A youthful Lincoln City side exited the Lincolnshire Senior County Cup at the quarter-final stage on Wednesday night, falling to a 2-1 defeat against Lincoln United at the Sun-hat Villas & Resorts Stadium.
After a largely quiet first half, it was the hosts who struck first as Connor Brown poked home with just under five minutes of the half remaining, breaking the deadlock in a contest that had been defined by physical battles and disciplined defending.
City responded well after the break and were level within 15 minutes thanks to a moment of real quality from Gbolahan Okewoye. A late penalty eventually saw the Whites progress to the semi-finals.
Their boss, Billy Heath, took charge of his first game for the club, and was happy with his side’s physical approach.
“I think we deserved the win, we had more chances and even before we scored the goal, we’d had two chances that we should have scored from,” he told The Linc.
“On balance we had more opportunities than them but thanks to Lincoln for coming, I thought their players equipped themselves well.
“They were quite tough and I thought they handled themselves really well in the way they competed because they gave us as good as they got.”
Heath was unapologetic about the physical nature of the contest, describing it as central to his side’s identity.
“It’s going to be physical,” he said. “My teams are always physical and they always compete; there’s nothing wrong with being physical because football is about competing.
“Our game can’t go away from that because you have to stand up and win your individual battles and that’s what we did tonight.”
Imps’ academy boss Sam Tillen was encouraged by what he saw from his players, who went toe-to-toe with a strong United side featuring former Imp Alan Power.
“I thought we competed really well, I thought we were very diligent, worked hard,” he also told The Linc. “At times we could’ve had a bit more composure and quality in the final third, but withstanding tha,t I thought it was a good overall performance.
The game’s final moments, Elliot Dye converting from the spot, were frustrating for Tillen, who was minutes from seeing his side force the game into extra time.
“It’s a challenge we didn’t really need to make,” he said. “From a learning perspective, we have to make sure we don’t put ourselves in a position where the referee has to make a decision.
“It’ll be interesting to see it back to see if it was or wasn’t a penalty but its something we have to learn from as a group, sometimes you need those harsh lessons to learn from.”
While the defeat brings City’s County Cup run to an end, the performance offered plenty of encouragement for a young Imps side, who matched their senior opponents for long spells and showed resilience, character and flashes of real quality under pressure.
You must be logged in to post a comment.