evans has moaned a bit, Michael was more than satisfied and the pundits have done a bit of purring at our slick football. I felt there were a lot of strong performances, starting at the back. Palmer, Walsh and Jackson were all excellent, and Edun carried on his super form too. Bridcutt had a lot of work to do and he did it well, despite a few free-kicks in dangerous areas. I think he gets a rough time from some, because often those free kicks are almost clever. One foul on Graham was calculated and stopped the former Villa man getting around the back, and whilst it meant a chance to deliver, nothing came of it.
Obviously, when we attacked, we looked very good, and I dare even say we’re getting better every week. I remember back in November thinking ‘where will a goal come from’ when we had struggled to score from open play – I genuinely feel now we’ll score from a good percentage of our attacks, and never feel we are bereft of ideas. It is ominous for everyone else that we are getting better and better. January was a great month for us, with some strong results, and we did it with a Covid-ravaged squad, with key injuries and against some big opposition. Well, players are coming back and here we are still on top, getting strong each and every week.
Steve Evans is an old adversary, a manager we come up against time and again. I remember chuckling when he was at Mansfield, claiming he wasn’t a League Two manager, as if he had lowered to our level. I think this evening, despite not playing badly, we showed that we are probably a level above the Gills in what we do. That shouldn’t reflect badly on them by the way, they were far from the worst we’ve seen this season and actually looked competent and committed, but it was just a ruthless performance from us, showing both sides of our game. when we’re good, we’re very good, and when we need to be bad, we’re able to do just that.
We’re into February now, top of League One and gunning for a promotion spot. We bounced back from a defeat against Doncaster in great style, knocking Hull out of the cup and then turning over a big win against a decent side tonight. It’s not the first time I’ve felt we are title challengers, but it is the first time that a part of me truly believed it.
Well, believe it all you want. Lincoln City are 100% in the automatic promotion race and if we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll finally be visiting the more illustrious side of the Trent next season.
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