I don’t want anyone to accuse me of sugar-coating the second period, but it was like chalk and cheese compared to the first. We were still susceptible, and we still misplaced passes, but we actually got at a team and looked like scoring a couple of goals. The second 45 gave me hope, it showed me that the time on the training ground has been worth it, and it meant Fe had to clear that second bag of leaves up herself.
It wasn’t outstanding at the start – Wycombe came out and looked lively; we limped out and looked to be doing much of the same. Just as I was about to pull my coat on and head for the lawn, Lasse delivered a cross into the area from deep, which was stabbed wide by Taylor (or Draper, I forget which). It was a chance, one we missed, but it signalled to me we were trying to get the ball into the right positions. Okay, we didn’t actually score, but that’s what we have to do. Taylor and Draper have goals in them, but you have to give them something to feed on. Sorensen gets rave reviews from away comms – Blackpool loved him, and now Wycombe as well. Mind you, we all love Lasse as well. He’s committed, and he’s got a wicked right foot on him.
The real change happened when we made the change. It was a big one as well. Reeco Hackett came on, and for me, that was a game-changer. I feared we didn’t have anyone who would get on the ball and run with it, and that’s Hackett. We brought Bishop on as well, a player who has the ability to change a game but who can be wildly inconsistent. Both took the game by the scruff of the neck not long after a sustained spell of pressure, which the home side just could turn into a goal. Vokes’ diving header over the bar should have been 2-0, game over.
At 1-0, you always have a chance, and our chance came on 72 minutes. A ball slung into the box from a corner, flicked on, over and into the back of the net. The lino, who had as good a view as I would have had clearing leaves away, put his flag up, and the goal was chalked off. It’s funny, because there’s no common consensus. Some think Joe Taylor was interfering with play and was offside, others feel he wasn’t offside at all, and others think he was offside but didn’t touch the ball. I’ve spoken to Wycombe fans who felt it should have been a goal and Imps who felt it should not. The partisan home comms even questioned the decision, and they were criticising Scott Oldham for favouring us too much.
I feared that was going to be that. Let’s face it, we don’t score lots of goals, so if we do get one and it’s chalked off, we may as well pack up and go home. This is where I saw the green shoots because we didn’t let our heads drop. If anything, we used that incident as a catalyst to spark 25 minutes of football that might just have saved our season. I don’t say that lightly – defeat here, and more fans begin to turn, but a late goal to snatch a draw makes it feel like a win.
Hackett began to show his class, picking up a ball on the left, waltzing into the area, and forcing their keeper into a save. Immediately, I felt that’s what we’ve been crying out for, and his return is, in my opinion, the biggest positive to come from a fairly good week off the field. He takes players on, delivers crosses, and goes for goal, and over the next four months, he’s going to be a major part in us achieving a top-half finish.
Next it was Draper, heading a cross from Sorensen over. It wasn’t a stupendous first game back for Freddie, but at no point did I feel we had a former academy lad up top. He ran hard, challenged for everything and looked eager to get a sniff at goal – he looked to have come back a man. His performance will do for me, and if we keep getting those balls into the box, he will get on the end of them, no doubt at all.
Still we poured forward, but with Makama and Jack Moylan on for Hamilton and Taylor. Next, it was Ted who saw an effort blocked in the area. Wycombe were having to put bodies on the line as we smelled blood, and, let’s face it, when we’ve smelled blood recently (since September), we’ve tended to go into a corner and thrown up.
Jack Moylan gave us a little taster of what he might be about as he forced Stryjek into a diving save from inside the area, and from the resulting corner, somehow, Wycombe hacked the ball away. At this point, we were deep into the six minutes of stoppage time, and the fat lady was in the corner, clearing her throat. Wycombe, as they always do, began to take an age over throws; they started going down injured, anything to manage the game. At the start of the season, that would result in more time, but was Scott Oldham noticing?
Yes, yes, he was. The clock rolled over to seven minutes, and still, he hadn’t blown. One of their fans didn’t give us the ball back straight away, and Mr Oldham factored that in too. There was one last, desperate attack from a side unrecognisable from the first half that finally paid dividends. Another scamble in the area fell to Ethan Erhahon, who showed composure to lift the ball over everyone and into Stryjek’s net. Cue delirium in the stands, and cue my dog running for shelter as I yelled down the house. The first 50-odd minutes were forgotten as City snatched a deserved draw.
Don’t get me wrong – today was not great at times. One or two players struggled in the first half, passes went astray and it felt disjointed and muddled. I was one of the baying mob at half time, but we saw something different after the break. Firstly, we saw changes that were about more than just getting fresh legs on – Hackett and Bishop changed the game, and Jovon and Jack Moylan coming on late was a big bonus as well. We showed a desire to keep on pushing for the result, and we got into the box more times in a single half than I suspect we did in two or three games over Christmas.
I wanted to come away from today knowing things had changed, that we were moving forward, and I feared for 45 minutes that wouldn’t be the case. However, by the time Mr Oldham brought the curtain down on proceedings, I felt calmer, more assured that we have enough to stay tucked in the middle of the pack this season. Consolidation might not be the sexiest of propositions, but I think it would show that despite the injuries and the turbulent nature of late 2023, we are on the right track.
Bold prediction – I think we can take a point or three from our next two matches. Posh are good, that’ll be tough, but Derby were nothing special at their place, and I feel the Taylor/Draper partnership, a returning Reeco and a revitalised Ethan Erhahon (who was my Man of the Match today) could be enough to give us a chance against the Rams.