As it turned out, it wasn’t. Hull came out looking hungry and should have had a goal within minutes of the restart. Doherty’s shot was blocked and fell to Magennis, who Imps defender’s thought was offside. For a second, everyone stopped allowing Magennis to get a shot away at Palmer, who saved well.
Our first chance of the half came on 50 minutes, a corner was easily nodded away by the Hull defence, and Edun volleyed the loose ball over the goal, stand and maybe even the Humber. Within minutes, Hull were up the other end, their corner finding Lewis-Potter who headed over, but not quite out of the stand.
The conditions seemed conducive to an end-to-end game, and just before the hour mark it swung towards Hull’s end. Doherty got the goal, like Richards for Doncaster on Saturday he was allowed to stride forward into space, before finishing smartly past Palmer. It felt like a crushing blow, our chances had been few and far between and Hull had a raft of subs to bring on, which they did.
The Tigers sensed the game was there for the taking, with Crowley and Lewis-Potter at the centre of their good work. The on-loan Birmingham man found himself in space from a Lewis-Potter cross, but his powerful effort struck the legs of Joe Walsh when it seemed more likely to go in.
On 64 minutes we made our only change, Tom Hopper coming on for Howarth. It felt like a Hopper game, the type where we needed the ball to stick up top for a while. Our wide men started to look leggy, and with the game increasingly stretched and 25 minutes still to play, I did fear the worst, especially as Hull made further changes.
One minute it was Johnson picking up the ball from a corner and having a shot blocked, then it was Lewis-Potter turning this way and that to bamboozle Jones before firing wide. The game ebbed and flowed, clearly high on quality players but on a surface that left the outcome of passes almost totally unpredictable in places.
With just over 15 minutes left, City came alive. Johnson had an effort from 25-yards from a break, but it looked a tired one. Eyoma took the ball 60 yards down the attacking right, then ended the move by collecting a ball from Jones and firing narrowly over the bar. It was Johnson again on 81 minutes, this time Hopper making the quality yards down the left flank, before pulling the ball back. The on-loan Forest man never stopped running, but his contact wasn’t great as he looked on the edge of burning out.
It looked as though it might be the home side who would concede as some of our players dragged tired bodies forward on a heavy pitch. Scully hadn’t quite got going for much of the game, but clever work from him found Grant, who did a lovely drag to keep possession before curling over the goal of Matt Ingram.
With three minutes left, the pendulum swung again. A deep Hull corner needed punching out by Palmer, but sixty seconds later Billy Chadwick found an inch of space in the middle, but dragged his effort wide of the post. Then, with a minute left on the clock, Doherty should have won it. Lewis-Potter whipped the ball across the area and Doherty needed just a touch to poke home, but the ball rolled under his tired feet.
There was still time for City to have the final words, first Jones went down in the area amidst shouts for a penalty (which it wasn’t), but before anyone could react Montsma picked the ball up and drilled a trademark effort at goal, which flashed wide of the post. It seemed a goal was coming at one end or another, and it was almost a shame when Bobby Madeley blew the whistle to signal penalties.
If we’d shown character to concede, leave 10 players on for the full 90 minutes and not collapse, then we would have to show the same again with a penalty shootout. The obvious irony is the two missed penalties from the weekend, helping us to lose a fixture we should have won. This evening, a draw was a fair result from two committed teams in challenging conditions, but it meant that everything came down to spot kicks. 12-yards from progression, five (or more) kicks from £50,000.
James Jones stepped up and netted his with relative ease, almost making me forget the agony of Saturday. When Alex Palmer saved Smallwood’s penalty in true Balcombe style, I jumped up and spilt my tea over my desk. I was still mopping up when Montsma quickly reminded me what a missed penalty for the Imps looked like.
Still, it didn’t matter as James Scott saw Palmer save his spot kick, handing us the advantage, only for Harry Anderson to reveal he’s been watching Italia 90 Semi Final replays and send a ball into Waddle-esque orbit. That meant the Imps had missed five of the last six penalties in all competitions, something I feared as Hull went next. Billy Chadwick smashed his down the middle to restore parity.
Next up, Anthony Scully. His spot kick was saved at the weekend and he had a big task to shrug that off and keep the Imps in the game, and he did just that with great composure. Hull were done missing theirs too, their man of the match 9in my eyes) Lewis potter scoring.
Next up, Jorge Grant. He missed penalties in successive home games, penalties that if they’d gone in would have given us at least three more points than we have right now. Seemingly, without a care in the world, he strode up with absolute balls and made no mistake. He was followed by Elder, who sent the game into sudden death.
I wondered if it might go on all night, especially as a nonchalant Brennan Johnson slotted his home with consummate ease. He showed great character having put in a hard 90-minute shift and made no mistake at all.
That left everything on the shoulders of Jordan Flores and Alex Palmer. The recent signing for Hull hit a half-decent penalty, but on the form Palmer was in, it needed to be full-decent, and it wasn’t. He saved, to send the Imps into the semi-finals of the competition.
It was considered a dress rehearsal for the serious business of League One action, but by the time we started taking those spot kicks it turned into so much more. This game, more than any other this season, felt more like 2016/17 than any, with us having our backs to the wall at times, having to dig deep to find reserves of energy and having to show character not just in terms of out team performance, but also with some individuals. Grant and Scully, in particular, stood up to be counted in those penalties and considering they were picked fourth and fifth, it was as if they planned to take extra pressure on their shoulders.
Next week will be different, hopefully we will have got the extra day of rest in and look sharp, we’ll have a full bench and maybe the pitch will lose some of the standing water. We know what we’ll face though, a side packed with quality such as Crowley, Lewis-Potter and Doherty, but with plenty of faces we haven’t seen, such as Honeyman and Wilks. I do feel more at ease though looking ahead, because that was a strong Hull side, as strong as ours, and we matched them. It wasn’t always pretty, it wasn’t always flowing, but it was entertaining.
We learned a lot about our players tonight, individually and collectively, and we can now look forward to a semi-final and potentially a Wembley appearance, giving Michael the chance to address his own demons in the competition. What price on us to beat Oxford in the final, giving Michael the redemption he surely craves against the team he suffered the double heartbreak with?
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