The second period felt pretty much the same as the first, apart from the fact Mansfield got worse. They didn’t have a shot on target, and I didn’t feel they had any sustained pressure. In the first period, they got joy down the attacking right, but in the second half, I felt we did. Jovon Makama had a good game out there, and I wonder if we might have found a new position for him. Is he more of a winger than a centre-forward? His pace and power certainly scares defenders, and I saw at least one free kick given against him where two Mansfield players were on his back, and yet somehow he was the one punished.
It makes me sound like I’m criticising the referee, but I’m really not. I thought he had a decent game, although it wasn’t a tough one to manage. The home side thought he missed a first half handball, which was greeted with around five minutes of away fans claiming ‘handball’ at every pass until there was what looked like a handball, and the cheers went from ironic to insistent. All part of the football day pantomime, just like the smoke bomb which went off after the first goal. It’s still not nice to see people having to be escorted out of the stadium during such a game after smoke inhalation, though.
The game didn’t really provide a lot of excitement until late on. James Collins had a half chance from a corner, and Jovon did lash a decent shot just over the bar on 68 minutes, but it took changes to give us a bit more of an impetus. Given that MJ Kamara was on the bench, you might have thought we were light on options, but Jeffries came on, then Clucas and Ring, and finally Draper and Hamilton. It felt like a significant raft of changes for the Imps to make, and it did help shore us up.
One a side note, they brought on Jordan Bowery, wearing number nine, at half time and played him at centre half. A nine at centre half deserves a 3-0 defeat all day long.
Of course, the story of the match, aside from it being our biggest win at Field Mill (disclaimer: I have only briefly fact-checked this through rather tired eyes…) will be Sam Clucas. The returning hero was appearing only the third time for City, the second since his January return. He appeared on a ground he had played on before for Mansfield. You may know he left the Stags for Chesterfield, stepping up from League Two to League One, and that wasn’t popular – there’s little love lost between the two. Chesterfield miners went on strike during the miner’s strike, whereas Mansfield miners kept working, earning them the nickname scabs. When a player leaves one of the clubs for the other, it’s controversial, and Clucas was booed as he came on after 73 minutes.
That is why when he whipped a corner directly into the net on 83 minutes (xG lower than 0.01), he ran across the entire travelling support to cup his ears to the home fans. It was a personal moment for him, but for City fans, it was a glorious one. Clucas could have been one of the greatest players we never had, making multi-million-pound moves throughout his career, and he might never have actually appeared in the league for us. To return at 34, and score on a ground he’s not liked on, only to then taunt their fans before kissing his Lincoln badge, was poetic. He watched us as a kid on the terraces, and here he was, fulfilling a dream. I’m not sure his first goal for City could have been on a better ground.
If that had gone in on 70 minutes, I think we’d have won by four or five, because we just came alive. Ethan Hamilton channelled his inner Messi for the third goal six minutes later, jinxing up the field with ease. His pass found Draper, and his cross was lashed into the net on a second attempt by Dom Jeffries. How fitting that the sub, possibly partially to blame for the losing goal on Saturday, should bag the third and final goal to cap off a fine win a couple of days later.
Let’s be honest: on the balance of play, 3-0 flattered us. We’ll take it, because results have flattered opponents this season, but in reality we’re probably looking at a 1-0 win being the fairest outcome. However, for once, we created the chances and took them, and when we had a bit of pressure put on us, we blocked shots, got in clearances and fought doggedly. You may not believe me, but in my opinion, our game on Saturday could just have likely been 3-0 to us as 3-2 to them.
I genuinely don’t think we’re a million miles away from being a consistent top half side, but some of the things I criticise each week were still evident here. Those final 39 minutes of the first half we defended well, but did little in an attacking sense. Had we conceded in that period, it would probably not have been entirely against the run of play, and that isn’t concerning, but it shows we’re not doing that much differently to other weeks.
There are three fundamental things that were different from yesterday to Saturday, and I want to finish by outlining those.
The opposition: The variable supporters don’t always think about it unless it suits a narrative. Mansfield lined up 3-5-2, hence our change. They lacked a bit of confidence and lacked a bit of belief. On another day, with us at our poorest, those players are capable of beating us comfortably. It must always be remembered the opponent is not a faceless henchman there to be dealt with comfortably, but a formidable part of the game we cannot control.
Clinical In Front On Goal: I argue that there’s a huge difference between not creating and missing chances. In recent weeks, I haven’t had a problem with our creativity but rather our actual application in the final moments, and there’s a big difference. To make my point, our xG this season is currently 40, according to Wyscout, ninth in the division and averaging 1.25 per game and 1.34 per shot. In 2022/23, Mark Kennedy’s full season, it was 51.7, averaging just 1.12 per game and 0.12 per shot. That was bottom four levels.
Defending Doggedly: It’s crazy to say ‘we were better in both boxes’ and think that is insight, but we were better in both boxes. We don’t concede many shots in reality – 284 this season, which is the eighth-best in the division at 8.02 per game. The problem is our conceded goals – our xG against is just 31.85, and yet we’ve conceded 38 goals, which is a terrible stat. For comparison, only Crawley, Peterborough and Cambridge have a worst xG against to conceded goals ratio. Again, our general play in between the boxes is good – we don’t concede a lot of chances, but when we do, we let stupid goals in. Last night, we blocked everything.
Is it a hot take to say if we were better in both boxes we’d be top six? Yes and no. It’s obvious, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. For me, all season, bar maybe two or three games, we’ve done enough to take something. We do get players into positions to score, more so than 15 teams in this division, and we restrict the opponent’s chances to score, more so than 16 teams in the division. The problem has been those individual moments, the glaring misses, the missed clearance and rushes of blood at the back. That’s not entirely coachable, in my opinion.
I said on the podcast, when nine or ten of the players in the matchday squad bring their A-game, we’ll win many more matches than we lose. When it’s four or five, we’ll lose more than we win. Our run is on the players, and last night, it was the players who gave us another great memory in a season that, when we look back with hindsight, has had some real high points we’ll remember for years to come.
If you need that breaking down, I’m talking about Mansfield home and now away and Posh at home. All three big wins over rivals and worthy of writing ‘Looking Back‘ articles on in 20 year’s time.
Up the Imps
I don’t like to see individual players criticised for their perceived shortcomings. But, by the same token, I don’t much approve of talking them up. “Jovon Makama lashes a decent shot over the bar” … it was a crap shot and the worst of it was that he could have slipped the ball inside to Collins who was open on goal. Collins made his frustration very clear. The ball Makama should have played was the one a good wingers would have supplied. Yet, “Makama had a good game out there, and I wonder if we might have found a new position for him. Is he more of a winger than a centre-forward?”