It’s tough to be too disappointed tonight. City played well for much of the game, were undone by a lapse at the back and had nearly four times as many efforts as our visitors.
The result has, typically, ignited the usual arguing on social media about how good or bad we are. I’ve had the usual Nick Oxberry overreaction WhatsApp, as expected. On the other hand, there are an awful lot of people claiming not to be bothered about the defeat, which is usually a sign of people being bothered and not wanting to show it.
Reality check – we’re fourth in the League One table, and whatever happened tonight doesn’t change that. We’re also now at the bottom of the Bristol Street Motors table despite Grimsby not having played a game yet. I can’t pretend that doesn’t bother me, when only this morning I was highlighting how important I felt this competition is to us. We want to stay in it so some players get the chance to impress, and on tonight’s showing, I really don’t know if we will or not. That’s not because we were bad – we were in complete control in the first half, a little less so in the second, and on another day we might have got something.
If I don’t know what the future holds in this competition, there some things we’ve learned from tonight’s fixture, and a couple of questions still to be asked.
So, here are four things we learned from our Chesterfield defeat, and two questions the game poses.
Lesson 1 – Erik Ring is a prospect
This game won’t be memorable for much, but the debut of Erik Ring could be a big moment. He became the first Swede to represent the Imps this evening, and despite looking leggy late on, he had a good first half.
He’s got a great delivery, wanted the ball and wasn’t afraid to take players on. It felt like only a matter of time before one of his crosses landed, and I suspect when the likes of Ben House are playing, or perhaps McGrandles or Hamilton who like to arrive late in the box, Ring’s balls will be much more dangerous.
This was a strong debut from the 22-year-old and one of the bright sparks of the encounter.
Lesson 2 – Ethan Erhahon is outstanding
I say it every week, but he looked a different class this evening. After the Harrogate defeat, there were some who thought he looked off it, but tonight, he strolled around the middle of the park effortlessly, and if he remains consistent, then that big move will come.
It’s the care he takes when on the ball and his ability to get out of tight spaces. Not all of the first team players had a good night – Tom Bayliss certainly found it a challenging evening, but at no point did Erhahon look like he’d need to break a sweat. Of course, he got a booking and ended up coming off, but when he did, we looked worse for it.
Lesson 3 – There is still work to be done in attack
We’re set piece kings at present, and tonight that didn’t look like changing. The final ball is missing at times, or the decision-making isn’t quite right. Numerous times, we let ourselves down in the final third – one ball over the top that could have released Freddie caught his shoulder, another ball through was just touched a bit too heavily by Rob Street. Jack Moylan was forward-thinking and positive, but one or two of the final decisions just let us down.
We have good players in attacking positions, but despite 14 shots, there were only a couple of moments when I felt we could carve them open. This wasn’t Chesterfield’s full team either—they made eight changes from their game at the weekend, but they defended really well.
Lesson 4 – Lewis Montsma is still on the comeback trail
Lewis got 90 minutes, which was great, but I still feel he is on the comeback trail. It’s great to see him out there, and he was no worse than any player in red and white, but you can see him slowly growing into the old Lewis. I still panic whenever he goes down – one moment in the first half saw him hit the deck and he got up gingerly, touching his leg. It puts the fear of God in me!
If we’re being honest, he’s not shown the sort of ability he did before his injuries, and I think that’s to be expected. I often get asked why I think he’s not on the first team right now, and I think tonight showed us why—he’s doing well, but he’s still got a way to go before we can say he is truly back.
Lesson 5 – Saxon Earley isn’t here just to cover
The on-loan Plymouth man didn’t spend much time on the field, but he really impressed me. He looked after the ball in tight situations, and looks happy with taking players on. I wonder if there might be a gem here, a player who has struggled with injury and seen his reputation take a bit of a tumble as a result. That’s okay, it happened to Neal Eardley, and look what he did for us.
It was only a cameo, but there was a positivity to Earley’s movement and a certain poise with which he controlled the ball which makes me think that while many of us assume he’s here for cover, James Brown style, that isn’t the case. He’s here to play, and I think we might see a bit more of him over the coming months.
Question 1 – What type of striker is Rob Street?
I’m not just down on Rob Street, but I’m not entirely sure what sort of striker he is. This was his second start alongside Freddie Draper and I don’t feel the chemistry there at all. I know it takes time, but they had less chemistry than Arnold Schwarzenegger had with Sharon Stone in Total Recall. I don’t know if it’s because Street plays too far from Draper, but it wasn’t a great evening for the former Cheltenham man.
That doesn’t mean there’s not a player here, we’re a couple of games into his career, a month into a four-year deal, and I’m sure we’ll see him develop into something. At present he’s not a target man, he doesn’t look like a presser, nor the sort of player who hangs off the shoulder of the defender. Maybe it’s the formation not suiting him, or his partner, but he’s yet to firmly forge an identity in a City shirt.
Question 2 – What is it about cup games against lower-league clubs?
Michael Skubala has ten away wins, and only one manager has reached that number in a shorter period of time – Bill Anderson (for those who are not over 60, or don’t know Imps history, Anderson was the manager who put us in the Second Division and kept us there for a decade). However, he has now also lost all three of his cup matches as Imps boss, all against lower-league opposition, and two of those to nil.
We know we’re a decent side. We know we’ve got good technical players. Despite what you might read on social media, we know we’ve got players who have scored goals in the past in Draper and House, and other talented forwards around them. We get balls into the box, we have creative midfielders ready with a clever pass, and yet we seem unable to break down League Two sides. Is it a case of not being able to beat teams committed to defence? We did have a good penalty shout this evening, and the xG is bound to say we should have won, so there’s no panic, but it would be nice to see a cup win under Michael, and a return to the days we used to put three or four past teams like Bradford and Doncaster in these competitions.
Conclusion
In the grand scheme of things, this result won’t make a huge difference to us. When we go deep in the competition, people say it’s a distraction. When we get beat, it a defeat and people don’t like it.
In reality, we were by far the better side in the first half, but we couldn’t turn that into a goal. We were marginally better in the second, but Chesterfield saw a bit of the ball, hit us on the break as Harrogate did, and then defended well. It was a good, professional performance from them, and we didn’t do enough in the final third to win the game.
Will I lose sleep over it? Well, its nearly midnight now and I’m writing this up, so technically I already have. But, when I do sign off in a second and head up to bed, I won’t be worried about what this result means. If we lose against Posh a week on Saturday, that will bother me much more.
That said, I do hate it when Lincoln lose.
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