4-4-2, how football should be played according to the purists. Many were calling for Walker and House up top in a 4-4-2, and they got their wish. What is the old proverb, be careful what you wish for?
It just didn’t work, although Mark Kennedy did say we’d been 4-4-2 out of possession at times in the first half. Still, the home side started strong and got stronger from there. They had all the possession and were carving us open at will. It was difficult to see what the change was meant to do, but it almost looked like a different team had come out in the white and green shirts. The first half, with fairness to Northampton, was level, but you could see our class. For 20 minutes or more of the second half, we were under siege and looked a little ragged and disorganised.
Just seven minutes after the restart, it should have been 1-1. Jensen pulled off a super save, but the ball dropped kindly for the Cobblers. They had another chance, cleared off the line by O’Connor, and then a third hacked away by Burroughs, also on the line. If we’re talking xG, that probably accounted for a good 1.5.
Leonard, on loan from Brighton, had a good effort saved by Jensen, and every time the home side went forward, I thought they’d score. They had a solid penalty shout turned down as well; Roughan possibly fouled before he 100% returned the favour.
Soon after, Mark Kennedy had a change of heart and went back to 3-4-3, which certainly made us look much stronger. However, the home side still hit the post from close range – they weren’t content with simply making up the numbers in the game. It looked like a goal, either way, could win the game – and Lincoln got the second goal, absolutely against the run of play.
The second was a great header from Paudie O’Connor, a recycled ball from Roughan found Sorensen on the right, he delivered a delicious cross into the danger area, and O’Connor arrived like a battering ram on a drug dealer’s door to put us 2-0 up. We didn’t deserve it, but we had it.
The Cobblers looked lost. A Hoskins dive was the sign of a desperate player trying to buy something, and he got a booking for his troubles, the only one for a player on the field. At 2-0, all we needed was to stay tight, and instead, we gifted a goal. TJ had a decent game this evening, but his header out fell to the feet of Louis Appere, who finished with aplomb.
That made all the difference. Northampton got their backs up again and started throwing everything forward. They brought on some big guns and went long, putting us under a lot of pressure. Pinnock, arguably the best player in claret, had a shot saved by Jensen. City scrapped and fought, but the home side wouldn’t be put down.
With just seconds left, a ball dropped on the edge of the area and Tyler Walker threw himself into the tackle, smashing the ball upfield. I was ready to write the headline about togetherness, about a win fought for but not deserved, but Northampton picked up the ball, took a throw 20 yards further forward than it should have been, and it was allowed to stand. They got the ball into the box, it went out for a corner, and we’d now played a minute over the six minutes. I can almost forgive the timing – we were warned, after all, but to allow a recycled ball to be thrown from so far away from where it left the field? Unforgivable that late in the game. I’m sure it wasn’t the case, but it felt a lot like the referee was evening things up for the penalty shout. If he was, and he admitted it, I could almost forgive that as well.
If he just allowed the throw to be taken from there because of nothing, then it’s incompetence. Still, Northampton scored, a goal they deserved without a doubt, but a goal that is controversial, at best.
In truth, we were our own worst enemy; changing shape didn’t work, and I wonder if we’d come out the same as we went in at half time, would they have found the momentum? There’s also a big question over us going 2-0 up and conceding twice.
We’ll pick through the bones of this in the podcast later. I’ve slept on the report (everything above this was written last night) and I feel a bit better about it. We took a point from a game we deserved nothing from, but coming so close to all three makes it disappointing. It’s like that feeling you get when you watch the lottery and the first four numbers come out – you have nothing, and four numbers give you something, but when you don’t match the final two, a little bit of you thinks about what might have been.