“Here we go again” was a singalong I was involved in a little after City’s win yesterday. I was in the throng of a punk crowd, yelling back the lyrics with gusto.
It’s actually a conflict of sorts, as the song is about depression, and I was far from depressed. I was with great mates, and I sat in a field for two hours trying to juggle two phones with dying batteries and get a signal on the Isle of Axholme (which is easier said than done). 67 miles away, the Imps were up and at it, getting stuck into a new season. Here we go again.
Of course, this means no match report and no in-depth analysis of our performance. I wouldn’t be as presumptuous or arrogant to dissect a game I didn’t watch, and even though I have watched the extended highlights, I won’t be commenting too much on those either. It feels a little disingenuous of me to try and impart my wisdom onto you when more than 1,000 of you were far better placed than me to pass comment on the game.
A new season always fills you with hope, and I certainly had hope ahead of kick-off. A lot of people (me included) have Burton quite low in the division this season, but if their rebrand works under Mark Robinson they’re not going to be the team that are utterly horrible to play against. Credit to them for rebranding and trying a different approach, and obviously they got off to a great start.
It is awful trying to support your team when you can’t watch the game and going 1-0 down early was a real sickener. We were watching a band called Headsticks at the time, and they have a song called Cold Grey English Skies. That’s how it felt, conceding early and not being able to see the goal. Last season, one way or another, I watched almost every minute of the campaign. It was appalling to start relying on BBC News and Twitter when it would load.
However, bouncing back was not, and those skies soon changed to sunshine. Michael Skubala’s Imps showed a lot of character last season; we weren’t always the best team, but we ground out results, Burton away (ironically) being an example of that. To go 1-0 down on the opening day of the season away from home is hard to take. To switch that back to 2-1 pretty quickly is a testament to the group and how tight they are.
To level inside ten minutes and not let our heads drop was crucial, and while I know Paudie got on the end of the cross, what a ball from Sean Roughan. This summer, the talk is about Ethan Erhahon; will he stay, will someone prep a seven-figure bid for him. I’m utterly convinced we have a similar talent in Roughan, and 40-plus matches this campaign is going to be crucial. It is hard for us to sign a left-sided centre-half right now, though, because what do you tell them? They’ll play second fiddle to a defender who provided a cross that most wingers would have been proud of.
It’s also great for Paudie to get goals with his head – we have lacked a bit of aerial dominance in the attacking third, which I know fans have lamented. The days of Waterfall and Raggett vying for leading scorer seemed long gone, but perhaps we can add a few goals from the back three this campaign? Two from Paudie certainly make it a good start.
The same goes for Tendayi. I haven’t seen the game, so I don’t know how he played across the field, but I’ll be watching it again tomorrow. However, as an experienced player coming in and looking to lead by example, grabbing a goal will be absolutely huge. What I really liked about the goal was Jovon’s involvement. He didn’t touch the ball, but he made the defender climb and nod it down to JJ McKiernan, who provided the second assist.
As far as we (Chris and I) were concerned, that was that. You go away, go 1-0 down and then switch it to 2-1 up, and normally that is job done. Certainly for us, a team good at the back, a team that can manage a game well, it could be, and maybe if it had been 75 minutes, and not 22 minutes, that would have been the case.
From a defensive perspective, their leveller looked a bit disappointing, but that could be harsh. Billy Bodin is a good player at this level, he’s been around and just timed his run perfectly. Dylan Duffy might not have expected to start the season as first choice, and I recall saying he was comfortable last campaign because there was no pressure, but there is now and he seemed to let his man go. I’m not criticising his performance; I haven’t seen enough of it. Maybe Jovon could have stopped the cross better, or Tendayi could have come to meet Gilligan earlier. Sean Roughan might be disappointed as well – usually, when a goal is scored, it is easy to pick fault.
Looking at xG and listening to a few people since, it does seem we rode our luck a little, and the second half looks a little more sedate. Maybe that’s down to a bit of good management, but in a field in Wroot, there didn’t seem to be a lot happening other than a huge break in play for an injury. It’s so frustrating not to be able to see anything at all.
We had reached the conclusion that a 2-2 draw would be a decent start, but then, as the sun began to disappear and the all-day drinking really took hold, we got notification of the winning goal. Looking back at it, it reflects the whole team performance; nobody was stopping Paudie getting to that header, and nobody was taking the three points from us. Not even Kgaogelo Chauke, who will absolutely feel he should have done deep into injury time.
In all honesty, I expected to see a bit more in terms of xG and replays for those final ten minutes or so – even miles away, it felt like we must be under the cosh, but it doesn’t seem we were. Wickens has made a good save, then Ethan a great block – that resilience feels very Cowley-esque, which is a huge positive.
Watching all the goals back has rubber-stamped a belief that Tom Bayliss could be huge for us this season. I spoke to him in pre-season and he made an interesting slip of the tongue about joining us, something along the lines of ‘you can’t wait to get going when you join a big club’. He got going quickly with a couple of assists, and the fact there was an assist for all three goals (not a ricochet or something) is impressive as well. It’s not always the case, and while I’ve heard it said we were lucky yesterday, it’s amazing how much luck comes your way when you put the ball into the penalty area and work hard to get on the end of crosses. Luck works like that.
The final whistle brought a huge cheer from four camping chairs sitting in front of the main stage, and the result gave me a much-needed boost. I’m a man of 45; drinking two days in a row is unheard of. City kicked off six hours (and eight cans) into the third consecutive day and I was flagging. That win gave me the lift I needed to get over the line, and immediately afterwards, Millie Manders on the Shutup came on, my favourite band. By the time Merry Hell rounded the festival off, we were linking arms and dancing round in true old-style folk fashion.
It’s the first time since the 1954/55 season that we’ve ended a Saturday above Birmingham City in the league. It’s the first opening-day win for the Imps since we reached the play-off in 2020/21 and the first time we’ve hit three goals away from home on the opening day since we won the National League. To find the last time we scored three goals on the opening day of a Football League season, you have to go back to 1986. Of course, none of this matters much. It’s one game of 46, one win in a season, and hopefully, it’s filled with many more.
Still, here we go again. Hang on City fans, because if the roller-coaster opener is anything to go by, it’s going to be a fascinating season.
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