Imps fan Kyle Fox had extra reason to remember the final game of last season – here’s his account of our agonising final day defeat back in April.
Lincoln City vs Portsmouth. 27th April 2024. The stage was set. Lincoln City have the chance to claim their spot in the League 1 play offs.
After an unbelievable run in the second half of the season for the Imps, we had managed to put our fate in our own hands going in to the final day. However, there was one problem. Portsmouth were the opponents heading to Sincil Bank, and they had just been crowned champions two weeks prior after a very impressive campaign which saw Pompey only lose five games in the league all season and saw them win the league by five points in the end over the title rivals Derby County.
There were four teams vying for the play offs on the final day and Blackpool were the team sat in eighth going in to it on 73 points one point behind Lincoln in sixth who also boasted a much better goal difference. Oxford United were in seventh on 74 points but were behind Lincoln on goal difference by five. Lincoln City were in sixth with the best goal difference out of all four teams. Barnsley sat in fifth on 75 points but were going in to the final day on a dreadful run of form.
This game had enough riding on it going in to it for me as a City fan but it was exacerbated further by the fact that my dad was coming with me for the first time since his accident in February, so this made it even more emotional for me and just had me praying for a win. It was so good to be able to have him with me at a City match again (well not actually with me as he sat in the disabled section with my girlfriend while I sat with my brother and two uncles in our normal seats in the Coop stand) and that was more important than the result or anything else on the day. On top of that we also had the honouring and remembrance of the Bradford fire disaster which always brings out emotion and is a very poignant moment. Both sets of fans, officials and everyone else respected the remembrance perfectly and it was adhered to as such. Always great to see.
There was a surprise inclusion in the matchday squad that was hinted at earlier in that week by head coach Michael Skubala in his pre-match presser, and there was speculation from the fans leading up to the match as to who that might be. The most likely candidate is who it ended up being which was Tyler Walker as it had been mentioned in a pre-match interview with Skubala a few weeks prior that Tyler was back out on the grass to train more with the team and we had seen features of him doing things in the community. It was pretty unlikely that it was going to be any of the other players out with longer-term injuries, which included Conor McGrandles, Ethan Hamilton or Lewis Montsma, as there wasn’t even a hint of any of them even having been out on the grass yet.
After running around the ground to find the disabled access entrance (due to stewards not being clear on where to go), we all got to our different seats just in time for kick-off. We were ready, but the nerves were there. Unsurprisingly it was an attacking team that we started with, having essentially three strikers on the pitch in House, Draper and Taylor.
Our first half performance reflected what we needed and who we were playing. It was evident that we were playing the champions even with a few changes to the starting eleven. They were dominant and looked to take the sting out of the game early which made sense especially considering our recent form of starting fast and taking advantage of fast starts. They utilised a lot of short passes and some fouls which saw our play become disrupted and this in turn affected us mentally and was helped by the fact it didn’t matter as much to their fans how they played. This was a day out for their fans to celebrate promotion and enjoy watching their team with no pressure.
We played nervously which saw a lot of forced passes and some mistakes which reflected the task at hand and what our players new was needed. This amplified the fact that to me the occasion had got to the players a bit.
The first half was reflected by the shooting statistics where we managed six shots, none of which were on target and Portsmouth had five shots with one on target. Portsmouth were a very good side so in any other circumstance this would have been a game which we could have seen out for at least a point and we’d be very happy with that.
Then, half time hit where the players would find out that all three other play off contenders were winning their respective fixtures. This forced our hand even more so as the players now knew they had to win the game going into the second half and needed a change of plans on how to get that done.
This happened as the team came out into the second half revitalised and one of our best chances came early in the second half as Sorensen put a fantastic cross in to the back post to O’connor who in turn headed it back across goal to Ben House who in turn ended up slicing his attempt over the bar from a few yards out after not being able to catch it clean because of his body position which was no fault of his own.
