Michael Skubala’s Imps climbed to third in the League One table after putting three past Barnsley in an entertaining match at Sincil Bank this evening.
A night that could have drifted away from us after the equaliser instead became another example of the character amongst the team, and an energetic performance in windy conditions saw us stretch our winning run at home to four league matches on the bounce.
Michael Skubala shuffled his pack from the Port Vale win, bringing back Tom Bayliss in holding midfield. The question as to where Dom Jefferies might play when fit was also answered, as he started on the left, with Jack Moylan sitting behind Freddie Draper up top.
The mood was dampened slightly pre-match with confirmation that James Collins and Ben House face a long spell out, but by the time 90 minutes had finished, a fresh wave of optimism had hopefully swept over the disappointingly low crowd.
Barnsley threatened early, starting by far the brighter of the two sides. City’s first opening came on fifteen minutes, Wickens launching forward for Jack Moylan who was only halted by alert work from goalkeeper Murphy Cooper.
From there the tempo lifted. A long throw from Tom Hamer caused chaos, falling for Hackett, then Freddie Draper, making his 100th appearance for the Imps, but he fired over under pressure. Barnsley responded with Vimal Yoganathan cracking one narrowly wide, but the Imps quickly countered with opportunities of their own. It was frantic at times, with Barnsley happy to play a high line.
Some of the Imps assing looked awry, but it was as a result of trying to play more ambitious balls, looking for the lively Moylan, who once again provided a real spark in behind Draper. Hackett and Moylan then had a chance each as we looked to get ahead, the latter volleying wide from a good position.
It always felt like a goal was on the cards, but likewise, it felt like we could concede. The first would be crucial.
The breakthrough arrived on 36 minutes. Another Hamer throw reached Moylan, who fed Hackett, and the winger unleashed a vicious drive across the box in into the far corner of the net. It was a superb strike from Hackett, who looked to be fully on song with some neat touches and plenty of forward endeavour.
Barnsley, packed with talent, looked a little shell-shocked after their early start, but always had an air of menace, and the half ended with Davis Keillor-Dunn drawing a fine stop from George Wickens against the run of play.
They picked up from there in the second period, coming out quickly after the restart. Reyes Cleary, disappointing in the main, drew a save from Wickens. However, as in the first period, City got a foothold in the half, playing with the wind. A Draper header went up and over the bar, another chance for the striker, who turned in a hard-working performance in the absence of James Collins.
Tom Bayliss had the next chance, firing across goal and, I think, drawing a save from Cooper. It was hard to see in real time, and even the replay hasn’t proven conclusive! 2-0 could have killed the game off, but the visitors weren’t done.
It was Barnsley who got the next goal, and it could have been a killer. Looking to pile on the pressure, Jon Bland picked out Keillor-Dunn for a simple finish. The away end, boasting low numbers just over 700, erupted into noise, and the pendulum swung.
Briefly.
Straight from the restart, Wickens delivered long, Bayliss surged through. To the naked eye, he may have seemed offside, but his run was timed to perfection, springing Barnsley’s high press. With Cooper stranded, Bayliss lifted a delightful ball over the keeper for 2-1. There were perhaps 20 seconds from kick-off to City going ahead, which had shades of Doncaster a couple of weeks ago. It shows an outstanding attitude.
That’s how home fans wanted us to reply to conceding, and within three minutes, it was game, set and match. Another Hamer throw, wind-assisted, caused mayhem in the Tykes’ defence. Sonny Bradley fought at the near post to keep it in, lifting it up and over the defence for a gleeful Hackett, who nodded home from close range for 3-1.
That knocked the stuffing out of Barnsley, and the final 20 minutes were left to a series of Imps subs to see out. Justin Obikwu, Rob Street, Frankie Okornkwo, Ivan Varfolomeev and Erik Ring came on, leaving City to see the game out comfortably. Indeed, we almost added a fourth when Street drove forward late on and fizzed a strike just wide from distance.
Injury time petered out without too much fuss, which is exactly how referee Dale Baines could be described. After a few weeks of poor officials, we got another decent one. He shied away from giving one of their lads an early booking, and while it wasn’t a tough game to officiate, he did it with minimum fuss, to a point where he was barely noticeable until he needed to be.
The win lifts the Imps into third, courtesy of Stevenage’s defeat against Cardiff. Luton, Wimbledon and Huddersfield all dropped points, meaning despite having played more games, our cushion has now grown – Barnsley have three games in hand but are now nine points shy of our tally.
Were all the teams below us to win all of their games in hand, we’d drop to seventh on goal difference, sixth on points. That won’t happen, and it’s nice to see us putting a bit of a buffer between us and the likes of Luton and Huddersfield heading into the tricky winter period.
I’ll do my usual analysis tomorrow, but for this evening, enjoy the match report!
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