Eighth in my round-up of my favourite opening day fixtures is a more recent one – our return to the third tier six years ago against Accrington.
We marked our return to League One in style, sweeping aside Accrington Stanley in a performance that promised much more than just three points. It wasn’t just the scoreline or the clean sheet, but the manner, the control, and the emergence of a new-look City side that had fans dreaming of another ride on the upward curve.
The day began, as so many do now in this resurgent era, with the streets of Lincoln alive with red and white. In the city centre, queues wrapped around the new club shop, supporters snapping up shirts, hats, even dog leads bearing the Imps’ crest. Four years earlier, such scenes would have been unthinkable. On this summer’s afternoon, it was clear: the city is gripped by football fever.
Back at Sincil Bank, expectation was cautiously managed. After all, it was Danny Cowley’s mantra to temper hope with humility. But this wasn’t just a game won—it was a performance that rewrote the script from last season’s more functional, if successful, style.
Many expected to see John Akinde and Bruno Andrade involved, but the team sheet told a different story. Andrade, so often the spark in 2018–19, was benched. Akinde, too, made way for new arrivals and tactical tweaks. Instead, it was Jack Payne and Tyler Walker who took centre stage and took their chance.
Questions hung over Michael O’Connor’s fitness. He’d been sidelined for a few weeks, and Jason Shackell’s absence forced Michael Bostwick into a makeshift backline. Yet both veterans stepped up, anchoring a team that blended steel with silk. Cian Bolger, battling a sickness bug, turned in a Futcher-esque display, dominant in the air despite looking physically drained.
Lincoln didn’t dominate the ball, but they controlled the tempo. Accrington, as always under John Coleman, were enterprising and tidy, but it was City who dictated the big moments. Payne’s early effort, slicing just wide after seven minutes, set the tone: quick interplay, shots from range, risk and reward.
As the match settled, it became clear where the game would be won. Joe Morrell, on loan from Bristol City, was magnificent. Balanced, composed, and intelligent in possession, he linked superbly with O’Connor, providing the pivot on which Lincoln turned defence into attack.
If O’Connor brought the bite, Morrell brought the brain. In a game full of individual highlights, the Welsh midfielder stood out as a quiet conductor. Fans compared him to John Finnigan, and rightly so. He won’t always grab headlines, but the system purrs when he’s in it.
On the flanks, Jorge Grant showed his class. Always eager to find space, always positive in possession, his dead-ball quality was soon rewarded. From a corner late in the first half, he found O’Connor’s head, and the veteran powered home to open the Imps’ League One account. It was fitting: two ex-Notts County men combining in Lincoln colours to score the club’s first third-tier home goal in 20 years.
The scoreline could have ballooned. Early in the second half, Walker was denied by a superb reflex save from Dimi Evtimov. Then Bostwick saw his own header clawed away in spectacular fashion. Twice, Evtimov saved what looked like certain goals, but he couldn’t stop everything.
Lincoln kept probing. The movement of Walker was constant, Grant and Payne interchanging fluidly, and when Andrade entered the fray late on, he added his own spice. It was his surge into the area that drew a clumsy foul and gave City the chance to seal it.
Cue Akinde. Calm as ever, he sent the keeper the wrong way and wrapped up a result that had long felt inevitable.
This wasn’t just about the result. It was the cohesion, the fluidity, the signs of a team evolving. Last season’s title-winning side had functioned efficiently, pragmatically. This side looked to entertain, to carve teams open.
Yes, there were wobbles. A late cross from Colby Bishop almost drifted in, and McConville clipped the bar with a first-half free-kick. But for every moment of danger, there were three of promise from Lincoln.
As fans filtered out onto Sincil Bank, the buzz was real. Praise echoed from everywhere. There were comments about the quality, the balance, the freshness. One supporter claimed it was better than any home game from the season before.
Big praise, but we were three trophies deep in three seasons. If only we’d got a chance to see if Danny and Nicky had it to go one step further.
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