Lincoln made a change at the break bringing off Roughan and replacing him with Oakley-Boothe, and as a result changing the formation to a back 4. We again started the half the better of the two sides and tried to assert our dominance on the game. Better chances were had with Lincoln piling on the pressure with both Bishop and Poole cracking the cross bar as well as decent chances for both the aforementioned players. A successful route to goal in the second period was from O’Connor to Poole as a diagonal through ball, which almost paid off with the Chippenham keeper making a great save from a 1v1 chance. All of what Lincoln failed to do in the first was starting to fall into place in the second period.
Then came the chance, a scramble in the box before Sanders smashes the ball home only for the referee to pull it back for a foul on a defender. I have since looked back on this moment multiple times and I cannot see Virtue come into contact with the felled Town player. The disallowed goal came at the end of a real sustained period of Lincoln pressure and if it would have stood I think then there is only one winner. I know that’s very brazen of me to say especially after what I’ve written in the previous 1200 words or so. It would have been down to many factors, you could tell the home side were fatiguing and whilst there was still the best part of 15 minutes left to play their legs would have felt like lead weights. Lincoln would have got the wind back in their attacking sails and might have been able to carve one or two more chances out for themselves.
However after the disallowed goal there was very little to write about, the game just ticked away from Lincoln and with us really struggling to create anything of note before we knew it the additional time was announced. 4 minutes, and with that the Chippenham players could finally smell the next round. We just resorted to pumping long cross field balls in the hope that something might drop our way. The home side suddenly got a second wind, mainly fuelled by adrenaline, which meant they actually had the last final chance to try and kill off the game. They didn’t but by that point the game was already won. FT 1-0.
On reflection the second half performance was an improvement on the first and on another day those chances for Poole and Bishop go in, and I’m sat here writing about us progressing in the cup, unfortunately those bobbles and decisions went against us. And couple that fact with our first half performance which was well below par, and fair play to Chippenham they capitalised on our mistakes. They took their chance and then defended the lead. Yes there is almost an entitlement from some fans when you’re a league club that says you should beat these teams. But if you don’t put the effort in and play them off the park you will quickly become unstuck. Based on the whole 90 minutes the right team progressed in the cup. Listening back to the interview Kennedy gave after the game and you can hear some home fans singing ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’. That made me laugh mainly because it took me back to when we were in their shoes, revelling over a league scalp in the cup and also because I believe, if given time Kennedy can build something special with Lincoln City.
Yes we didn’t play well and nowhere near our expected standards as a League One team. If anything Kennedy will use this game as a catalyst to spur the players on to better performances. But this result like any single game will not define our season, take this game out of the equation. We are sitting mid table in a league in which we always aim to stay up, in our fourth consecutive season at this level. When we beat Brighton and Burnley did their seasons collapse? No, one survived in the Premier League whilst the other was promoted into it. The best thing we can do right now is not bemoan this performance but instead get behind the lads and Kennedy and give our full support. This team will only get better and come the end of the season if we finish mid table in League One I for one will not even think on this game as anything more than a little blip in our otherwise impressive season. UTI!
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