The defining moment, for me, came from a moment of pure individual brilliance from Sam Clucas. He’d had a couple of poor moments, a terrible free kick and a poorly delivered corner (which we can let him off for), but just after we came out, he wove his way through the defence before firing into the net. I celebrated, as did most of the stand, but the referee had seen an infringement.
That infringement is Makama tugging their defender in the box. Now, I suppose to the letter of the law, there is a foul, but it’s so soft that anywhere on the pitch other than right there, it’s not given. Why, then, was it given? Why did Ricardo, at that point, decide a pull was to be penalised when a full on barge in the area in the first half was not? If the goal stands, I think we win a bad game, probably 1-0.
Jovon will get stuck for that, just as he will for drifting offside and putting the ball in the net a little later (the right decision on that occasion). I thought he did well and having watched Clucas’s goal back, it’s not even a deliberate tug to pull the player out of the way. I’m genuinely angry at the fact the ref gives one, but not the other (the Collins foul). Poor.
Mind you, poor does more or less sum us up after that. I’ve had a couple of messages about Paudie’s yellow card, which means he’ll now serve a suspension. What annoys me about it is he is fouled, blatantly, on the edge of the area, and the referee gives nothing. He gets up, wins the ball, and then throws the player who fouled him to the ground and is booked. Yes, it’s a yellow, but if the original foul had been correctly punished, there’s no need for the afters. As captain, he should know better, but if Ricardo had been officiating a game of Monopoly around mine at Christmas, the board, hotels, houses, money, and tablecloth would have been hurled across the table at him long before half time that I promise you.
Sean Roughan had another good effort, underlining him being my Man of the Match again. He struck the ball so sweetly, and he was not impressed when it was Dom Jeffries who deflected it wide, rather than a Burton player. That was perhaps the last real action of the game from a Lincoln point of view and maybe it reflected us at the moment – often, we’re undoing our own good work. Last week, we should have beaten a really good Orient side; this week, we barely deserved what we got against a determined but limited Burton team.
We huffed and puffed, but didn’t seem to have the breath to blow down stack of cards. Passes went astray, players made runs in one direction and balls went in the other. We put the ball down the throat of defenders and lost possession, it was scrappy and untidy. We made subs to try and force the game, Reeco, Tom Bayliss and Ethan Hamilton standing out as big names, none of whom got anywhere near making a positive impact.
Then a ball comes into the box, Reeco heads it into the danger area instead of away to the side, and their boy scores. It’s not quite that simple – McGrandles is beaten and then stands watching on. Hamilton and O’Connor are both in attendance but can’t get a block in, and once again, we’re the architects of our downfall. It’s like I keep saying – we don’t concede a lot of shots (one on target), but when we do concede chances, we concede goals. Burton had done nothing of significance in the second half, pretty much the same as us, and yet they got a chance. Unlike Tuesday, our bodies were just not on the line.
As they celebrated, I noticed Paudie absolutely roasting Reeco for his header. On the radio on the way home, Jimmy Walker defended the winger (let’s be honest, Reeco isn’t a wingback), saying he’s an attacker and wouldn’t know where to head it. He’s a footballer; surely that’s enough?
I’m not being scathing to individuals, but there was just that familiar lack of everyone being at their best. When we have eight or nine on their game, we’re good. Yesterday, I’d say there were three or four, at best. Combine that with a woeful, inconsistent referee and an opponent who broke up the game effectively and wasn’t punished, and you get served up a damp squib of a game that will only live in the memory because it’s yet another defeat against Burton bloody Albion at home.
Harsh facts – our xG was 0.33 (that doesn’t include the two disallowed goals), and theirs was 0.74. Both sides had poor passing accuracy, us 73%, them 70%. It was just an encounter between two sides who lacked quality on the ball, and in the end, it was decided by the team that maybe, just maybe, needed it more.
One thing is for certain. We’re going to have to be a lot better at Oakwell on Saturday if we’re even going to get a draw.
Up the Imps