I did feel like perhaps our luck was out early in the second half. Michael Appleton turned to his bench early, bringing on Joe Walsh and Harry Anderson with Sanders and Montsma the two withdrawn. That meant the Imps seemed to go 4-4-2, with Johnson joining Morton in attack, with Edun and McGrandles the midfield pairing. It resulted in us being a like-for-like match with the visitors as we attempted to restore parity.
Blackpool dealt what felt like a hammer blow just minutes into the second half. A ball forward from City seemed to result in Morton being bundled over, but the referee was having none of it, and as play came back at us, Kaikai was quickest to react. He strode through the gap where a holding midfielder might have stood, and confidently slotted past Palmer for 2-0. I don’t think there was an error from us in the goal, it was a swift moment of football from the visitors, who I must say impressed me up to that point. At 2-0, I felt there was little way back for City.
The Tangerines then began to lay siege a little. City did get the odd attack, but when we went forward it looked like we’d need a moment of madness to let us in, whilst only dogged defending from red shirts prevented a massacre. It might have been different, had Maxwell not pulled off a super save from Jackson’s header after Bramall’s wicked delivery from wide left, but he did and we remained two goals down.
Jerry Yates had an effort cleared off the line by Jackson, who had a solid outing, and that would have ended to game as a contest, then the same player had another goalward bound effort blocked after Palmer saved from Simms. City were on the ropes, but sandwiched between those two moments was Michael Appleton’s big play. For the first time in a Football League game, he used all five subs, bringing on James Jones, TJ Eyoma and Anthony Scully. Off went Adam Jackson, Tayo Edun and Morgan Rogers.
The change was probably made with one eye on Tuesday against MK Dons, a case of necessity over and above anything else, but City suddenly came to life. Within minutes of Yates’ second effort being blocked, the game came alive. Harry Anderson found space to cross on the right, Maxwell tried to punch clear only for the ball to fall to leading scorer (from open play) Anthony Scully, who volleyed home from a tight angle. From nowhere, City were back in it.
What I like about Harry, making his 200th appearance for the Imps, is he will go and look for the ball, whereas the likes of Johnson and Rogers want it played to them. I’m not criticising either loanee, both have been superb at times this season, but I do wonder if our attack looks a little less potent when we have both of them wanting the ball given to them. With Harry, and to a degree Anthony Scully, there is perhaps a little less flair, but a little more forcing themselves into the game. Is our best approach to play one of Johnson or Rogers with one of Scully or Anderson? Maybe.
The goal brought a little confidence back to the Imps’ play but it was still a huge surprise to me when we bagged the leveller. Bramall and Scully worked a little space on the left flank and the latter’s lovely through ball was seized upon by Johnson in a perfect example of what happens when we can get the ball to him in the right area. He finished with aplomb to level the scores and ultimately give the Imps what might have seemed like an unlikely draw. The stats on the BBC claim we had seven shots to their 17, three on target to their seven, so you could argue it was even a little undeserved, certainly if you were a Blackpool fan.
In the final moments, the visitors felt they had a shout for a penalty. I’m not convinced, either way. I think the anger would have been felt more significantly had it been given than if it wasn’t, but there might have been just cause for a handball. I wasn’t utterly convinced by the official if I’m honest, he let a few tough tackles from either side go and was happy for Morton to be knocked about like a rag doll, but his decisions didn’t really impact the game. Yes, there was a foul in the build up to their goal, but it was a soft one only highlighted by this writer because I’m a Lincoln fan, not a Blackpool one.
I was delighted with the result and I see this as the building block of our last push towards the top six. Very few Imps fans will have had this down as anything other than a defeat, I bet even the fountain of unsubstantiated optimism Cornell would have been happy with a draw. At 2-0 down with 20 minutes left, there seemed no way back, and that in itself is a great motivator for the players. We showed huge character to keep plugging away when things weren’t working for us, and we showed a degree of adaptability to change it up at half time, take the blow of a goal on the chin and still stay in with a chance.
I do wonder now if the accepted ‘first XI’, the one you all pick on the Fan Hub app prior to the game, is actually due for a change. I like Rogers, when he’s good he’s very good, but without being harsh he was anonymous yesterday. If we go 4-3-3 I feel we must look to have one of Scully or Anderson on one flank to force the issue, to push for turnovers instead of expecting the football to flow. I saw a couple of arguments as to why it didn’t work in the first half yesterday, with one train of thought being that Rogers and Johnson didn’t work to get on the ball. Another argument was the midfield didn’t work to get the ball to them. I can see the justification for both, and someone sent me a video of the McGrandles’ chance which demonstrated perfectly what they bring off the ball.
Morton broke in the left channel and had two defenders to deal with. When the move started, McGrandles was in the centre circle and the attacker providing support, Johnson, drifted wide. As Morton looks up, Johnson wants the ball switched big, across the area, out to the right flank. You can see him point as he runs out there, but there’s a huge gap developing in the middle of the park for McGrandles, who motors through and gets the chance. Now, was that naïve from Johnson, expecting the ball played big? Not for me, no. He was drawing the defender away from the centre of the pitch, creating the space for McGrandles.
It was our only real chance of the first half, but it did show why Johnson, and Rogers at times, are so useful. Writing them off on social media is easy and sloppy, but we also have to accept that sometimes, having two players of their ilk, flair and speed doesn’t always work. Blackpool were organised at the back, their centre-halves were strong, well-positioned and aware. They were happy to be deep enough to thwart our attacks too, cutting out the danger of our pace. That’s why Rogers was frozen out and that’s why the change, bringing Anderson and Scully on, paid dividends.
Horses for courses, I think they say.
I also want to point to the return of Joe Walsh as being big for the side. I thought Montsma had a decent first 45, and both Jackson and Walsh did well too. To have all three back and ready is going to be huge, especially with dips in form. It was encouraging to see TJ come off the bench too. Michael is going to have more players at his disposal over the coming weeks and he’ll need that with a punishing schedule ahead.
That’s it from me for now. I started this at 6pm last night and it’s not 10.45am and sadly, I’m still full of cold. I’m going to rest, recuperate and have some time believing once again. You see, in my weekly conversation with Pete I said that I felt anything less than four points from these two matches would be a blow to the Imps play-off hopes. I said that something against Blackpool, anything, would be a stopper on the poor form. Personally, I think we did that against Sunderland; I don’t count the Oxford result because we had so many players out there was only ever going to be one outcome. I’ve seen enough in the last three fixtures to convince me we can hang on to sixth, and with Hopper, Bridcutt and Grant back in the squad, I’d be happy to back us against anyone in this division, anywhere, at any time.
As for Blackpool, they’ll be in the mix too. Something tells me we might not have seen the last of Neil Critchley’s side, and with nine goals across our two matches, neutrals will be delighted with that outcome! Remember, they’re depleted by injury too, so both of these sides could be very different prospects when the 46 games are completed.
Also, in an odd quirk of fate, we have take four points from two games against them, but only been leading for two minutes across the 180!
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