Burton upped the ante in the second period, looking to play more football, and with the likes of Danny Rowe looking lively there was a few worrying periods for the Imps. Within minutes of the restart, Bostwick hit a cross which was cleared by City, with Carter volleying back at goal. His effort was blocked, but two minutes later Sean Clare’s was not. He picked up a clearance from the long throw and blasted wide of Alex Palmer’s goal.
The Brewers were invigorated, if not entirely convincing, and Taylor perhaps summed that up on 51 minutes. They broke after a bit of Imps possession, but his eventual effort sliced horribly off his booted and looped away, amounting to nothing.
City’s first chance came eight minutes after the restart. Edun found space on the left, as he did all evening, and checked back before looking for Jones. He appeared to be running onto the ball, but instead the impressive Poole came across from full back and neatly struck an effort at Garratt, which the keeper saved. Both Edun and Poole had excellent evenings for the Imps, with the latter looking better and better with each passing encounter.
Burton weren’t done though, not by a long shot. As the booming voice of manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink rang out around the empty stadium, Rowe probed down the right-hand flank. They worked the ball across to Akins, a player I’ve always thought should was dangerous, but after cutting inside he could only curl over the top of the goal to Palmer’s left.
John Brayford was the next to have an effort as Burton applied more pressure. It was never heart in mouth stuff, but they were knocking on the door. In truth, it was an engrossing encounter, because for all their huffing and puffing, it was almost City who blew their house down on 57 minutes.
Two efforts in the space of 60 seconds should have brought a goal. The first came after a lovely ball from Eyoma found Edun, who in turn fed in Johnson who saw his shot blocked. The Imps recycled the move quickly on the left-hand side, with Jones eventually trying his luck, only for it to bounce wide of Garratt’s goal.
The game ebbed and flowed and for a while, that flow was towards the Burton goal. Morton had a tough time trying to evade the clutches of Bostwick, literally at times, but he did superbly well under pressure to knock a ball out to Scully on 60 minutes. Scully found Morton in space with the return ball, but as seemed par for the course, his shot was blocked.
How many times have I written ‘shot blocked’? Many, and I think that was a testament to the dogged resilience of the Burton backline, and the creative influences City had up top. One thing I have not mentioned is referee Josh Smith, a man who I thought had a calm and collected game. there were a few tackles that a more whistle-happy man might have gone for, but Smith lets the game flow. I Like him.
Burton made a couple of changes trying to affect the game, but Rowe and Akins came off, both of whom I felt had done well. Ryan Broom and Joe Powell came on, two players I would be happy to have in our squad, and to be fair the patterns of play didn’t change a huge amount. It didn’t swing the game back in their favour either, as the Imps had another good chance. This time, Montsma’s delicious ball found Edun, again, in space, again, and he in turn created a chance for a teammate. For me, Edun was the Man of the Match, and this time Jones was the benefactor, his shot held by Garratt.
Almost immediately City were back, Rogers surging forward with that electric turn of pace he has, but lashing an effort wide. It was a good spell for City, but good spells come into play because good players do good things. I’ve spoken plenty about Edun, but McGrandles was often at the heart of moves. He has been superb in recent weeks and he played what we now term ‘the Bridcutt role’, an Achilles Hell of sorts, and he did so with aplomb.
Another player who can play the Bridcutt role is Jorge Grant, out since we lost 4-3 at Plymouth, and much to everyone’s joy at Lincoln, he came on with 20 minutes to go. To see the vice-captain joint leading scorer sprint on was delightful, although watching him get caught minutes later in a confrontation with Sean Clare was not. It seemed there might be bad blood between him and Clare, as it wouldn’t be the last time they had words.
The change ushered in a spell for Burton, who might have felt they should have had a penalty. Powell looked to bring a loose ball under control in the area, and was seemingly felled by an arm in the back from Montsma. It would have been soft, but as Rob Makepeace said in commentary, we have seen them given. Shortly after, Kane Hemmings held the ball up well in the corner, and although the resulting cross was cleared, Clare picked up the loose ball, but his shot was a daisy cutter and saved by Palmer.
Burton were back in the ascendency and for a while, it looked like they may get back into the game. Harry Anderson came on for Morgan Rogers as City looked to wind down the clock and take the sting out of the game. Often, I don’t think that has happened this season, but there was definitely a feeling that Michael was using his subs wisely. The last real chance of the game came on 84 minutes, Clare again picking up a cleared cross and again testing Palmer, but a test that wasn’t that hard for a keeper with two arms and hands to pass. The big stopper held the ball and with it, he held Burton’s chances of a point too.
Sure, there was action after that. Grant was felled late by sub Fondop-Talum, drawing the first booking of the game. As Grant went down, Clare blasted the ball into his chest, causing our man to get up and have a few words, and he was again pulled away. Any history there? Maybe, or maybe Clare was just on Grant from the start. It was a yellow for the foul, but the referee sensibly dealt with the little incident after.
Remy Howarth came on for Johnson as the clock wound down some more, before a frustrated Taylor stopped a Lincoln counter by pulling back Scully for another booking, but that was more or less your lot. The three minutes of injury time was branded ‘embarrassing’ by their manager, something we all heard on the iFollow feed, but it was about right. 30 seconds per sub, no injuries in the half and no goals, where was he getting any more from?
As is customary with so few games left, the final whistle was greeted by me quickly flicking over to the BBC Sports website for the latest results. Doncaster: lost. Oxford: lost. Ipswich: Lost. Blackpool: lost. All supposed play-off contenders, all beaten. Could things have gone any better? Probably not, this was a big night for us, make no mistake.
I like it when Lincoln win, obviously, but I like it when we win and have played well. This wasn’t a game in which we rode our luck, nor one in which people will say we played badly but still won. We had a certain verve in attack which I felt made us dangerous, whilst that makeshift pairing of Montsma and Eyoma actually looks very good. Eyoma is a really special young man, controlled and strong with great passing and application. It almost makes me wish he’d played in the middle more when we had Walsh out in the spell before Easter, because he looks like a player with 200 career games under his belt. Poole has settled on the right, and putting Tayo at left back was like welcoming back a key player. He fitted in with ease and as I said, was Man of the Match for me.
Nobody had a bad game, and whilst Burton might not have the league position to suggest this was a challenge, it was a challenge. They are completely different to the side we hammered 5-1, they work the ball well and have play-off form since Hasselbaink went in. Make no mistake at all, this was a super result and dare I say, the best of our three recent wins. Yes, better than 4-0 against MK Dons, because we played better, we created more and we had more to deal with.
We go into a huge match this weekend with a seven-point cushion into the top six, with 15 points to play for. However, the team we have the seven-point advantage over only have nine to play for. Below them, Portsmouth do have a game in hand, but seven points is still the gap. You would think one more win and one draw from the final matches secures a play-off spot, but what about that last automatic? s it a dream? At the time of writing, Peterborough are seven points ahead of us, but we have a game in hand. Win that, it’s four points and we still have to go there. Could we?
Probably not, but I’ll tell you this. To come through the spell before Easter, the injuries, the Covid and the loss of form and still be sitting here with five games to go talking about the outside chance of automatic promotion is amazing. Remember the saying: form is temporary, class is permanent and Lincoln City have certainly got class.
Now, did someone say some Tigers needed taming?
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