It’s the cool light of a Sunday morning, and I’ve had time to digest the game, and I don’t feel quite as bad.
I’ve sat through the usual immediately reactive comments such as shambles and embarrassing, but actually, in terms of exits to lower division clubs, this is the least embarrassing of the four we’ve now suffered. Two were at home against bottom-half League Two clubs in 90 minutes, and the other was away against a National League South club.
Yesterday, we were up against a League Two club with automatic promotion aspirations, with a League One-experienced manager and players who have League One quality. Our fans wanted Jorge Grant in the summer, Daniel Udoh has terrorised us with a couple of teams (smashing Jacko’s eye socket if I recall correctly a few years ago), Ollie Turton was part of the Blackpool side that beat us in the play-off final, and Fabio Borini was most recently with Sampdoria.
In the summer, two of their ‘lesser-known’ names were wanted by League One sides – we were thought to be after Mnoga, and Bolton wanted N’Mai. This wasn’t a Hartlepool or a Morecambe, not by any stretch.
I’m not making excuses; I am trying to build up a bit of context. For the record, of course I expected us to win yesterday, and of course I think we should be in a position to dispatch a League Two side. However, when you consider two sides who got promoted last season are now top-six League One outfits, it does bring the gap between the two divisions a little closer. I wouldn’t be surprised to find Salford’s playing budget isn’t a million miles from ours as well.
In terms of team selection, people are saying Michael got it wrong. Easy to say when you’ve lost, but on the actual balance of play, we did enough to earn a draw. That’s not meant to be comforting, but if we net the decisive penalties and they do not, then there isn’t this inquisition. Michael’s setup didn’t affect Tom Bayliss and Conor McGrandles missing penalties, did it?
I shouted bringing Towler in, and Varfolomeev. I called Ring as well, so actually, the changes weren’t unexpected or sweeping. I know someone has said not to mess with the defence, but Reach, Jackson and Darikwa are all regulars in League One, and Towler was in his more natural position. The team we put out, in my opinion, should have had enough to win the game.
I’m not saying we played well, but there is another team involved in any game. In the last four, we’ve had it our own way in the first 15 minutes or so, but this time, Salford got the quick start. To our credit, they didn’t score, but this is a talented squad and one I suspect will be right up there in the mix for promotion. They’re confident and on a good run; the honest shout is Port Vale away (for instance) might have been an easier tie.
Wickens pulled off a couple of saves as Salford started well, but as the game went on, we grew into it. I keep hearing about our lack of goals, but again, we are creating chances. Create chances and the goals will eventually come. It’s a crisis when we’re not creating chances at all.
Looking back at those defeats in this competition in the past, we only created two shots against Chippenham all game, we had half as many on target against Morecambe as we did yesterday, and half as many both on and off target as we did against Hartlepool. I know the If-it brigade have been out in force (you know, “if it carries on like this we’ll be in trouble”, etc…) but the truth is we’re doing mostly the right things up to the final finish. Five games ago, we were the most clinical side in League One, so to claim a crisis a month later is a little premature, like the yearly sleepwalking into relegation posts which, as yet, have not resulted in us being relegated.
Am I defending the defeat? No, of course not. We missed a couple of decent chances, and we did seem to drop off for periods, which made it challenging against a decent side. I don’t buy the whole ‘negative substitutions’ argument either. Erik Ring and Adam Jackson both had to come off given their recent game time and fitness, and Ben House’s injury also forced a swap. The changes meant an enforced shape change, and it’s not something I’m sure Michael actually wanted to do.
Someone said, “Try to pick something positive out of that for Lincoln fans.” Absolutely: two words – Erik Ring (actually, six words, Stacey West Patreon-sponsored Erik Ring). Him coming into the side, full of direct running and energy, is huge for us. His goal was a great way to announce himself to supporters this season, and I recall him doing similar away at Crawley last season. What he offers, we don’t have currently – someone not just quick, but fearlessly direct, eager to get forward. Jack Moylan does it, and as fans, we love someone who runs with the ball, who wants to beat a player. Him getting minutes and a goal is a real positive from the game.
I thought we turned the screw as we got towards half-time. Reach had a shot blocked, Street had one saved, Ring shot wide. They were all moments, and at that stage, I didn’t expect to be online reading words like shambles or embarrassing at full-time. If we were away to a National League South side and had created two efforts all game, I’d get it, but we’d got back into things after a tough start against a good side.
Losing Ben House, with Tom Hamer, Reeco Hackett, Dom Jefferies and Jack Moylan all out for the tie, was not great – another cloud upon which the thin, Erik Ring-shaped silver lining sits.
