Into the second half and for 20 minutes, City were just as good as the first 45. That’s not to say dominant, Peterborough have good players and always looked dangerous even if that didn’t manifest itself in many clear-cut chances. Instead, we got the third of the game, and it might just be one of the best of the season. It started with Eyoma, his ball out from the back was dummied by Scully to allow Bramall the space to run onto. He pulled it back for Grant, who found Scully. The former West Ham man then produced a finish of such utter class that, had we been there, it would have been talked about in the same breath as Charlie Adam against Grimsby. It was exquisite, a curling effort from the edge of the box which even had me silent for a second as I pondered whether he had actually pulled it off. So often this season, we have tried the spectacular and in Scully’s case, he hasn’t always got the execution right. My goodness, he was certainly bang on yesterday, giving the Imps a 3-0 lead. Unassailable? Yes, without a little helping hand.
City had played with clarity and purpose, making a very good Posh side look ordinary and pedestrian. Jonson Clarke-Harris was named League One Player of the Season earlier in the week, but a little Irish lad we got from West Brom would have been the player scouts were scribbling about. His endeavour, combined with the tireless hard work of Hopper and the magical boots of teenager Morgan Rogers gave us a real attacking purpose. Grant and Anderson were superb, the full backs were both solid and we blocked everything the home side had, with Montsma and Eyoma looking like 9/10’s every bloody week now. All of this pivoted around Liam Bridcutt, the heartbeat of the team, the foundation upon which the side is built. We need him in the team and just after the hour mark, with the score 3-0, he went off the field, conserved for any possible play-off matches. It was the right choice at the time, it was the right choice with hindsight, but it changed the complexion of the game.
Within a minute, Peterborough levelled. They made their own change too, it would be remiss to say ‘we drew because Bridcutt came off. They brought on Ethan Hamilton, a former Man Utd youngster who has played against us for both Southend and Bolton, and his driving run led to a cross for Dembele to sneak in and make it 3-1. No complaints, a good goal from a good attacking team.
I think John Busby’s error has perhaps made some fans miss the fact we could have been 4-1 up not long after. Posh committed players forward, looking for the goals to send them up, and that allowed us to break at will. Rogers, creative and full of ideas all game, broke away in the left channel and found Tom Hopper. Hopper has had a good season, he had a solid game yesterday, but he will be watching his miss through his fingers, just as Busby will be watching his error. Hopps took his time, steadied himself and with all of the goal to shoot at from eight yards out, fired over. That chance kills the game. That chance leaves us on tenterhooks for one more week. That goal, wasn’t a goal, it was a miss.
After that the game was just utterly barmy, going from one end to the other. Posh hit the bar, and began to put more and more pressure on us. Their second goal had a real troke of luck about it. They got a free kick on the edge of the area, the right decision, and instead of blocking the effort the wall deflected it horribly past Palmer and into the net. 3-2, with plenty of time left for them to get the leveller.
I thought our play got a bit panicky, Posh had the wind in their sails and were desperate to get the leveller. That said, if we played ninety minutes, plus five stoppages, in fair and equal conditions with fair and equal decisions, City win the game. I do say things like ‘these things even themselves out all season’, and they do. We have had penalties which have been soft (not quite that soft though), and if this happened in our game earlier in the season, then we wouldn’t be quite as bitter about it. I thought we killed the game a little towards the end, managing to block and cut out their threat whilst maybe not quite hitting our levels when Bridcutt was on the field. Still, with thirty seconds of play left, a ball into our area brought the moment I keep alluding to.
I don’t need to tell you what has happened, but I will, Szmodics has tried to turn with the ball in the box and with his back to goal, failing to control the ball properly, he bumps into Scully and goes down. Scully has done nothing wrong, if anything it is him fouled. Busy has a great position and instantly points to the spot, no hesitation. This, from a referee who had been cautious with his free-kicks and who had let the game flow, but he pointed to the spot in a moment that left me incredulous. How on earth is it a penalty? I did see across social media fans of other clubs baffled, and rightly so. Still, it is what it is, Clarke-Harris scored and we were left in the play-offs.
Imagine, getting to this stage of the season and believing the League One play-offs are the consolation prize. They’re not, a season is 46 games long, not one minute of added time in a crucial game. It was in our hands at other stages of the season and circumstances contrived to see us fall away. In recent weeks, we have battled back bravely, and yesterday put a rather sour twist on a wonderful run of form.
Here’s the take away story for you – on successive Saturdays, Lincoln City have matched teams heading into the Championship. Yesterday, all things being equal, we win 3-2 at Peterborough with three of the five players I shouted as possible Player of the Season out of the side. We have been tremendous at times, never more so than the first 65 minutes at London Road yesterday. This team is far better than any Lincoln City team I have ever had the pleasure of watching, and whilst the play-offs might be a tough route to take (given how we have a record of six failures from six attempts), it is a gift that few fans expected to be handed back at the start of September.
If Peterborough had taken a three-goal lead yesterday, and we’d come back to draw 3-3 with Scully’s goal the winner, we’d be purring about our achievements, about how we have secured the play-offs when it looked likely we’d fall out of them at Easter. That’s how we should be looking at it, not soaking up the blind injustice of an awful decision that didn’t even get a mention in the BBC write up.
We now have two warm-up matches in my eyes, two games to keep giving Grant and Bridcutt 60/70 minutes, two matches to ease Joe Walsh back in (hopefully), two matches to ensure that when the 46-game season finishes and the play-offs start, that for a third time this season one of the Championship promotion places is sealed in a game featuring Lincoln City, only this time I don’t want to be watching the celebrations of other teams. Come the end of May, I want to be at Wembley, watching us celebrate promotion for real. If we play like we did for 65 minutes yesterday, I’ve no doubt we will be.
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