Yesterday was a strange day for me, in many ways, a day that left me really quite jaded last night.
It felt like a day of change, a day of shifting sands, and only now, in the cold light of Sunday morning, can I appreciate the glistening lining of the cloud that enveloped me for much of yesterday’s game. Those things that did damage the early part of the encounter are not all about me either, but they do paint a picture, I believe, of why things felt quite different.
Firstly, and by far the most upsetting thing to talk about from the day, was the passing of one of our football family. I’ve mentioned it on social media, but fifteen minutes before kickoff, an unfamiliar face joined the row behind me. There’s a good bunch behind us, from Gav, who has been there years and become a friend, right across the band of four or five to my right, older chaps with whom I’ve shared almost every Lincoln home game for more than six years now. If you asked me their names, I couldn’t give you them. One, ‘Oppo’ to my Dad, Hoppy or Hoppo to the others, sadly lost his short battle with cancer yesterday morning. The person joining the group for yesterday’s game was his son, coming, I believe, to feel close to his Dad. It was a gut punch to hear our friend had gone, and to know that match days will never quite be the same. Rest in peace.
▶️ Here we go!
⌚️ 1′ | 🔴 0-0 🔵 | #LINBIR pic.twitter.com/8L5B5lNetv
— Lincoln City FC 🇺🇦 (@LincolnCity_FC) October 19, 2024
I then have a rather more selfish reason for things feeling different. For the last six seasons, I’ve sat next to either Dave or Matt, two of my lifelong mates. They’ve moved to another part of the stadium now, along with Dayle, a person I sat next to in primary school. I now have an empty seat next to me (more leg room, granted), but it was really weird, knowing they were going out before and after, watching them disappear at half-time for a beer and not exchanging a single message about the game. There’s been no falling out, I wasn’t up for a night out, but it did feel a little like it yesterday for some reason, and it just added to that displacement, as if things were changing. I don’t like change.
There is a change I do like, and it’s on the field. There’s zero doubt yesterday we faced the best squad of players we’ve ever faced in a league fixture. I firmly believe that – how many times have we gone up against a team missing their Polish international captain and £10m forward, and still seen international players and athletes who played top-flight football last season? Not top-flight football somewhere rubbish, like Belarus or Vietnam either, but Germany, and the Netherlands? We haven’t. Birmingham City are Championship ready, right now, and yet we saw change.
How so? Because in previous seasons, when the likes of Bolton and Ipswich have had brilliant squads (brilliant at the time, but nothing compared to Birmingham), we curled up in a ball in front of our goal, got kicked and kicked and kicked, and waited for the moment they got out of breath from kicking us to try and hit them on the break. We used to be the boxer who came out and just held on to their opponents, waiting for him to show a moment’s lack of concentration. Yesterday, in what we’ve already ascertained was the biggest league fixture we’ve ever played (in the modern game at least) we came out punching like Scrappy-Doo tanked up on E-numbers and Pro Plus.
🕣 33 seconds.
⌚️ 9′ | 🔴 1-0 🔵 | #LINBIR pic.twitter.com/eCAsgsg1aJ
— Lincoln City FC 🇺🇦 (@LincolnCity_FC) October 19, 2024
It worked as well, didn’t it? Not 30 seconds had gone by when we forced a long throw. I get used to hearing ‘we never do anything from long throws,’ usually because it is me saying it, but a Hamer launch, Paudie flick-on and bosh, we’re 1-0 up. It was such a smart finish from Cadamarteri, a striker’s instinct to volley through a crowd, but from the get-go, David had flung his pebble at Goliath and given him a bloody nose.
The problem from there was that Goliath had 89 minutes plus stoppages to respond.
Now, this will sound really sour, and I’ll get a lot of hate if any Blues read this, I’m sure, but the goal didn’t really silence them, as their fans never got going. They were still streaming into the ground when City scored, and it meant the away end sounded no different to visits from Orient, Wigan, or Bristol Rovers. The wall of noise you get from local derbies against Mansfield or Peterborough, or the behemoths such as Sunderland and Portsmouth, didn’t happen at first. It was strange to see so many away fans and yet be able to hear so little.
A word on the away fans – some of the behaviour shown by a number of them was really poor. There were Brummies in Upper 7 and Brummies in Upper 2, causing issues when goals were scored. There’s a two-tier approach to stewarding these matches as well, with their lot allowed to congregate in hatched areas, goad home supporters and have zero interest in the game. It’s seen week in, week out, and yet when we go away, I’ve seen some really robust stewarding, no-nonsense approaches to away supporters. An example from yesterday was Sid being thrown out (I’m told, I didn’t see as I was watching the game), but away supporters still hanging over the hoardings at the front of the Stacey West, reaching out to our corner takers whenever they got the chance. I’m not sure of the answer, and it only became a serious problem after half-time when they all woke up.
The rest of the first half had a fairly predictable feel to it. Shooting towards their own fans, Birmingham began to build momentum. Their midfield two, Paik and Iwata, were utterly sublime in everything they did. Bear in mind, we’re talking about a player who scored for South Korea against Brazil in the 2022 World Cup (Paik) and a Japanese international who left Celtic for £1m in the summer. Alone, one of these players with 11 League One players would be impressive. Together, surrounded by class, they ran the show.
💪 Working hard.
⌚️ 39′ | 🔴 1-1 🔵 | #LINBIR pic.twitter.com/mZSEirJkRv
— Lincoln City FC 🇺🇦 (@LincolnCity_FC) October 19, 2024
Let’s be honest, Birmingham are good. I saw perhaps two loose passes the whole game. I don’t think they did anything that teams such as MK Dons or Forest Green haven’t tried to do here before. They look to retain possession, play around the front of the 18-yard area and sniff out chances. The difference is they do it better, with better players. Even with 72% possession, the balance of chances was level, and our xG was almost double theirs (including the penalty, of course), but when they get the chance, they can take it, because their players are better than this level. It’s that simple.
That said, the leveller was scored by Keshi Anderson, who has played for Swindon, Blackpool, and Northampton in the last six years. It was made, in part, by Alfie May, Cheltenham, and Charlton. I guess levels rise depending on those around you. In actuality, their goal was poor to concede, we were a little passive on the edge of our area, and in those moments, at this level, anyone hurts you. Still, as it trickled over the line to poke the wasp’s nest of blue behind the goal, it stung.
⏸️ A goal apiece has it level at the half.
⌚️ HT | 🔴 1-1 🔵 | #LINBIR pic.twitter.com/q1NYdndsiD
— Lincoln City FC 🇺🇦 (@LincolnCity_FC) October 19, 2024
It was the second of only two shots on target in the first half, and the first was our goal. Neither keeper had a lot to do, although Wickens was a spectator as Alfie May hit the post late on. Simon Mather, the referee, was also a spectator towards the end of the half when he completely missed Klarer (Bundesliga last season) hauling Cadamarteri to the ground as we looked to hit on the break. It was a missed yellow, and one that would have consequences later on. In fairness, the ref was watching the ball and had the incident behind him, but the assistant should have spotted it.
I didn’t think the ref had a bad game, to be fair, he got a bit frustrating as the game wore on, but people around me were furious with him. He was the same for both teams, and he did get the big decision right. Sadly, we got it wrong.
Good report. Blues were a class act but like you gutted that we’ve missed a penalty again in another big match. Unfortunate that House and Milan had been subbed but Reece still a strange choice.
Reeco