The second half wasn’t great; they came back in after bringing on the big guns. Draper and Towler had chances for us, but the game flowed the way of the home side. Do I think we ‘sat on a 1-0 lead’? No. I’m not quite sure what fans who say we ‘should have gone for the second goal’ think is happening. Game state dictates that when you concede, the other team pushes harder for a goal. You can try to exploit that, but in doing so you also leave gaps yourself, so the balance of the game can shift. It’s not every team – some teams are built on attack, attack, attack, but our foundations are on not conceding, which is why when we score and a team comes out, it feels like we’re sitting back. Of course, it is frustrating, especially when you see a player like Ring brought off, someone likely to spring a counter, but at the same time there are reasons.
It’s very, very rare that we’re going to score one goal in a game, and the team of professionals on our bench, who have played and coached professionally across many, many years, are going to go, “Well, that’s that, let’s not bother trying now, lads.” Sometimes, I wish it were easy to see how ludicrous some knee-jerk reactions really are.
For their goal, I’m afraid I’m more than a little disappointed with Montsma. I’m not 100% sure where he fits in this Lincoln side. Cup matches? Sure. But I’m not 100% sure I’d be comfortable if we had to drop him into the back four for a league game. He did well against Chelsea and rightly so; he’s a darling of supporters given his injury hell, but in the 15 months or so since he’s been back, I haven’t seen much of the old Lewis. The 50-yard raking passes have become fewer, and the challenge between him and Udoh was weak. We know what Udoh is all about – Jacko has the scars to prove it – but if we win that one duel in the middle of the park, they don’t score. If Montsma doesn’t go to ground, he may track the goalscorer. Instead, he’s in a heap, not fouled, and we’re pegged back when the game should have been over.
Also, I’m not having Darikwa’s sending off. I’m not having this referee at all. I’m not one to slate refs generally. I think the standard has been okay for a few seasons, but this campaign is pretty poor. I’m fair as well – I said Wiredu was harshly sent off for diving during the Imps’ Plymouth match earlier in the season, and I stand by that. Tendayi’s sending off is worse. I’ve watched it back – he’s clearly caught and goes down, but he is straight back up contesting the ball. If it’s a dive, there is surely an appeal, some attempt to con the referee?
I’m sorry, but if that is a dive, then where were the other yellow cards? The name of the player escapes me, but one of their lads went down first half looking for a free-kick, but the referee waved it away – is that not a dive? Is it only a dive if it is in the area, regardless of whether you try to get back up or not? Honestly, it didn’t affect the outcome of the game, I get that, but it could affect the outcome of the next game, and it is frankly rubbish refereeing from an increasingly poor group of officials.
Penalties? Lottery. People will say it’s not, but it is. On another day, Wickens guesses right for one, or Tom Bayliss doesn’t quite strike it as hard. I don’t like penalty shootouts (and given we won that one at Sheffield United, we don’t have an awful record). This should have gone to a replay – that is what our efforts earned. Would that have been good enough to stop some of the social media reaction? Yes, of course. We’d be in the hat, we’d know what awaited us, and we’d have finally got a tie at home – something we seem to rarely get in the cup. But no, because Premier League clubs play too many games in Europe, we don’t get a stab at a League Two club.
They can have their day; I bear them no malice. I’ve never liked Karl Robinson, but it is a fact that he has put together a really good squad with a massive chance of promotion.
Of the top six in our division, we were one of only two sides to score a goal (Stockport won 3-1 at Tranmere), and we were one of only two not to lose in 90 minutes. Wimbledon and Stevenage lost to nil against sides lower in the pyramid than Salford, and Cardiff were beaten by League One strugglers Peterborough. Just for perspective.
To conclude, no, there was not a lot for us to be positive about, but this was not a shambles. We created chances, we missed a few, we scored a wonder goal and, in my opinion, we were one piece of poor defending away from being in the hat. In 151 out of the FA Cup’s 153 years, we wouldn’t even be out of the competition right now; we’d be looking forward to going into the hat for the next round and plotting a way to turn them over in ten days’ time.
So, let’s all keep our cool, be upset about getting knocked out, but also keep some perspective. It feels raw now, but even I had to look up who we played in the 2021/22 season, so this defeat won’t last all that long in the memory, and it certainly isn’t reflective of some sort of impending crisis at League One’s fifth-placed club right now.
Remember, we beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 twice at Sincil Bank, and at the end of both of those seasons, they were promoted.