Are We…… Good?: Imps 1-0 Stevenage

In our Stacey West group chat a few days ago, Emily struck a chord with me.

It was after we’d announced Scott Fry was staying at the club, and she said, ‘Stop doing and announcing things that make me think ‘…are we.. good? I can’t cope with the hope.’

I couldn’t help but have that in my head today. Up to (and including) this morning, part of me still thought that the surge up the table could be happening because of numerous things. An easy start (not the case, but the mind plays tricks). Others being poor. Streaky form. Luck. Anything at all to hide the horrible hope and expectation that actually being good brings.

I didn’t see it coming. I called somewhere between 11th and 17th, I think, although that was before the transfer window. I got bogged down in that budget table, the expectation of nothing more than a valiant effort against the big spenders. I got caught up in us having largely the same squad, and maybe even dragged down a little by the negativity around the fanbase in January and February of this season.

I got caught out, or at least, I hope I got caught out. I said I saw the makings of a good side. I did see the makings of a good side, as far back as early 2024. I’ve argued it online, fought tooth and nail defending my belief that Michael Skubala is one of the most underrated coaches in the division, especially among many of our own fans.

Now I think I might have been right all along.

Squad depth certainly helps. Adam Jackson missing? No problem, the excellent Tom Hamer can come in and be just as good. Leading scorer on the bench? No problem, because we can play the leading scorer from January to May in the entire EFL through the middle. Club record signing a little jaded from two international matches in a week? No problem, because he’s yet to displace our regular midfield duo. The catch? All of the players I’ve discussed being stalwarts in the team there were here at the beginning of last season.

Today, we started with a front four of House, Draper, Street and Hackett, all with us at the start of last season, three of them going back further. Our midfield duo were both here last season and neither were first choice. How is that possible, unless continuity, good coaching and gentle evolution rather than epic revolution are a route to success.

Look, we haven’t won anything yet, and with finishing like we showed in the first 15 minutes, we wouldn’t. That said, while we missed a plethora of chances before the clock struck 15 minutes, we also created a plethora of chances as well. I always quote Danny Cowley, who used to say he didn’t mind strikers missing chances, it was strikers not getting chances that worried him. I can think of Ben House, Reeco Hackett and Rob Street all having chances in a first 15 minutes that made me think Stevenage were the midtable side that badge-bias suggests they should be.

They’re not, though, are they? A word on them, and one which might have people screaming hypocrite at me. Under Evans, they weren’t hugely different from now, and I hated everything they stood for, watching him explode with faux-rage on the touchline every thirty seconds. Under Alex Revell, a calmer presence on the touchline (note I didn’t say a calm presence) I have respect for them. Lewis Freestone and Carl Piergianni are journeymen of the lower leagues, Jacob Pattenden a non-league punt. That’s the view, the badge-bias as Michael Skubala labelled it, and yet they’re good. They’re strong, well-marshalled in the dark arts but a good side.

Up top, I’ve never been an Ahadme fan, but Lubala and Campbell look dangerous, and Jordan Houghton is a player I’ve always admired from his Plymouth and MK Dons days. They’re a good side and honestly, for 15 minutes, we were excellent. We were slick on the ball, created chances and oozed class.

But we didn’t score. That’s crucial, because as the half wore on, the chances dried up a little.

I thought House’s chance, from Reach’s centre, was the most clear-cut, and that came after about 30 seconds, but he side-footed well wide. Street had two, the second of which was really good goalkeeping. He didn’t touch the ball, but made the angle so tight that Street had nothing to aim at.

The game slowed down after that, thanks to Stevenage’s perfectly legitimate slowing down tactics. Their keeper took ages on the ball, every throw was slow, and that’s their prerogative. It’s up to the referee to stop it, and Martin Coy didn’t. I thought the ref had a decent game, apart from that. He let a lot go, lots of pulling in the box, in particular. Piergianni is a master at it, the shirt tug, the secret holding and careful fouls. Once or twice we went looking for something, and the ref just didn’t bother either way.

If this game had been officiated by Carl Broom or Aaron Bannister, it would have been carnage. There were two clear yellows I spotted, House and Pattenden, both were let go. Coy wanted the game to flow, but when Stevenage didn’t, he wasn’t too fussed. He came across as a pretty chilled guy to be fair, like a cool Dad who just let the kids knock bells out of each other and tells them not to cry when they get hurt.

Someone could get hurt, fairly, by a Tom Hamer tackle. Twice he fairly won a challenge that was thunderous and left a player in a heap. It was ‘Bostwick on Maddison’ at one stage, and that’s why Hamer is rapidly becoming many City fans’ favourite players. No nonsense, old school defending.

Eventually, it settled into a typical Lincoln and Stevenage game, that early momentum dulled as they got into their stride. We got little change out of them at the back, and both sides were restricted to half chances. That’s as much a compliment to us as it is to them, because they were undefeated in seven going into this, on the back of three straight wins. Bayliss and McGrandles were excellent, showing such composure in possession and getting us going forward as much as we could.

Perhaps the best chance of all came at the end of the half. The effortless running of Darikwa (in that he makes it look effortless, but he’s putting a lot in) drew a save from Marschall, his first of the game, only for the rebound to fall a tiny bit behind Hackett with the goal gaping. He couldn’t scoop it in, but like the rest of the side, Hackett was looking good.

Literally everything we did up to the final shot was spot on. Was it all that different from Exeter? No, and that is what worried me. I still felt that as half time rumbled around, it had 0-0 written all over it, and that usually means I’m worried about a late goal losing us the game.