It’s been a tough time, hasn’t it? For around 650 minutes, Lincoln City fans didn’t get to see a goal from open play.
If you don’t score, you don’t win. If you let goals in, you don’t win. For six matches, we didn’t win. We played six, lost five, and drew one. It’s been a miserable run which has had many people calling for the manager’s head, calling for ‘Gez Jorge’ to be sacked, and generally getting the pitchforks out. Then, 38 minutes into a fairly turgid game of football, we finally got our respite, an actual goal.
That’s the big story of the game, but there were others. The team selection underlined that new signing Sam Clucas is not yet able to be part of the first team squad, and summer signing Bailey Cadamarteri is also now injured. George Wickens we know is out for a couple of weeks, and Freddie Draper, allegedly almost sold to Walsall this week, was chosen to lead the line with Ben House. Adam Jackson also replaced Lewis Montsma in the back line.
The other story is the low quality of the game for a good 30 minutes. It wasn’t just a tough watch, it was horrible. I’m not quite sure what contributed to it – the pitch certainly cut up quickly, and Northampton do seem a bit more robust and direct than they were earlier in the season under Jon Brady, but the quality was so low I did wonder whether the ball had a bomb in it, and the only way to ensure it didn’t go off was to keep giving it to the opposition. It wasn’t that either side were bad as such, it was just a really, really tough watch.
Northampton had more of the ball but did nothing with it. I was fearful of Tom Eaves, a player I really admired a few years ago when he was with Gillingham. I thought he’d be a menace, but he spent more of his time giving free kicks away than anything. I can see why he’s the focal point of their attack, but clearly, he’s not a man in form. Sam Hoskins is a player who has punished us in the past, but he was anonymous. Even Mitch Pinnock, another I’ve really liked in the past, was relatively quiet. The Cobblers look like a side scrapping against the force of a relegation wave, and while our form has been poor, I don’t think we’ve played badly at times. Controversial opinion – I thought we were much better against Bolton in midweek than we were today.
That’s not to say that we were awful. When we did get the ball down, I thought we looked the more likely to score. Ethan Erhahon just purred through the game, my Man of the Match and no doubt. Paudie and Jacko had a lot to deal with: 43 clearances in the first half alone, but both were excellent. Sean Roughan showed composure on the ball, and Freddie, fresh from allegedly being close to leaving the club, put in a great shift alongside House. Even though those players looked good, something just didn’t click for us.
I didn’t think Ben House had his best game, and after being played through once or twice, he looked a little short of pace. There was one break where I felt we could get down the left-hand side, but Ben got the ball facing right and just went across the field, allowing a full Cobblers’ reset. I do like Ben, and he never gave up working, but in the first half hour or so, I felt he gave away a few silly free kicks and generally looked low on confidence.
That fear was resonating through the side as the half wore on. We gave away not one but two foul throws, which, for me, is a Cardinal sin at this level of the game. I watch throws quite closely, and they are a bugbear of mine. I think there are probably two or three every game, but on this occasion, they were given. No arguments, but it’s like a serve at tennis. Once you’ve done a bad one, the next one (and all after that) should be better.
The game changed a little on the half hour mark. Jack Moylan, who had looked threatening as always, but perhaps without the finesse he has, landed awkwardly on the pitch. It wasn’t the first time I saw it cut up, or the last, but on this occasion it meant our young Irishman had to come off for Tom Bayliss. I do think it made us a little better – Bayliss isn’t quite as direct as Jack, but he does have a bit more experience and after he came on up until half time, I thought we became much better. As I’ve said above, if either team were going to score, it was going to be us, despite those 650 barren minutes.
When it came, it feels fitting Freddie Draper partially created it. He’d played a nice through ball once to House, which hadn’t been capitalised on, but the second one was exquisite, and it released House. Not the quickest, he found TJ Eyoma caught him up, but he got his shot off between Eyoma’s legs and past the keeper. It bounced off the post, and I thought the chance was gone, but there was Darikwa, able to react quickest and fire in from a tight angle. Finally, Lincoln City scored a goal in open play.
That settled us, and immediately I felt we could get a second. I think if we’d scored on 20 minutes, not closer to 40, we’d have bossed the rest of the half and scored again. Draper, a cat’s whisker away from being by Man of the Match, had a smart shot saved by the keeper from point blank range, and it felt like we’d found our mojo. It must have been well hidden, given how we did over Christmas, but it was nice to feel us attacking, to feel like we might actually go on and score. After all, our last away clean sheet in the league was November 16th, so it did feel like one goal might not be enough.
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