Five Star Experiment: Imps 5-0 Manchester City Under 21s

November 12, 2024 Gary EFL Trophy, Lincoln City, Matches, Reports 0


We made a couple of changes at the break, with Duffy coming off for Roughan and Freddie coming off for Jovon. This created me the ideal scenario – a Jovon goal would add him to the list of just four players to score in all four competitions in a single season. All he needed was a goal, but instead, we got three from players who have not scored this season.

In 16 second-half minutes, we put the game to bed. Hell, we didn’t just put it to bed –  we tucked it in, gave it a shot of night nurse, put up blackout curtains and sang the Man City kids a lullaby. It was men against boys in every sense of the word, only the men were, in the main, boys. Better boys. Stronger boys. More organised boys.

I can’t go through every shot, because we had close to 20. It’s taking me all of my time to recall the Imps goals. The third was really nice, and it will get forgotten in the whirlwind of the fourth and fifth, but it shouldn’t. It was created by Sean Roughan, pressing high and dispossessing a defender who thought a Cruyff turn in his own box was a good idea (spoiler alert – not a good idea). Roughan then delivered for Street, who took the ball down, took the keeper out of the equation, and then showed composure to pick his spot with two defenders on the line.

Michael Skubala’s celebrations said it all – it’s been a difficult few months for Rob, but he’s got a four-year deal for a reason, and the composure with which he took his goal hinted at part of that reason. I’m delighted (actually, I’m effing delighted) that he scored, because I do so enjoy seeing maligned Lincoln City players make a point.

If that was a good moment, the next goal was even better. Zane Okoro has been knocking around the first-team squad for a bit, training with them, appearing on the bench and finally making his debut against Chesham. He looks robust, strong enough to bounce elite kids his own age around the Sincil Bank turf, and he’s good on the ball. He kept picking it up, driving at goal, and finally, he got his reward. Moments before, he’d had a run where he’d bullied one of their lads, won the ball, been fouled (not given), and still retained possession on the floor. All game, he was a menace, and finally, he got a chance. From 25 yards out, he fired a shot through a crowd of players and into the net, a stunning drive you do not expect to see from a 17-year-old debutant. He should be on two goals now (fouled against Chesham) and he’s one to watch.

I tweeted ‘a star is born‘ and maybe it’s hyperbole, but I’ve seen Zane twice in eight days, and there’s a lot to like. He got the goal, a headline writer’s dream, but his performance was about much more than that. He showed all sorts of attributes you want to see from a young man coming into the senior game. I have quite a bold prediction for Okoro as well – if his cameos are like that, I can see him being like Jovon, and not heading out on loan for experience.

Five minutes later, eager to ensure he grabbed a little slice of success for himself, JJ McKiernan netted a wonderful strike. JJ didn’t get Man of the Match from either Radio Lincolnshire or the sponsors, and I 100% get why Zane did, but for me, the Northern Ireland Under 21 was the best player on the park tonight. He had a goal and an assist, and both showed the sort of insane quality that earned him a four-year deal. I’ve said it before: I see elements of Peter Gain in McKiernan. I don’t know what it is, but I think we’ve signed an artist, a player who, in a couple of years’ time, will be mentioned in the same breath as Gain, or maybe Jorge Grant. His finish was a cross between emphatic and sublime, and while we can say ‘it’s only against kids’, we haven’t exactly shone against kids at times in the past.

That was 65 minutes, and in fairness, the next 29 were relatively subdued. Ethan Hamilton came on and clipped the bar. Jovon grafted for chances but couldn’t quite get the goal that would put him in the history books. Still, we never really looked in danger, and by now, I’d forgotten we had a 19-year-old midfielder at centre-back. I forgot every time the ball went back, such was Gallagher’s composure.

Yes, this was a game against kids. That’s not the point. I won’t wax lyrical about how it makes us title challengers or anything, because you have to understand the game for what it is. This competition doesn’t reflect anything in terms of the bigger picture, and the other three competitions are a lot more important. The players who played at Chesham had a very different and, perhaps, a more robust challenge. I’m under no illusions about that.

However, for a makeshift side, cobbled together like a patchwork quilt, or a bad mixtape of all your favourite songs taped off the radio (showing my age) we were outstanding. There wasn’t so much an age difference as an experience difference. The experienced players in our side were great – Dom Jeffries hasn’t been mentioned, but some of his passing was great. However, those young guns, the likes of Moylan, Draper, Makama, Okoro and McKiernan, were just better than players that Manchester City have decided are the elite footballers of the future.

For me, the game was a reflection on what is right, and wrong, with the English game. Some of those Manchester City players need to know what it is like to get kicked around the pitch by Stevenage or to fight against committed part-timers like Chesham. They need to know what it is like to be turned down by Derby County or Watford and to have to fight tooth and nail for a contract in League One, to deal with disappointment and come out the other side. Because it is those experiences that help shape the young players we have who, on a night where it could easily have gone badly wrong, did everything right.

This game will almost certainly be remembered for Okoro’s goal. However, I’ll remember it as being a lot of fun, first and foremost. I’ll also remember it as a benchmark moment for Rob Street, hopefully a breakthrough moment for JJ McKiernan, and a shining example of how promising some of the players at our football club really are.

One thing is for certain – it was a million miles away from that warm September evening when we pussyfooted around Chesterfield for 70 minutes. Let’s just be thankful we can’t draw Accrington Stanley away in the next round.