We have a Stacey West WhatsApp group, and around half time, I said that I felt the game was done and we wouldn’t score again. We hadn’t been adventurous going forward, but with no strikers (there we go again), it isn’t easy. We couldn’t make a change because we don’t have the personnel to do so, which is a massive switch from Wycombe and Blackpool – even from Shrewsbury. Our strength has been in starting with a plan and adjusting around the hour mark to offer a different threat, but I didn’t feel we could do that at Fratton Park. We needed a slice of luck, something to fall our way.
At least, that’s what I thought. In terms of shots on target, we were the better side in the second period. We had seven efforts, three on target, whilst the hosts had six and one. I love xG, and in the second half, ours was 1.03, theirs 0.35. Yes, they had possession, but we were much better, leading me only to feel worse. What if we’d been two players strong in those forward areas? I firmly believe we would have scored in the second half and been coming back from Portsmouth (a team I think will be in the Championship next season) with a point.
The bright spark for me was Ethan Hamilton. You know we have an Ethan Erhahon love-in on this page, we sponsor his away shirt, but it was his namesake, Ethan Hamilton, who had a really strong game in the middle of the park. He started off a move on 66 minutes in his own half and ended it by stabbing an effort on target. He was constantly looking for the ball, the beneficiary of Joe Morrell’s ongoing battle with Ethan Erhahon, which tied those two up. Both Morrell and Erhahon were booked for an incident in the second half, which was a Morrell foul, and Erhahon then patting him on the head repetitively like a schoolboy. It was sheer panto, and to be fair, Morrell had a decent game, but in amongst that, the midfield battle became quite interesting.
I really enjoyed the second period. We had more possession than the first half (still not more than them), and I always felt we had a goal in us. We didn’t pour forward like custard over a trwcle sponge, but there is a menace in this team. I bemoan our striker situation (you might have noticed) but our midfield is really good. Erhahon and Hamilton purr when they’re in full flow, and they were up against a solid, experienced pair in Pack and Morrell. It’s rare that I enjoy a defeat as much as I did, but I just felt it was an engrossing game in the second period.
They perhaps should have scored when Pack blazed over on 63 minutes, but that was their last serious chance. Three blocks from a free kick on 69 minutes were their last actual chances – that moment accounted for three of their six shots in the second half. Perhaps they sat back a bit more because they felt they didn’t need a goal – if I was the home support, I suppose that’s the comfort I would take from the game. As an away fan, I was delighted they showed such a lack of endeavour in the final third throughout the game.
I did chuckle when the home commentary discussed our subs on 76 minutes. Their assessment of the moment was that ‘the three strikers’ were going off. Three strikers/ One would be nice, thanks to Radio Solent – I had images of that Roy Hodgson meme immediately spring to mind. Also, can someone please send a press release out letting commentators know that Roughan is pronounced ‘Row-an’ and not ‘Ruff-an’? Cheers.
I say I enjoyed the second half, but we still lost; that’s the brutal truth. In the end, the chance that could have earned us a point fell to a defender when, even with strikers on the bench, it would have fallen to a defender. Adam Jackson had his head in his hands as he sunk to the turf in the eighth minute of injury time, and I’ve got to feel for him. Breaking the move down is interesting – Lasse’s free kick is headed at goal by O’Connor, and parried out to Jackson. If you’ve followed the ball, you’ll see him setting up for a shot, but go back to the highlights and watch the move again, but focusing on Jackson. He’s pulled to the ground by his shirt as the ball comes in. For me, it’s a penalty. I know you’ll laugh, but genuinely, watch again. If the referee sees it clearly, surely it’s a foul? Maybe I’m clutching at straws. Interestingly, it’s Sean Raggett, on as a sub, that pulls him down. Either way, Jacko is only just getting to his feet as the ball falls to him, meaning he’s off balance and strikes the ball into the ground, up and over the bar. Game over.
I think it’s important to dispel a narrative forming about us not being able to defend set pieces – we did defend their set piece for the second goal, it was the recycled ball that did us, and their opening goal wasn’t a set piece. Conceding late isn’t great, and I guess that’s the one thing I could have a bit of a moan about. Would having strikers have made a big difference to that moment in first half injury time? Maybe, maybe not – it’s impossible to say. All I know is I’ve watched us block three shots on 69 minutes from a dangerous set piece, and noted how their three corners didn’t produce a single shot at goal. Defending yesterday, in two isolated moments, let us down, but on the whole, we did well. It’s frustrating, there’s no doubt about it, that on the balance of play, shots and xG, we were worth a point yesterday, even without a striker on the field.
I waited overnight to write my piece to make sure I wasn’t clouded by our situation and that my rose-tinted glasses were allowed to fade a little. I woke up with this desperate sadness at our current predicament. Mark Kennedy and the recruitment team have assembled a fine squad of players who have a real chance of doing something. We’re organised and disciplined (Pompey have two players on four bookings already). We lay nice football in spells, and whilst we’re never ones to dominate possession, we’re effective when we do get the ball. It’s patient and planned possession, and whilst it won’t always delight supporters, it’s the right way to become effective at what we do.
The only problem is that tools have now been taken out of the toolbox, making the job harder.
Here’s my hope for the next few weeks. Jack Vale joins us this week and has a couple of weeks on the grass. We take the chance against Cheltenham next weekend, avoiding defeat. That takes us to two tough away games, Orient and Posh, where we might just see Jack in a Lincoln shirt. He settles quickly and begins to get 60 or 70 minutes, leading to him being fully fit for Burton on October 14th. That takes us into the mid-Autumn period, not constantly referencing what might have been. That’s the hope because if Jack Vale can settle quickly, this Lincoln City team have proven to me that they’re the real deal, not least by statistically being the better side against the table-toppers yesterday.