I was right to believe. We came out in the second half looking like a tiger stalking its prey, hungry for the killer goal that would lift us into the top six. Stevenage did us a favour on Friday night, Blackpool kept Barnsley in touch by giving them a bit of a beating as well, so all we needed was to keep ourselves in there. We needed a goal, and we kept knocking until it came.
Alex Michell saw a glorious chance saved at the back stick, whilst Danny Mandroiu blasted a free kick into the wall. A deep cross from Sean Roughan (excellent again, by the way) saw Freddie nod down for Taylor or House, the latter’s effort deflected away. We were huffing and puffing, but could we blow the house down?
Yes. When we did, it was a finish nothing short of outstanding. I remember chatting to a former manager about Freddie Draper, and he said that if he wasn’t Lincoln’s number nine in three seasons, he wouldn’t be doing his job properly as a coach. Said manager didn’t get three seasons, but here we are, three seasons later, and Freddie is getting among the goals. I actually thought he had a tough first half against a physical defence, and he missed a couple of great chances against Oxford, but he has a really important characteristic all good strikers have. Resilience. He doesn’t let a heavy touch bother him or a missed chance. He’s a finisher; it’s in him, a natural attribute only a certain few have. You can be a striker without being a natural finisher, but if you’ve got the ability to put the ball in the net, you’ll do it in Ireland, Under 18s, League One, The Premier League or anywhere. All you need is the other aspects that make a striker great.
Freddie can finish. He brought a loose ball down with a wonderful touch and lashed a volley into the back of the net with all the confidence and belief of a striker who has been scoring goals for ten years. As soon as the net rippled, a little valve turned in me, and some nerves got let out. City were in the driving seat, and now nothing mattered other than this game.
I confess, for the next 40-odd minutes, I was still on edge, despite some of the nerves going. Joe Taylor missed a good effort which would have sealed the result, and I could barely watch as injury time wound down, but we never really looked threatened. Cheltenham aren’t a good side, they’re fighters, granted, and they’re much better than earlier in the season when we faced them, but they’re not a team you’d say are in a false position. They had four shots in the second half, two on target, and amassed an xG of 0.14. The truth is our goal beat them, as early as 52 minutes the game was over. My head knew that, but it refused to tell my heart or my nerves. We were too good for them, and despite not getting another goal, it never felt like we’d concede. Apart from, perhaps, fleetingly as Olayinka saw his shot saved late on by Jensen, but it was a half chance, nothing more.
We controlled the game well, and there were a few tasty incidents that might have drawn the ire of another referee. Matty Taylor hasn’t changed as he’s got older. The 34-year-old might not score as many as he did for Oxford and Bristol Rovers (although he has got five in 11, no mean feat in a team that doesn’t create a lot), but he’s still a horrible sod with elbows sharpened like a certain Mr Stockley. I love to hate him, and that’s an indication of how effective he is. If he’s on your team, you love him; if he’s playing against you, he’s the devil incarnate. In my opinion, that means he’s still got it. I’ve had a few messages today saying he should have been booked/sent off, and whilst I didn’t see the incidents in question, he’s clearly still well-versed in hiding the cynical. Honestly, fair play to him.
It’s hard doing these reports at the moment, because I’m always usually looking for patterns, messages, indications of what will happen in the future. Whilst I know this isn’t the finished article in terms of a Skubala side (not that any team is ever truly a finished article) I can’t help but think there isn’t a hidden message in what we do. We have a well-drilled team, prepped to perfection, capable of understanding their manager’s requirements and carrying out instructions. If each season is a journey, with the final destination to be a team playing for each other to the best of their ability, then it is almost job done. There’s no deep insight where I say we need pace out wide, or to have someone hold the midfield, or a ball-playing centre back. With minimal input in January, we’ve got a team that feels complete, with seven players unavailable. The craziest thing is, it just seems to have happened without us even seeing it. Getting Lincoln City into the top six with one game to go has been a sleight of hand trick that the rest of League One never saw coming.
We did, a bit. We knew back in August this squad had talent. We knew in January it needed minor tweaks, not an overhaul. It always felt like the tools were in place after a good year or two of recruitment. With Michael Skubala, Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen, we found a coaching team with balance, knowledge and guile. I’ve no doubt Tom’s knowledge of the players, Michael’s experiences as a coach from Futsal to Leeds, and Chris Cohen’s experience as a player and coach at the highest level have all come together to create the perfect blend off the field. Having seen presentations from Logan and Jez and spoken to Keiran Walker a few times as well, it’s evident there are good people in all areas of the club. We’re seeing the fruits of that labour on the field, and long may it continue.
We now have seven days to mull over the different outcomes. It’s really simple – win against Portsmouth and we’re in the play-offs. It’s outrageous that a side looking dead on its arse at Christmas is now the form side in the division, but that’s how it is. We’ve put together a run of form that would see us in the top two, had the season started January 3rd. We’ve clicked, the efforts of the collective have produced an outcome of which we can all be proud.
It’s not just that; it’s the manner in which we have done it. Usually, when a big run ends, like our unbeaten run going into last weekend, it can be a huge blow, but we’ve bounced back with two massive wins. Every single player involved in those games has played a part, and it is borderline crass to single any out. I could, happily, start waxing lyrical about someone in the back line, putting their bodies on the line, or safe hands stopping efforts when called upon. I would always start with the blond-haired Erhahon, looking like a throwback to the Imps of 1998 with his dyed hair, making midfield play look effortless. The running of one striker, the physicality of the other, a third playing wherever he’s asked and still excelling. What’s the point? I’m not singling a player out from that lot yesterday, and the ones that won on Saturday, because they’re all tremendous right now. Okay, they give away a foul, play a loose pass, whatever – not one of them has let his side down significantly since January, not really.
All that remains of the normal season is one game. We’ve been here before: needing a draw against Yeovil in 2018, a win against Rochdale in 1997, and a draw against Torquay in 2003. The history books will tell you we haven’t beaten Portsmouth on our own ground since March 1980, when Phil Turner, a homegrown player, netted the only goal of the game in front of fewer than 5,000 supporters. That game was the third in a row we’d beaten them in Lincoln, having won 1-0 the year before, and 2-1 before that.
There will be double that number of supporters at the Bank next week and, if we can engineer three wins in a row, starting on Saturday, then come May 18th, Lincoln City will be heading back down the A1 to Wembley. You know what? I wouldn’t put it past us doing it because it’s becoming increasingly hard to be surprised by this wonderful Lincoln City side.
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