Spoiler: we didn’t hold out, although you and I know that, and if you don’t, you missed the article’s title. Does 1-1 show the true story of the second half? No, it doesn’t, it doesn’t really use the right narrative, just as Wycombe’s social media output which suggested they deserved all three points, or their shooting stats which suggest they battered us. Reason? Up until their goal, I didn’t feel we’d concede at all.
They did what you’d expect with the wind behind them in the second, they absolutely bombarded us, like the Blitz. It was ball after ball aimed towards their big players, the likes of former Forest ma Garath McCleary, or former Burnley man Sam Vokes. Vokes, who got 73 minutes the day we turned Burnley over in the FA Cup, certainly put himself about, but to no avail. When he went off, Brandon Hanlan came on, a target for us in the summer, and it was his head they looked to land the ball on. It’s telling that again MK Dons, the two teams contested just 21 aerial duels. Against teams you think might be more direct, such as Morecambe, 41 aerial duels were contested. Even against Wimbledon, it was just 54. Yesterday? 75. 750 aerial duels to be contested, of which we won 32%. Wycombe won more, 57%, but the stats don’t show how many second balls we won; the number was much more in our favour.
I won’t lie, the second half did feel like us against the world, the wind in our faces, the brute force of Wycombe in full flow, and whilst they huffed and the wind puffed, our young team stuck to the task. McGrandles was exceptional, and with Sanders alongside him our midfield feels as if it has some steel to it. The defensive pairing of Eyoma and Poole stood firm, but we also defended from the front. I lost count of how often John Marquis was found fighting for the ball in his defensive third, scrapping for every little scrap he could. I cannot fathom, for the life of me, how he wasn’t to Danny’s taste down at Portsmouth; he has everything that our former manager used to look for in a striker. He’s committed, runs every time you ask him to and many times you probably don’t. He got a lot of rough treatment in the second half; in fact, someone should tell Wycombe that we sell replica shirts in the club shop, so they didn’t have to try taking them off our back. I did miss the rule change where shirt holding became legal, but it must be, because it happened a hell of a lot.
Mind you, we weren’t saints. A few of our challenges were tasty at best, with a couple quite brutal. One from Bramall looked very tasty indeed, late and with studs showing. He got a yellow, as did five of our players. I find that a bit odd; Wycombe committed 16 fouls to our 14, but we got five bookings (albeit one not for a foul), and they got one. I’ve seen some criticism of the referee and I get why; he missed some pretty rough handling of our players and seemed, from an Imps perspective, to let a bit go, but on the whole, I wasn’t angry at him at all. If anything, his biggest error was apparently not realising he’d booked Josh Scowen for a foul, and then sending him off late on. That’s what Gareth Ainsworth thinks happened, but I don’t think any foul or offence should ever be judged on whether the player is already on a card. It’s called sensible refereeing when they do (MK Dons at home last season is a prime example of it working for us), but if Scowen has committed an offence, and he’s on a yellow, and it’s the last minute of the game, he’s probably getting sent off. I also thought he missed a penalty to them in the first half, so we can’t really complain.
Before they got level, I thought we’d go two up. Not long after half time a lovely run from Norton Ciffy (after a foul which wasn’t given) saw Marquis with a half chance; his flicked effort wasn’t a clear-cut chance, but it did represent our second-best opportunity based on xG. Eight minutes later, a move started by Max Sanders saw Liam Cullen play an exquisite ball to the former Brighton player, who held his run perfectly. He was on a tough angle to finish and Stockdale made a good save, but both wee good efforts carved out of very little. They were examples of our Plan A working, and as Michael said in his interview after the game, he was happy to see us blend that with Plan B, strength and bravery, sometimes switching in the same move.
Still, for all the superlatives, all the praise, we didn’t win. No, instead we conceded a goal which you can’t really blame anyone for. A deep cross has been whipped in and their centre half has gambled, he’s overloaded us in the middle, three bodies to two. If that ball comes in and it’s two on two, as it had been all game, we defend it, but instead TJ has two men, one coming in behind. Because of the way play has developed, nobody would have been tracking the centre back as part of their duty; it’s a good moment for Wycombe, one where they’ve sprung us a bit, but not one you can blame on anyone in my opinion.
