Tis Not The Season To Be Jolly: Imps 1-1 Reading

Mid-December is such a wonderful time of the year. People are out celebrating, shops are bustling with people grabbing their presents, and there’s a general air of goodwill emanating from everyone and everything around you. 

It’s the time of the year when we are entertained, where we dance, drink, and be merry. The Stacey West podcast team certainly took that to a new level last night, stumbling out of Popworld at 2 am, ending a day that (for me and Chris) started at midday in the Treaty.

If only Lincoln City had got the memo. Because, even after we were given our gift by visitors Reading in the third minute, the team were very much playing the role of Christmas Grinches, failing to ignite a mild afternoon at the Bank with so much as a shot on target. Mind you, like any good Santa’s Grotto, we didn’t come away empty-handed even if, on this given afternoon, we were perhaps more naughty than nice.

There are reasons, of course. Ethan Erhahon missing from the side was huge – without him, we lacked a bit of something in midfield, and whilst Ted didn’t have a bad game, I prefer him to be much further forward. Fan-favourite Dylan Duffy started, but didn’t get much of a look in, whilst Jovon worked tirelessly but without any reward for his endeavour. One or two others had an off-afternoon, leading to a one-sided spectacle against a team who were far better than their league position suggests.

It could all have been very different. Within minutes of kick off we’d scored, and briefly, I had images of 4-0 running through my head. The goal was made by Ted, firstly playing a lovely one-two with Lasse before putting the ball across the six-yard area for young Nelson Abbey to turn into his own net inadvertently. The long-suffering travelling fans must have wondered what sort of afternoon they were in for as our players celebrated what I think was the first goal of the afternoon in the division.

What they were in for, was a treat from their team – for the next 43 (ish) minutes, Reading utterly dominated. Tactically, there we reasons for it – I know some supporters will just say it was because ‘Lincoln were rubbish’, and whilst we perhaps weren’t at it, you do have to credit Reading as well. Paul Mukairu (on loan from Copenhagen) and Femi Azeez were superb for them, and they played really high. That meant Burroughs and Sorensen were deep, dealing with the threat, fracturing our team. With us busy stopping them, it meant a huge gap between the midfield and front three, with Duffy and Mandroiu meant to be tucked in but instead coming out wide. That left 19-year-old Jovon isolated, asked to do the work of a big, robust striker against two centre halves.

Instead of doing anything positive ourselves, we were just stopping their chances at goal, trying to soak up their possession. Red shirts having the ball was a rarity, and the truth is the Royals absolutely deserved to be level. Twice they had the ball in the net and twice it was disallowed by a referee I thought had a good game. Having watched the goals back, I can see why both were ruled out, but the second one, offside against their boy, took an age. It seemed as though Bobby Madley wasn’t going to disallow it, heightening tension.

It was a rare moment for us to celebrate in a tepid first 45 minutes in which we had no shots on goal at all. Zero xG. In the league, the last time we had zero xG in the first half of a game was Burton away last Boxing Day. Maybe we just don’t like Christmas.

Of course, we can point to having the heartbeat in midfield out – Ted was one of the few who did look on it, but I don’t like him that deep. Ideally, he’d have been further up, probably in the front line with Mandroiu and Makama, and Erhahon could have given us some semblance of control in midfield.

Instead, Reading were able to pass through our press and, all too often, through our midfield, giving them plenty of the ball in good areas. Their progressive passes (a successful pass that significantly advances the ball toward the opponent’s goal) number more than ours, and they were more successful, and their passes to the final third were the same.

Still, as the clock counted down to half time, we’d weathered the storm, not conceded a legitimate goal and were still ahead. “No chance you guys are like that in the second half,” was the message I got from Matt Lansley of the Elm Park Royals podcast. I won’t put my reply in here, but I hoped he was right.