Some draws, like Blackpool away this year, feel like defeats. Some draws, like Blackpool away last year, feel like wins.
Some draws, like yesterday’s stalemate with Huddersfield, feel exactly like draws. City came back from behind after running the show in the first half, but words like “stalemate” do not do it justice. Stale means mouldy, old, boring, and this was anything but. We got a point, but we learned a lot about Michael Skubala’s Lincoln City.
What yesterday gave us was not just another mark in the league table, but something far more useful than that, information that actually tells you something about a team beyond the scoreline, beyond the noise, and beyond the surface-level reactions that inevitably follow every game.
I thought we were excellent. We controlled the game, won the early tactical battle, and then had to show real resilience after going behind. We’ve been behind twice at home this season, for seconds against Exeter City, and for around 15 minutes against Wigan Athletic. We know we’re great at pressing at 0-0. We know we’re good at fighting when protecting a lead or hanging on to a draw. What we have not seen is how we respond when we’re behind, at home, with minutes ticking away. I thought, with that in mind, we were great.
The numbers support that feeling as well. The xG settled at roughly 2.7 to 1.08, which means a City win would not have been controversial in the slightest, and you could even argue that a 2-1 scoreline might have reflected the balance of the game more accurately than 1-1. We certainly did enough to score twice, we just did not quite do the one thing that matters often enough, which is put the ball in the net.
What mattered more to me, though, was what we learned, and it keeps coming back to how well things are done at Lincoln City.
The first half
I thought we were outstanding, as close to scintillating as we have been all season. You can point to the Peterborough 3-0 or the Luton 3-1, but this performance belongs in that conversation, and it came from a side that was nowhere near full strength.
No James Collins. No Ben House. Jack Moylan starting on the bench. No Adam Jackson. No Tom Bayliss. This was not a Lincoln side stacked with first-choice players, and yet it looked cohesive, aggressive, and confident, which tells you a lot about the work done in the summer.
Ivan Varfolomeev has been excellent. Chris has given him man of the match in consecutive games, and there is a strong case for that. He impressed when he came on against Stockport and has seized his opportunity since, looking like a player who belongs comfortably at this level and possibly higher.
I do feel for Tom Bayliss, watching from the sidelines while his replacement, the club-record signing, is performing at such a level, but that is football. Ivan’s shot in the first half was the kind of controlled, composed strike you associate with players operating above League One, the sort that never really looks rushed. I saw something similar with Ethan Erhahon, not so much in shooting but in the way he carries himself, the way he moves, and the way he uses the ball.
It also explains why Ivan did not feature earlier in the season. He needed time. New country, new language, new league. You cannot simply drop a player from the Czech Republic into League One and expect it to click immediately, and we have seen the same with Eric Ring. Integration takes time.
Tony Pulis and Stoke
What also stood out in the first half was how uncomfortable Huddersfield looked. Every long throw caused tension, and they knew exactly what was coming. I was sitting in front of some Huddersfield media guys, and one comment they made summed up City perfectly. They said it was like watching Tony Pulis’s Stoke, and that is not an insult, it is a compliment.
Pulis upset the Premier League by doing things differently, leaning into repetition, physicality, and restarts to break patterns. League One went through a phase where everyone tried to play Guardiola-style football, building endlessly from the back. We did it. MK Dons did it. Look where they are now.
Some clubs did not. Rotherham never really did. Wycombe under Ainsworth did not. Sometimes being different is the advantage. Are we a long-ball side? No. Are we excellent at restarts? Absolutely, and it would be negligent not to lean into that. But we were not just a set-piece team yesterday. We created chances in open play through clever breaks, neat passing combinations, and movement that created space rather than possession for the sake of it.
Passing quality is not just about technique. A pass is only as good as the run it is played into, and right now there is a better understanding across this Lincoln side. Players are moving for each other and occupying good spaces, and that starts at full-back, where Tendai Darikwa offers more than just energy, providing neat possession play and helping others find room.
Second half
Huddersfield improved after the break, as expected, because they have quality players and adjusted tactically, came with more purpose, and took their chance. That is football. Skubala has always been clear that teams like us will have spells without the ball because of the energy we expend, and that is the trade-off. The key was what happened next.
Huddersfield scored relatively early in the second half, and suddenly we were in a situation we had not really faced at home this season, a resolute opponent who were not simply retreating into their shell, who still carried a threat and still looked capable of finding another goal. Alfie May forced a strong save from George Wickens, and there were moments where the game could easily have tilted further away from us.
Instead, we showed character, but not the frantic, emotional kind. We stayed calm, we stayed structured, and we did not lose our heads, which matters just as much as passion in moments like that. We found a way back into the game, and the equaliser coming from a set piece was no coincidence. That goal took us two clear of Huddersfield and Luton in terms of set-piece goals scored this season, which is remarkable when you consider the budgets those clubs are operating with, particularly behind the scenes, and even more so when you remember that we recently lost our set-piece coach.
No stress, we’ll just keep doing the same under someone else. It feels like succession is a big thing for us. Paudie to Sonny, Sean to Adam, set pieces, goalkeeper coaches, it all just feels like one goes and someone else comes in. That was once something people criticised, it was once a “the coach can’t do things his way” thing. Now, we do the same things and it’s different faces, with a similar, if not better, outcome.
The future
We’re not guaranteed anything. Promotion is the dream, but we can just as quickly drop points as we’ve picked them up. Not getting carried away is an art form, and it’s one that is crucial. If we started believing and expecting, that makes the tougher times harder to deal with, the reactive rubbish comes out, like things apparently being “toxic” in the stands against Rotherham. Overreaction, either way, creates issues.
However, on the coldest day of the year (that’s a rubbish New Year’s Day joke), City fans felt their hearts warmed as an adversary we have a one-sided rivalry with were stifled. We could have won, we should have won, and yet the draw feels well earned. If we keep doing what we’re doing for the next 22 matches, then we can get promoted.
Let’s just not shout it too loud right now.