In almost every game we have played this season, the first half has belonged to the visitors and we have controlled the second and that was certainly the case again yesterday. We weren’t utterly dominant, and like a faulty firework, you felt there was always a chance that Blackpool could go off and the whole game could blow up in our face. Tayo Edun replaced Roughan at full-back and I felt he had a really good game; Hamilton didn’t get afforded quite as much space as he did in the first half.
Blackpool had a few half-chances in the first 15 minutes of the half and it was arguably the most tepid section of the match. However, on 63 minutes, one incident changed the game for me and it wasn’t a goal or a chance, it was a tackle. Liam Bridcutt steamed in the challenge, firm but fair, and won the ball in the middle of the park. Michael Hortin picked up on it in commentary and whilst it might not be as GIF-worthy as Bozzy smashing Maddison last season, it was every bit as important. I felt, from that minute on, we were in control. It was almost as if Blackpool realised we weren’t going to tire, their pace wasn’t going to win and they might have a battle on their hands.
Not long after we made another key decision, going to a 4-4-1-1 with Johnson behind Tom Hopper, and Harry Anderson coming on for McGrandles. Dare I say, this might be seen a bit more as the season progresses, and I felt the shift in shape gave us an added dynamic which Blackpool weren’t prepared for. I added a fresh swagger to our play, and a Jorge Grant free-kick signalled the start of some telling pressure. James Jones had a decent effort saved as we swarmed forward and by the time Keshi Anderson came off, I felt the game was in the bag and, if anyone was going to score, it would be us.
Then, in a rare foray forward, we didn’t deal with a corner and a Grant Ward cross ended up being stabbed home by full-back Mitchell. I can’t tell you how deep my heart sank at that moment. I genuinely felt we were worth a draw, and yet here we were, seven minutes from time, 2-1 down. We had our chance earlier on and missed it, we could have been going into the last ten minutes defending a lead. Maybe, with fans in the stadium, the noise helps Blackpool out here. Maybe not, I don’t know, but my heart was only in my arse for a couple of minutes.
Brennan Johnson was full of running all afternoon and his tricks and pace had caused as many problems for the home side as Hamilton’s had for us. He ‘won’ the first penalty, if you call be fouled a victory, and he certainly earned the second. his time, Blackpool tried to play out from the back and James Husband was the man at fault. His first touch from Ekpiteta’s pass had all the grace of a brick thrown from a motorway overpass through a lorry window, and Johnson seized his chance. He dispossessed the former Norwich man, and would surely have scored had he not be cruelly dragged back as he bore down on goal. Penalty, red card, game changer once again.
Jorge Grant added his fourth of the season and this time, I didn’t look on Twitter to see if he scored it. I was too manic, staring wild-eyed at the TV in disbelief. Football does that to you, it defies logic and reason, it drags you down and lifts you up in seconds. It’s like the rollercoaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, only the thrills are on the upwards curve here, not the downward plunge.
It was telling how we celebrated the goal though; Grant rushed into the goal, grabbed the ball and headed back to the centre circle. Let us be honest here; 2-2 at Blackpool would be a good result. The players knew that with them a man down, their ability to press high and with intensity was limited and we could make the most of our attributes. We hadn’t tired, we still had something left to give. I like that spirit, that focused determination to get on with things once again. It’s the mark of a side who will snatch games late because it is the mark of a side who believe in themselves.
The game just opened up like a bag of rice after that. Brennan Johnson had a half-chance, then a mistake at the back could have let Blackpool in, but Liam Bridcutt’s last-ditch tackle stopped a certain goal. Immediately up the other end, their lad touched a ball out for a corner without pressure, and a collective fan base were shouting ‘Montsma’ before the ball had been whipped in. I have to say, our corners have been excellent this season and Grant’s delivery was neatly flicked on to the back post by Adam Jackson. There stood our Dutch giant, coolly receiving the ball at the back stick, juggling as if he were walking onto the training pitch before stroking the ball into the net. Cue delirium, cue my dog crapping himself as I jumped up and screamed at the TV. Yes, I was one of those who had Montsma to score anytime and his goal won me a little bit of cash. That was only my second thought though, because a Lincoln side had finally come from behind, twice, and won a game. We saw that spirit in the Burton tie back in March and there it was again. 3-2, game over.
That was that. Harry ran the clock down a bit in the corner, he’d done well since coming on, but Blackpool were a spent force. That final blow was too much to take and the Imps won a game they led for a total of six minutes plus injury time, but justifiably so. The Wyscout stats aren’t out yet, but when they are I’m sure they’ll show an even game won by the side with more determination not to lose, and the composure to remain on their feet in key moments. Our defence, especially the inexperienced players, could easily have been tempted into bringing down Lubala or Hamilton at key moments, but they didn’t. Sure, the result turned on the red card, but you have to be in those positions to ‘win’ penalties. Brennan Johnson showed real drive to twice get fouled and twice win us a penalty for Jorge Grant to score.
I think it is important to recognise the impact Liam Bridcutt had, he got Thommo’s Man of the Match and he gets mine too. I know the official vote on the club site saw Grant, Montsma and Brennan all above the captain, but that is a huge positive; when you come away from a game and could name any one of four or five players as the best on the park. I felt Tayo Edun had a great half too and had he got 70 minutes, he might have been a contender. It was tough for our full-backs too, Eyoma and Roughan both have to deal with fast, direct players and it is a credit to them that we didn’t concede from wide positions in the first half despite their obvious threat. When we did concede from that area it came after a cleared corner and was as much the fault of the players in the box as anything.
However, this isn’t a game for blame, not Bridcutt, not whoever let Mitchell go in the area. Collectively, the team were excellent and I can’t help but feel we saw our team for the first time in the second half. By that I mean we have had three and a half games where we’ve worked hard without the ball, closed teams down and been patient, but in that second period, our game flowed. We played some lovely football for sustained periods and at one point I saw Tayo Edun making a run down the right channel, having won the ball in his left bac spot, played a pass and followed in. ‘Total football’ Thommo commented, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, but he isn’t far wrong. There is a fluidity to what we do, some aspects of our play flow like clockwork.
I’ve often watched good teams come to Sincil Bank and play the same football. We’ve tried, at times, and I’m not being critical because sometimes it has worked, but I’ve always felt with us proper football was an effort. Even back in 2017/17, when we had lovely patterns of play down the flanks with Sam Habergham and Nathan Arnold for instance, it felt like that was one part of our game and some of the other elements were a little more direct or forced. For the first time in my life, I see a Lincoln centre back with the ball and I don’t think ‘just whack it up top’, I genuinely believe we can pass comfortably and with purpose through the thirds. I see players seemingly penned in and lofting a ball fifteen yards between two players to a free man. I see patterns, just like 2016/17 and just like 2006/07, but these are not individual patterns, they all connect to form a whole tapestry of slick football that spans the whole park. Then, when we don’t have the ball, we see the tough and hard-wearing underlay that tapestry sits upon, the blood and guts tackling, the incessant harassing and the character and attitude all good sides have to keep in their locker.
I know it is four wins from four, I know there are 42 more matches to go (or I hope there are), but this is our best start to a third-tier (or above) season since 1935/35. I can’t help but feel that this new era in our history is a hugely exciting one and it might just end up taking us to the sorts of heights a generation of Lincoln City fans dared never, ever have dreamed. £1m player sales, genuine top ten potential in the third tier and the sort of football others watch and say ‘I wish we could do that’.
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