City slipped to a 3-2 defeat at Adams Park yesterday in a thrilling encounter with Wycombe Wanderers.
The Imps were 2-0 down at half time, got back to 2-2 and had two disallowed before a late winner from Jack Grimmer. Immediately after the game, Michael spoke to John Helm and we clearly disappointed not to have taken something from the encounter.
“We are all devastated because we thought we did enough to get something out of the game in the second half,” he said.
“In the end, it is a goal that we do not concede very often. We just did not quite get our jobs right at the set piece, at the corner. I think they had one corner and they have scored from it in the end. That is this league. It is tough. We knew it would be a tough place to come.”
City started brightly, but were soon looking short of ideas. we controlled possession, but without any real killer punch.
“I thought first half we had a lot of the ball but did not really threaten enough. I thought we needed to be more threatening second half, so made changes. In the second half it showed you what we want to be and how we want to keep getting better at that area.
“I thought second half we had them. We had them by the throat. We looked like we were going to be the ones to go on and win it. Then it is a goal that is tough to take, but I think in the end we deserved a point. That is the frustration.”
In reality, 2-2 wouldn’t have been a bad result, but for long periods of the second half, it felt like only one side would win it. However, like Exeter at home and Bolton away, a late goal has cost us.
The difference was we weren’t even backed to the wall – we were the better side throughout the second period.
“I think we would have settled for a 2-2, but we actually thought we could go on to win it. When it went 2-2, I thought we were going to be the next ones. I think we had some big moments as well. Justin at the back post. There were some big moments for us to score again. They looked rocked. They really did look rocked.
“What I liked about the second half, we created chances. We looked on the front foot. We were aggressive. We were playing forward quicker. We talked about that at halftime. It is all right having the ball, but you have to threaten, you have to play forward faster. The lads did that second half. They played more aggressively. I think we did enough to get a point maybe. But it is a big blow not to get that point.
None of their goals painted us in a great light, but Michael felt the first was unlucky, while he felt the second was sloppy.
“When I look at their first goal, that was a similar situation. It has come off somebody and it has hit the back of the net. I think we are a bit unlucky on the first one. The second goal is sloppy from us defensively. We did not make the pitch small enough when it turned over. But then we worked some good goals and we worked some good chances in the second half to get back in the game.
“The overriding feeling is frustration because we have not at least got a point.”