There’s no doubt that Steven Schumacher will have wanted a big response from his players, a push at the start of the second half that warranted the superb numbers they get at home. Their support is loud home and away, but there seemed to be an edginess to them, something a nice early goal would change. Get level, and the complexion would shift dramatically. Unfortunately (for them) the opposite happened and the Imps went 2-0 up.
Harry Boyes had a big hand in it – he’s come into his own over the past few weeks and begun to show exactly why he was brought in. He took his time to cross for Ben House, but our 12-goal striker still had work to do. He turned former Imp James Wilson with ease before firing low into the corner to give the Imps a second. It was one of those moments, like Bristol City, where you think the hosts need one thing, and the Imps give them exactly the opposite. Plymouth needed the crowd, they needed to get some momentum, and House denied them that.
The striker’s 12-goal haul is impressive as it is made up of 11 league goals, and not one is a penalty. For comparison, that’s level with the 11 from open play Anthony Scully scored in League One 2020/21, and only one behind Tyler Walker’s total of 12 in 2019/20, also Matt Green’s total in 2017/18. If he nets two more before the end of the season, he’ll have the joint-most Football League goals from open play since Ben Wright’s 15 in 2007/08. That’s some achievement for a player who began the season in attacking midfield and who wasn’t considered our starting number nine until Tom Hopper’s injury problems reared up.
It also meant another miserable time for James Wilson, who must go to bed having nightmares about his matches against the Imps. With Plymouth, he’s seen two last-minute equalisers, and with Ipswich was part of a team that conceded five. I always thought Wilson was a decent defender who never fitted our style under Danny and Nicky, but right now, I wouldn’t swap him for any of our centre halves, not those in the team, nor those on the bench. Given his spell here, played out of position and for limited minutes, he probably hasn’t got a lot of love for the red and white stripes.
Plymouth did briefly come back at us, Jay Matete seeing an effort blocked by the impressive Boyes, but it really wasn’t happening for them. Instead, they looked stodgy, laboured and awkward in possession. Time and again they huffed and puffed up the field, only to be undone by a quick Imps tackle. There was a real zip to our play, the intensity we’ve had all season out of possession, but balanced with as purpose and style we perhaps haven’t always shown. It might be the personnel – both Virtue and Erhahon are excellent at this level and I think we’re just beginning to see what they can do together. Bear in mind Virtue has only just got back to fitness, but he’s looking like the midfielder we enjoyed around Christmas, but balanced with God himself, Ethan Erhahon. Yeah, okay, maybe I go overboard with Ethan, but I firmly think everything we plan for next season needs to be built around him.
He proved he wasn’t perfect, as did Virtue, as both picked up stupid bookings. Virtue stopped a free kick being taken for zero reason and got a yellow, whilst Ethan kept on yapping despite a telling-off from the referee in front of captain Regan Poole. Those moments alone showed a little naivety, and Virtue was lucky not long after when he committed a foul. Actually, that’s wrong, he wasn’t lucky. The tackle of which I speak wasn’t a foul, but Tom Nield felt it was and seemingly moved to his pocket, only to stop when he saw it was Virtue who had committed it. It wasn’t the only odd decision – I’ve mentioned the shirt pull the officials missed by Paudie, but also a superb tackle by Lasse was punished with a free kick much to the utter desperation of Mark Hone. He made a comment about only lasting a few minutes if he was playing now – looking back over some old newspaper reports, he only lasted 15 minutes on more than one occasion in a City shirt anyway! Joking aside, the sentiment was right – Lasse’s challenge wasn’t a free kick and Andrew Kitchen, Friday’s referee, wouldn’t have punished it.
Despite the naivety from the midfield pair in terms of bookings, there was composure and maturity to their play, something that continued when Virtue came off for Sanders. Plange also came on for House, and he was involved in a couple of moves that could have brought a goal. He saw an effort saved after a smart move, and Mandroiu had a chance the keeper stopped, but Plange netted the rebound from an offside position. We carved out opportunities by being patient, springing a tackle when needed, and on another day, we could have won 4-0. Don’t get me wrong, 2-0 was a fair result, but Plange will definitely be kicking himself for missing that one chance when perhaps a ball to Sorensen would have been better. he got a second opportunity, this time playing Lasse in, only for him to curl over the bar. What impressed me was fifteen seconds later Plymouth were attacking and Lasse had got back into position with another lung-busting run. Respect where it’s due, Lasse never leaves you in any doubt about how much it matters to him. Plange, who has been getting some stick online from supporters, looked sharp when he came on and perhaps had his best outing in an Imps shirt.
On the rare occasion Plymouth did break us in the second half, the defence held firm, A Regan Poole challenge stands out early on in the half, but there wasn’t a lot for us to be worried about. A late change saw Joe Walsh come on, but it wasn’t a shape change – Lasse went to the attacking right, Regan to right back and Walsh slotted into the three. It just gave us some fresh legs in an area we might need them – but the onslaught never came. Plymouth looked beaten from the 47th minute and offered very little in terms of threat as the game wore on. Five minutes of injury time didn’t bring long balls, loaded boxes, and green shirts pouring forward, it just brought five more minutes for City fans to savour.
Tomorrow, I’ll go back to work and my boss will ask me if I had a good Easter. I ate out three times, ran a personal best for a 10k and seven-balled my cousin on my pool table last night (first seven-balling in three years), and those things will come second in my mind. At the very front of my thoughts will be back-to-back Lincoln wins, to nil, against a team we ‘should’ be beating, and a team we perhaps did not expect to. I’ll be celebrating moving on to 52 points, easily enough to avoid the drop, and raising a glass to the potential within the squad. As I said a couple of weeks ago, nothing changes between March and May for us – we know what we are and where we are, but with six games to go we’ve matched last season’s points tally. We’re upwardly mobile, building something worth sticking around to see and on our day, we’re capable of beating the very top teams in the division. I might sound like I’m getting carried away, I’m really not, but I can see where this side might be going. We need a decent summer, but players like House, Erhahon, and O’Connor can form the backbone of a decent League One side. On recent outings, I wouldn’t be averse to us trying for Boyes and Shodipo in the summer either.
I said something about hope on Friday, and that’s something I have more and more of for the future, it really is.
On a side note, there’s a date I want to throw at you. Saturday 27th February 2021. It might not stick in your mind, but it’s lodged as firmly in mine as any. Okay, I had to look up the actual date, but not the game. We went to Home Park with one defeat in 15, second in the League One table, two games in hand of Hull with four points more. We led 3-2 with 13 minutes to go, but lost 4-3, and lost Jorge Grant to injury for two months. During that time, we picked up one win in the last eight. Our promotion dream, which had faded at the edges, derailed because of that Plymouth win.
Just over two years later, we’ve got revenge. I feel content that we’re equal now, and part of me hopes Plymouth go on and secure promotion. The way they play against other teams, just constantly looking to score one more than they concede every week, deserves some success. They’re a club that hasn’t tasted top-flight football, that has risen from League Two to the top of this division on merit, not by outspending everyone and I respect that. My beef with them for that 4-3, has been settled. We’re done.
What is not done, not by a long way, is the Kennedy era, which has so much promise, based on this result. Get those season tickets renewed if you can because next season could be an interesting campaign.
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