It seems utterly incredulous to be writing this, but going into the final game of the normal season, our play-off fate is in our own hands.
There have been two points where I believed all was done: Stevenage at home and last weekend against Wigan. There was an awfully long period where I didn’t feel we were in with a chance of the top six until early January. In fact, those back-to-back 0-0s with Peterborough and Derby had me convinced we had enough to finish top ten. Top six? You’re having a laugh.
Nobody is laughing now. At a time when the injury situation seemed like a cruel joke being played on us, laughter was the furthest thing from my mind. Even yesterday, without our first and second-choice left wing-back, there was no laughing, no resignation that the injury Gods had scuppered us. Instead, there was just a little shuffle of the pack and it was business as usual.
Bear in mind, yesterday we were without three midfielders, all of whom would have been vying for a start, and two left-wing backs. You could argue Lewis Montsma, one of our long-term absentees, would also have been in the frame were he fit, as would Tyler Walker. That’s seven first-team players unavailable, and yet once we settled into the game, we looked almost full strength. I’ll be honest; it’s ridiculous. Depleted, but never properly defeated. Even when we lose a game (one in 19, I think now), how do we respond? Back-to-back away victories, both against teams with plenty to play for.
Those pesky Imps. They just won’t lay down and die, and now, with 45 games of the season completed, we head into a final-day showdown knowing everything is in our hands.
Yesterday’s game did not start well. With the greatest respect to Cheltenham, it was widely felt this was a gimme, a game we would come into, start brightly and extinguish the hope they hold of staying in the division. However, with Curtis Davies, Matt Taylor, Liam Sercombe, Sean Long and a few others, they do have experience in the squad. They have a bit of knowledge, and in Jordan Thomas, a recruit from Bath, they have a tidy little threat going forward. They were up against the second-tightest defence in League One, so scoring was always going to be a bit of an issue.
Still, they made a good fist of it in a 20-minute opening spell that caught us a little off guard. We did almost catch them off guard, Davies dallying a little too much, and Taylor robbing him for a chance, but it was a rare foray forward for us in the first 20 minutes.
I do wonder if the rigours of a full season might be catching up with a few of our players, but for whatever reason, we just couldn’t get out. Cheltenham enjoyed some decent possession; they pressed us quite high and showed an intensity in winning the ball. They want to stay in the division, and when Danny Mandroiu felled Thomas in the box, they got their chance. City hadn’t faced a penalty until the Bristol Rovers game, and we hadn’t conceded one up until yesterday. Sercombe made no mistake from the spot, and The Robins led.
Talking of play-offs, the last time we graced the top six, we perhaps scored too early against Blackpool and changed the shape of the game. I feel that was the case for the home side yesterday because after that goal, they began to retreat a bit. Whether they felt they could get a bit of control without committing forward or they naturally just went a bit deeper, we got more of the ball and began to settle. However, as we settled, my heart rate shot up to 110. I’ve said before that football is about feelings, and boy, I had feelings yesterday. Nervous ones.
Going off on a tangent, one year ago this weekend Chris, Dave and I went to a gig in Boston, and saw an act called Millie Manders and the Shutup for the first time. On the same day, City played Wycombe, and we glanced at the highlights, kept up with what was happening on the usual channels, but it didn’t matter. We’d been signing ‘We’re not going down and we’re not going up’ for some time, and that’s how it was. Of course, I wanted Lincoln to win, but it was without pressure. Yesterday, we’d booked to see the same band again at Wroot, convinced at the time of booking (Jan) that we wouldn’t be going up or down. What a difference a year makes, watching the game and feeling something so nervous and yet so expectant. Even after they scored, I always felt we’d win. I was nervous because I didn’t know how, but I felt we would.
The first leg of the ‘how’ was Joe Taylor. That lad has been sensational since joining on loan, and he made the leveller, and scored it. He drove forward, leaving two Cheltenham players on the turf, and seemed to have taken the ball too far. Lasse intervened, picking up a loose ball and delivering a cross, and when that fell to Taylor, he produced a sensational finish. A wave of relief washed over me, but once it had gone, the nerves were still there. Now we needed to win, despite having been a little off-colour for some of the first half.
One thing really resonated with me at half time. Having seen a presentation by Logan Hughes in midweek, I felt we’d have a plan for the second half. We’d have looked at passages of play, second balls and come up with a little tweak to win the game. I was so sure of it, that I said I could see us scoring and winning the game, but I didn’t know who or how. I just felt it would happen. That didn’t help my nerves of course, but I still believed. Hope kills you, we said that last week, but belief is different.
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