After that, it was backs to the wall, air raid siren blaring, clinging on for dear life. We could have lost in those final few minutes, maybe we should have lost. Josh pulled off a super save, we cleared off the line, we blocked and tackles as bravely as I’ve ever seen a Michael Appleton side. It might have been the first half (I forget), but I remember seeing Norton-Ciffy take an absolute piledriver and walk away to challenge for the second ball, and I chuckled. A few weeks ago, some supporters were claiming Michael had lost the dressing room, and here we were finally blocking shots with absolute bravery. It’s been creeping back, maybe even since Poole went in at centre half, and long may it continue.
Of their 29 shots, 11 came in the last fifteen, minutes, three were on target, one went in. That’s a barrage, but let’s be honest; three shots on target in the spell their social media team deemed was enough to win them the game? Really? I’m not so sure. Yeah, Josh made a great save, but Stockdale did for them from Sanders. Why was it not enough for us to win the game? I think the draw was about fair, but I won’t have it that they deserved the win, not at all.
There was drama before the final whistle with the Scowen sending off, which seemed harsh, but then with him ambling off the pitch, undoing his tape, I felt little sorrow for him. He seemed to be caught in the ‘Wycombe time wasting’ mindset, but without thinking his team were actually in the ascendancy. The shame was we had a free kick in a good position, a chance to load the box, and we ended up giving the ball away cheaply and letting them have another shot. It was one of only a few moments in the game I saw the errors of the last couple of weeks creep in.
There was naturally a huge cheer at the final whistle as we took an unlikely point and passed a stern test. Of course, Sir Gareth (as he became when the whistle went, as opposed to just Gareth Ainsworth, Wycombe manager), did his usual lap of Sincil Bank. He seemed to gesticulate that we’re a club on the up, pointing at the turf, then to the sky as if to show some appreciation of where we are. I don’t usually buy into former players or managers doing the lap of honour, and I certainly wouldn’t have done if we’d lost, but you can’t help but love Gareth. He stood for something when he was here; he stood for change, he symbolised not just a great period in our history, but in pop culture as a whole. I was a kid of the nineties, a Britpop boy who wished he could grow sideburns, who debated whether Sleeper or Echobelly were the best girl-fronted band (Sleeper) and who bought both Country House and Roll With It because I could. Ainsworth, with his rock star attire, his never-say-die attitude and his pool cue in hand on a Thursday in the Short Ferry League was everything a footballer needed to be for me. I was glad when the final whistle went, and he could be that again, not the opposition manager I really wanted to shout at.
I mentioned about Maguire earlier, but he was up to his usual antics again. They backfired at one point; after seemingly going down for everything, he was genuinely fouled late on and the referee had none of it, with Wycombe moving into a good attacking position. That will happen, but you have to love the lad anyway. There was a moment he mugged of Thompson (I think it was Thompson) with feint after feint before looping a pass down the line for Norton-Cuffy. As play broke down, Maguire openly mocked his opposite number, dropping his shoulder a couple of times as he walked away. That, in my eyes, is how you ‘banter’ on the field. Obita gesturing to the crowd after their leveller is probably not what you want to see.
I get players celebrate in front of their opponents, especially if they’ve been given stick. Jodi Jones did it a few years ago, and Kevin Van Veen, but there’s a difference; both had actually scored their goals, and were joining in wider celebrations. Obita made his way to our supporters independent of his own players, and didn’t just celebrate, but gestured a couple of times. I’ve seen people defend it on social media, and in my opinion, they’re wrong. It reminded me of the day we beat Scunthorpe 3-2 at the Bank in 2001, and I was Poacher. I was getting called all sorts; paedophile was one of the less offensive remarks. I gestured to the crowd as I did my walk around, and I was almost arrested for inciting a riot. In my opinion, celebrating a goal as a collective, in a moment, is an acceptable way of answering a crowd. To do so alone, away from the goalscorer, and in the manner he did, is a bit naughty.
Still, they’re minor gripes in what was perhaps the best received 1-1 draw at the Bank for many, many years. I felt we were excellent, committed and fought with bravery and dedication. Norton-Cuffy was almost certainly the man of the match, but if any of the players that started the game get less than a seven on your ratings below, then my faith in your perception as football fans will have been shaken! I think it bodes well for the rest of the season, when mid-table mediocrity is the aim and would be an acceptable return from a turbulent and challenging campaign.
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