Ah, the second half. The pay-off, as it were, was the culmination of the first half of the narrative, where we finally got to see what this episode of the series was all about. I could have gone for a couple of headlines, and the obvious one would have been waxing lyrical about the youth academy and how we not only started with two of our youth products up top, but how they both scored. I didn’t take the easy route, I made it more difficult for myself perhaps, to reflect the game. We made it difficult in the first half, but in the second, we purred like a cat getting its chin rubbed.
I’m not going to tell you the second half was scintillating because I’d be lying. On the balance of things, it was decent – our xG was ten times that of the first half (still only 0.69), and there were shots on target (two for us, three for them). It turned into a competitive game of football, one that we won. The honest shout is the game should probably have ended a draw and that we’ve pulled four points out of the bag this week when there’s a reasonable argument for us having one, but that’s what the best teams do, isn’t it? If we can’t win, don’t lose, but always try to find a way to win.
We won through youth, and we won through the usual routes. The first goal was a good team goal, involving a number of players. I’m going to praise Tom Hamer here first, because he crosses in the first instance, and it’s cleared with Jeffries putting pressure on. He’s running to get back into position, but as the loose ball drops to Tendayi, Tom checks his run and is back on his heels. Watch it again – it is such a good run, and obviously, a man as experienced and talented as Tendayi spots it and lofts the ball back over the defenders. Then, Hamer delivers a great ball into the box with his head, nodding up and over the light blue shirts. There’s Jovon, completely unmarked, but with work to do. He had to get direction on the header and the right amount of power to beat Zach Hemming, and he did. I must confess, if I’m an Orient fan, I’d be demanding to know what Dominic Ball was thinking, just letting Jovon get a free header.
I cannot describe the joy I had at that goal. Gav, sitting behind us, had been saying how he didn’t rate Jovon in Gwynne’s, and I said if he scored, I’d turn around immediately and give it to Gav. I turned as soon as the ball hit the net and Gav had a wry smile, loving that we’d scored and, briefly, loving that we’d gone 1-0 up.
That was 47 minutes before many had returned to their seat, and on 54 minutes (still before some had returned to their seat, like my mate Dave, who criminally just sees football as acceptable afternoon drinking time), it should have been 2-0. It was Jovon, again, and this time, as I turned to Gav, he smiled and said, ‘Didn’t even get out of my seat’, as if knowing the effort would be missed. I’m not letting it go that easily, though, because of what an effort it was.
Conor McGrandles wins the ball on the edge of our area, and Jovon takes his first touch deep in our half. It took him six seconds to sprint to the opposition box, with no fewer than five defenders in pursuit. He outpaced them all, and as Hemming came out, he looked to lift the ball over him into the net. It dropped wide, but all I saw was a dangerous young striker punishing one moment’s hesitation in defence with absolute pace. Honestly, physically, this boy has it all. He’s quick, he’s big and he’s strong. If he improves his finishing by perhaps 30%, he’ll be snapped up before we know it.
We were now in total control, and Orient offered nothing. They still looked good on the ball, but after the goal, I felt really comfortable. We never felt like we conceded, and instead, we scored a goal that gets better and better every single time you watch it. Here’s a really important point – McGrandles is involved, yet again, as is Erhahon. It’s the former who shows a lovely bit of skill, rolling the ball around a defender and releasing Erik Ring. Our Swedish import then carries it at pace across the field, with Freddie screaming for a pass.
I thought he’d waited too long, but then he delivered a delicious ball, which Freddie didn’t need to touch more than once. He waited as it came across his body, and then fired across the keeper and into the far corner of the goal for 2-0. It was an instinctive finish, a moment which felt like it killed off the game and a great advert for the Lincoln City Academy system.
That should have been game, set and match, but Orient were suddenly spurred into life. A long ball forward (rare from them, not so much from us) caught Paudie out for the first time in the entire game. Kelman nodded in the path of Dan Agyei, and he produced a run and a smart finish. One slip, one mistake, and it was game on once again. For me, that showed Orient’s quality, and perhaps underlined why we shouldn’t underestimate how well we’d done in the second half. With a couple of their players back (Galbraith and Jordan Graham two who would have hurt us more) I think they’re a comfortable midtable side at worst.
They then briefly laid siege to our goal, and Joyce (rightly) added six minutes of injury time. It felt like a role reversal of Tuesday to a degree – us killing a game off on 77 minutes, only to find pressure being applied late on. A long throw from Tom James ended up going short, a tactic Orient used at a number of set pieces, and the resulting ball had Charlie Kelman spurn a chance, producing an excellent save from Wickens. Watching back, it looks routine, but in the stands, it felt like a major points winner to me, as if Wickens had produced a moment that saved the two points for us. If that one wasn’t the big save, right on the stroke of what should have been full time, Jaiyesemi drew an even better save from our keeper. It’s been a great week for Wickens, and after a quiet second half, two big saves in injury time kept us ahead. They were as important as the goals.
Then, the moment history could have repeated itself. The clock showed 97 minutes despite only six minutes being shown on the board. Orient got a corner and delivered it to the back stick, just as we did on Tuesday. Brandon Cooper rose above Ethan Hamilton and Bailey Cadamarteri and headed at goal, just as Hamer did at Bloomfield Road. It was almost a carbon copy. Almost. On this occasion, Conor McGrandles was right there, nodding away off the line right at the death. We don’t fall into those plot traps anymore. We write the narrative, as a team, and yesterday’s episode was about us winning.
It wasn’t a classic episode, but history won’t worry about that. It’ll show three points, and it’s the result that makes the Blackpool draw even better. We’re averaging two points per game and while I’m under no illusions that will continue indefinitely, it’s a superb start from our side. I don’t think we’re at our best on the ball just yet, but off the ball everyone praises what we do. Perhaps, with a smaller squad and a little less belief, we’d have taken one point from our last two matches, but we haven’t, we’ve taken four.
For now, the series takes a break, unless you count the trophy game on Tuesday night. We go into the second international break in fourth place, with players coming back and with us looking like proper promotion candidates. In two weeks, our biggest test yet, the big-spending Birmingham City, and perhaps our biggest squad to choose from, with Reeco, Ben House and Ethan Hamilton all hopefully available again, as well as Jacko.
Still the one thing to come from this game, in my opinion, is that the teamsheet already has one name on it. Somewhere, in the bottom of a drawer in Michael’s office, there’s the official EFL document with ‘Lincoln City v Birmingham City’ printed across the top, and written there, on the home team side (in ink, not pencil) are two words that will certainly give former Bundesliga centre back Christophe Klarer something to think about over the next 13 days.
Jovon Makama.
Up the Imps.