The chance we’re all going to remember and think ‘what if?’ about came in the 53rd minute as Erhahon picked up the ball on the edge of the box and placed a great pass through to Danny Mandroiu who was running through on goal in the area. As Danny goes to shoot he is barged in the back blatantly by Lowery, a definite penalty. Referee Sunny Gill agreed (a big talking point of the second half), blew his whistle and pointed to the spot.
I’m sure everyone else of a Lincoln persuasion felt that horrible mixture of faith in Danny Mandroiu alongside a bad feeling of something going wrong. He had earnt that faith throughout the course of the season with his excellent record from the spot. However, unfortunately for us the latter of the two emotions came to fruition and it was through no fault of Danny Mandroiu. As he ran up to take the penalty, he slipped and the ball went straight at Will Norris. Devastating. 1 mistake had decided our season.
After this, as the game went on, we began to take more and more risks because of the need for that elusive goal. During the same period, Portsmouth interesting ‘tactics’ really intensified. It’s a difficult subject to tackle with my rose-tinted Lincoln City glasses on. It’s easy for me to sit here and criticise the tactics they employed but we did very similar a few weeks prior to this game against Oxford. It’s what they should be doing as the champions and to be as competitive as possible but if they hadn’t already been employing the same tactics throughout the rest of the season then I wouldn’t be as ok with it. I wasn’t ok with it during the game, it was extremely frustrating as you’d expect. The bigger issue was Sunny Gill not punishing them for it.
Will Norris went down and feigned injury a couple of times include one scenario where he went down, miraculously recovered and saved a shot from Sorensen. Then, a few minutes later he went down again and was actually hurt. Funny how things work sometimes. The referee didn’t do anywhere near enough to cut out their tactics including players going down constantly, going off the pitch as a substitute at the furthest point away from them, taking an age on every free kick. That was disappointing. He should’ve dished out punishment instead of just pointing to his watch, that’s not the rule anymore when it comes to time wasting, players should be getting booked now.
We had more chances come our way as the game progressed. Joe Taylor had a free header which he couldn’t direct on target. This went along with the theme of the game, not going our way. We had the chances and the stats prove it (we produced an xG of 2.0 which doesn’t include ben House’s chance). We had been so clinical on this fabulous run of form but we lost it at the final hurdle.
The stats are a little misleading for this game especially when it coms to xG as Pompey ended with a 1.97xG which was amplified by us pushing forward towards the end of the game allowing them to have more chances.
Our last real chance came at the feet of the forgotten man, the surprise inclusion. The dream scenario would be for Tyler Walker to come off the bench and bag the winner. However, once again it wasn’t meant to be as the ball was poked away from him after he turned and was ready to shoot. This anguish was worsened as immediately after this Portsmouth worked the ball up the pitch and Peart-Harris slotted it past Jensen. Heartbreaking.
We never made another chance after this. We were constantly trying to get the ball forward but they defended diligently. Then, the final blow was landed on our season. Paddy Lane got the goal and wheeled away in celebration and gestured Lincoln fans were crying. Usually at this point I’d be yelling a few obscenities his way but just before I even had the chance to react, something sensational happened.
Loud applause, not from the Pompey end but from the rest of the ground. All of the Lincoln fans were clapping, I had never seen anything like it but it was amazing. In that moment, there was no negativity (apart from a select few), just appreciation. We united as a fan bae in that moment to applaud our players for what they had done. No one reacted to Portsmouth’s chants and no one was thinking about what that means. We all already knew, we chose to applaud instead, I loved it and I’ll remember that moment and that game for a long time and not because of the heartbreak.
I felt proud. Proud to be a Lincoln City fan, proud of the team, proud of my Dad for getting himself to the game. We were so close but just couldn’t quite make it. After the game ended, my brother and I went down to the Rilmac stand where the disabled access is and stood with our Dad for the presentations. That was great to be back with him at a City game again. The social side is a massive part of going to the football, and that’s even more so when going with your family, it’s brilliant. Cherish it and those moments with them as I certainly do now even more so than before.
Up the Imps!
You must be logged in to post a comment.