You know that a season is either going well (or spectacularly badly) when your first reaction after celebrating a goal is to check another team’s score.
I remember an Aldershot goal in 2011 driving me to my phone to check on Barnet. Almost every game in March 2017 had me looking at Tranmere’s latest score, and in 2018/19, it was mainly MK Dons. Even in 2024, as Michael Skubala’s early promise began to seep through, it was Oxford United we were keeping tabs on.
Against Rotherham yesterday, as soon as Reeco Hackett’s powerful drive went in off Ted Cann, I calmly flicked on the BBC website and tracked Bolton. 15 points was the gap we needed to maintain, and as you all know, by the end of play, it was 18 points.
The top three all had assignments against struggling teams, and only Lincoln City passed. Cardiff had been held by a stubborn Blackpool earlier in the day, while Bolton were outwitted by Port Vale. It means we’re just four points from the Championship, three if goal difference comes into play. A week on Friday, we’ll be checking our phones for Bolton’s game at Plymouth, and maybe for Stockport as they take on Wycombe. If we get the goal against Wimbledon we want, then it’ll be all eyes elsewhere.
Not literally, but yesterday, we could have taken our eyes off the game for 45 minutes, because it was all done and dusted in a first half that was comprehensive and complete. City took some time to adjust to Rotherham’s back four, given they’re usually a back five, but once we worked it out, our coaching team made the tweaks, and we were in the driving seat from the 15th minute onwards.
The first 15 were interesting. Twice, Ben House smashed Joe Rafferty, and for a moment, I wondered if there was history there. I think there was a minute in it the second time he properly clattered him, but then he returned and offered him a hand up. Rafferty played for Portsmouth in the game they won to deny us a play-off spot in 2024, which did pique my interest.
Once we got our foothold, that was pretty much that. Rotherham did seem unhappy with the referee, Ar’Jany Martha thought he’d been caught in the face and went down, but even his own bench told him to get up and track back. Lee Clark did not look happy that the player was appealing with play having moved on, and it didn’t shock me he came off at half-time.
After one shot collectively from both teams in the first 15, we spent the last 30 minutes of the half systematically taking Rotherham apart without any resistance.
I’m not having the first goal as an own goal, but I am putting some respect on Ryley Towler’s name for his contribution. He’s played second fiddle to Adam Reach for much of the season, but he was excellent yesterday. If Hackett’s goal is Hackett’s and not an own goal as it is currently credited, then Towler gets the assist with a lovely ball dissecting the defence. It felt like we realised with their shape change we could split the defence, and it became part of our attacking plan. Towler plays a one-two with House, then threads it between Baptiste and Agbaire for Hackett. His shot is powerful and on target, so I don’t know why the fact Cann half-saves it, but doesn’t, is a factor in whose goal it is.
For me, that was Reeco’s ninth league goal of the season. He got his sixth assist of the season not long after, but again, it’s a great team goal. I hear about us being all about set pieces, but we undid them again, Darikwa, Varfolomeev and McGrandles all involved. The latter lifts the ball over the defence for Reeco, and he’s a player who thrives on confidence. He did really well to pick out House, whose volley deflected off Rafferty and past Cann. Honestly, there is more of a shout for that being an own goal than the first.
17 minutes split goal one and two. In between, Duncan Watmore wanted a penalty, and in my humble opinion, Duncan Watmore should have been booked for diving. We’ve seen players booked for it, and at the time, I thought maybe we were lucky, but we weren’t, he was. He’s waited for a bump in the area, but his fall is theatrical and Ivan, who is the ‘offender’, has done nothing wrong. If he wasn’t booked for the dive, slamming his hands into the turf and then chasing Craig Hicks 70 yards to argue could have brought the yellow.
Goal number three is definitely Reeco and it is typical Lincoln City. Hamer’s long throw is dubiously won by Agbaire, holding down Bradley, and Reeco shoots, the shot is blocked and he calmly shoots again. Set piece again, olé olé. Simple.
It isn’t simple, of course. We do some things very well, and it’s more than just boot it forward. We have some nice attacking plays which see us get down the sides. When we get a set piece we don’t just get it in the box and hope, we’re looking to pen in the opposition. We’re looking to form a fence around the area, so when the seconds drop we recycle and go again. Rotherham couldn’t handle that.
The biggest compliment came from Paul Davis of the Rotherham Advertiser. One of the big perks for me as media is getting the opposition view, directly or indirectly. I’ve had Huddersfield staff saying we’re like Tony Pulis’s Stoke, and yesterday, Paul likened us to another achiever. ‘It’s like watching us under Paul Warne,’ he said. I can’t remember what he then said verbatim, but it was basically ‘you’re better organised, everyone knows their jobs, and you’re just better’. I liked Paul Warne’s Rotherham United, I remember them beating us 1-0 a few years ago, when we gave a decent account of ourselves, but they were just better.
That’s us. We’re better than everyone else, and I mean everyone else. There isn’t a team in this division who have outplayed us. There isn’t a side in this division I’ve watched and thought ‘that’s where we want to be’ and at half-time yesterday, my eyes were on other results, because ours was done and dusted.
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