3rd Place- Lincoln City
No one, and I mean no one could have foreseen such a season as the one that has unfolded. Michael Appleton has put together a young Imps squad challenging for a place in England’s second tier for the first time in 60 years. The Imps hadn’t even been at this level this century and yet after just a season in League One we were ready to push on again. The last five years have brought unprecedented success; National League Champions, EFL Trophy winners and League Two Champions. Our return to the third tier started with a bang, three straight wins had us dreaming of yet more success and promotion to the Championship. The honeymoon period didn’t last particularly long, two straight defeats brought us back down to Earth before the opening month ended with victory against Fleetwood. Defeat against Wycombe was another slight setback but worse news was to come in the days that followed, the Cowley’s had left and joined Huddersfield. At the time this seemed like the beginning of the end and results on the pitch continue to worsen.
Michael Appleton was quickly appointed but in his first match watching from the stands we were mauled by his old side Oxford. There were some positive results in what was always going to be a tough first season back at this level. Victory over Sunderland in early October was a huge result against such a big club, and back to back wins against Burton and Tranmere eased relegation fears. The festive period provided the best two wins of the season, an incredible eight goal thriller against Ipswich was then followed up by a remarkable three points against Peterborough. Unfortunately though whenever we hit our stride it was inevitably followed by a slump in form. Back to back wins against Bolton and Blackpool lifted spirits before a run of four consecutive defeats and seven games without a win soon dampened those spirits. The final game of last season’s shortened campaign provided victory against Burton to leave us in fifteenth spot, nine clear of Tranmere in the drop zone. As the season was decided on PPG, we slipped a spot to sixteenth to end a topsy-turvy campaign with the main target of safety secured.
Expectations were fairly moderate for this season, build on what we had achieved and hopefully a top half finish would be on the cards. We have completely blown those targets out of the water. Four straight wins drew some parallels to the start of last season and when a defeat against Bristol Rovers was followed by a goalless draw at Fleetwood, the signs were there. This time though we were not to crack under a little bit of pressure and went onto record three straight wins. Whereas last season the end of a winning run usually brought a dismal run of form, it has been quite the opposite this time around. Our worst run of the season has occurred very recently with many seeing this as the wheels coming off our title charge. That was a run of one win in six but three points on Saturday against an assured Crewe side still have us at the top end of the division and looking to continue to write history.
4th Place- Sunderland
It seems there is never a peaceful moment on Wearside. Lee Johnson seems to have got Sunderland firing again. Only three sides have picked up more points than his side since his appointment as they sit in fourth spot, from looking in a real battle to gain just a play-off spot they are now looking amongst the candidates to secure promotion automatically. They’ll be keen to avoid a trip to Wembley with their record at the national stadium is as woeful as it gets. There will be a chance though to end their seven game losing streak at Wembley with the Papa John’s Trophy Final against Tranmere later this month.
The decline of the Black Cats has been well documented, but the future looks more promising thanks to fresh ownership of the club. It does feel like promotion has to come this season having already spent two seasons in the third tier, recording their worst league finish in the club’s history in that time. The partnership of the division’s second top scorer and joint leading playmaker, Charlie Wyke and Aiden McGeady, will be crucial if Sunderland are to return to the second tier. No team are in better form than Lee Johnson’s side with five wins in six which has propelled Sunderland to within five points of top spot.
Verdict
It would be easy to say on paper that Sunderland are the best side we have faced after handing us a 4-0 defeat in Lee Johnson’s first league game in the dugout. How different the story would have been had we taken two guilt edged chances early on in the contest. After that though Sunderland looked a class above and were fully deserving of the points. The Papa John’s Trophy Semi-Final was a fairly drab affair from both sides but again the Mackem’s prevailed and they will look for a third win against us when we meet this month.