The key was for the Imps to come out as we did against Fleetwood at the weekend, looking hungry and ready to push home our advantage. Instead, backed by a quiet crowd, Charlton came out with purpose, and they dominated a second half that was low on quality from the Imps. The early chance came courtesy of a cross that just evaded May, but it was one of a few for the home side.
They didn’t lay siege or anything like that, but for much of the half, it was them that looked like scoring. Draper’s tough night finished on 57 minutes, Ben House coming on but not getting a lot of change from the centre-backs. Jack Moylan came on, and whilst I’ve seen some comments like ‘off the pace’, it was interesting that Pete thinks he’s going to be a hell of a player for us in time. He certainly worked hard and wanted to make things happen when he got on the ball. In that respect, he reminded me a little of Dylan Duffy when he arrived 12 months ago.
Chuks Aneke came on for them, a player many will remember from being at MK Dons in our title-winning side, and he changed the game. Taking off the little man, May, and bringing on a lump gave us something different to consider, and I felt he came on to beat us up. Almost as soon as he did, Erhahon suggested to the ref that there might be a few elbows, and within a minute, Aneke created a chance after it looked like he smashed an elbow into Sorensen. Alex Mitchell certainly wasn’t happy, motioning to the ref, he felt Aneke was keen with his arms. In fairness, whilst he did land an elbow, it wasn’t Stockley cynical, and whilst you don’t want to see malicious elbows, a big striker using his arms as leverage is just part of the game.
The big chance to wrap up the game came on 66 minutes, as Jack Moylan was tugged back on the edge of the area. Our free kicks have been really poor, and as I was making notes, I wrote ‘wasted’ after the free kick before it had even been taken! How wrong I was. Danny Mandroiu struck a peach of a shot that beat Isted, only to bounce back off the post. I’ll give the keeper the benefit of the doubt and say if it had been an inch to the left, he would have made a superb save, but it got me off my seat. I thought this was the moment we’d get a second and see the game out, but it wasn’t to be. It was probably our last chance of the game, as we buckled down for 35 minutes of home pressure.
Ben House picked up his customary booking before Panuche Camara and Freddie Ladapo came on. Both are players we’ve come up against in the past, and both are the sort of players I always think I’d like at Lincoln, knowing they’re well out of our price range. It took Ladapo two minutes to make his mark.
What is really frustrating is their goal came from our throw-in. There’s a lag on my iFollow, so I know there were fewer than 50 seconds between us getting a throw-in and launching it down the line to Ladapo smashing a great effort past Jensen to level things. I don’t know if that’s poor game management or just an outcome of Charlton being more aggressive in the second period. Whatever it is, it set up 30 minutes of nerves for the travelling fans and those across the country watching on iFollow.
When I say nervy 30 minutes, it wasn’t as if there was one-way traffic, but we looked a completely different side to the first half. We struggled to get down the sides, and whilst Joe Taylor worked hard, he didn’t get a lot of joy. It was just tough to watch, not because we were so bad, but I felt we lost our rhythm. let’s not forget, whatever you say about Charlton, the xG table says they should be top eight and have equal to or more goals than all but two sides outside the actual top eight. This is a decent side who have struggled to keep the ball out of the net, but who have always been a danger, even with Aneke injured. We said it on the podcast, this is a good team down on their luck, not a bad set of players. Both Chris and I predicted 1-1, so at 1-1, we were hoping to be right.
On 75 minutes I felt the ref perhaps just began to lose it a little bit. There was a dust-up in the middle of the park, nothing too serious, but I was dismayed to see captain O’Connor getting drawn in with Camara. The latter was perhaps lucky just to get a yellow – there were four shown in all, Roughan and Erhahon for us, Anderson and Camara for them. It was all a bit silly, with Pete remarking he felt O’Connor was being ‘piss poor’ in his actions. I felt maybe we were trying to draw a red card to get an advantage, and we’re better than that. The home comms were at loggerheads, with one blasting us, calling Roughan a disgrace and saying there should be loads of time added on, and the other basically saying ‘we’d do the same’. The latter is true.
From 84 minutes, the home side turned the screw. A succession of corners were dealt with by City, but when we brought no two youngsters in Duffy and Makama, Charlton brought on Tayo Edun, one of our best players from the 2020/21 season, and another reason I used the word ‘love’ in the title. I loved Tayo (in a footballer way) and was gutted to see him go. That squad of theirs should never be in the bottom five in League One, never. Imagine bringing Tayo Edun on with fifteen minutes to go (including injury time) at this level. He was a key player in arguably the best Lincoln City team for a generation. If Nathan Jones doesn’t keep them up, I’ll be utterly gobsmacked.
I was utterly gobsmacked around 87 minutes as Camara stayed on the field. It was another of those bloody cynical fouls I hate, the ‘no attempt to play the ball’ pull backs that break up play. The thing here was it came after the ref waved play on for another infringement, and it went completely unpunished. No yellow card for a player who has deliberately pulled back an opponent without trying to play the ball. ‘If he’s not already on a booking, it’s a booking’, said the home comms. No, chaps, it’s a booking, whatever he has or does not have.
One minute later, Erahahon did exactly the same, and Charlton didn’t even get a free kick. I always ask for consistency, so I can’t really complain. The same goes for the ten minutes of injury time. No real complaints; you reap what you sow. We sowed some game management, and from that grew ten extra minutes of game.
Did the home side pour forward? Yes, but not with anything really meaningful until one minute from the end. That was, in no small part, down to my Man of the Match, Lucas Jensen. He was chastised on Saturday for his error that led to Fleetwood scoring, but he stayed big throughout this encounter. He bossed his area with some huge punches, one taking out Aneke, and he claimed crossed that strayed too close. Then, with a minute left, a lucky ricochet fell to Edun, one on one from a tight angle. He shot, but Jensen stayed big and saved with his feet. What was really impressive is that he was up and able to claim the looping loose ball moments later, with red shirt lurking. It didn’t bring the euphoria that a last-gasp equaliser would, but it was just as important in securing the point as Hackett’s goal.
That was the last action of the half, and City held on for a point. I guess there will be some negative reaction to the second-half performance, but I’m not sure it’s justified. This Charlton team should be embarrassed at being so low in the division with the quality of footballers at their disposal. George Dobson could be playing Champions League football for Fehervar next season – Aneke, Ladapo and May would walk into 90% of the sides in this division. I quite liked Tennai Watson on the right for them as well – they just have a great collection of players. Quite how they turned in such poor performances as that first 45 minutes, I’ll never know.
No, this wasn’t a bad result by any stretch. We’ve won two home games against sides we ‘should’ be beating, but going to the Valley is a daunting experience, or it is when it’s not so sparsely filled that it feels like Stadium MK. This is a game you look at and think ‘a point would be good there’ no matter where they are in the league, and I’ll take it. I asked for 12 points from six matches, and we currently have seven from three, so we’re well on course. Exeter on Saturday is one of those games I feel we ‘should’ win, and if we do, it makes this point even better.
One thing is for sure – with McGrandles and Erhahon in midfield, and I guess Bishop ahead of them, we’ll be back to a core I think is as good as most around us right now (Hamilton for McGrandles is the same effect). We just lacked a little bit of balance in the middle of the park tonight and, at times, a little bit of quality. It’s still six unbeaten; we’ve now opened an 11-point gap between us and the bottom four and a three-point gap between us and the bottom half of the table. There’s definitely a forward momentum around the team right now, and actually, digging deep and earning a point tonight showed the resilience we have in the side.
Bring on the Grecians.