Lincoln City Are Promoted To The Championship: Reading 1-2 Imps

Lincoln City were promoted to the Championship this afternoon. Lincoln City. The Championship.

I’ll give you the match report, but the analysis will have to wait, because the party has started.

The Imps made three changes from the side that beat Wimbledon on Good Friday. Ivan Varfolomeev replaced Tom Bayliss in midfield, while Rob Street also dropped to the bench, replaced by another Under 21 international, Ryan Oné. Dom Jefferies, impressive in recent cameos, replaced Jack Moylan. That meant a 3-4-3 with Jefferies at left wing back.

Reading included a familiar face in their side, Paudie O’Connor, lining up against his former side, while panto villain Paddy Lane started the afternoon on the bench.

The Imps started on the front foot and immediately put Reading under pressure with a long throw inside the opening few minutes. The ball was cleared, but Ivan Varfolomeev was then caught by a high boot on the edge of the area, giving City a free kick in a dangerous position on the attacking right. From that set piece, City made the breakthrough. Reeco Hackett delivered into the box and Ryan Oné rose to meet it, his header finding the net despite Joel Pereira getting a hand to it. The away end erupted as City took a deserved early lead.

City thought they had doubled the advantage just a few minutes later. Dom Jefferies broke forward and slipped the ball to Hackett, who in turn squared for Oné to tap home from close range. However, the assistant’s flag was up for offside, and the goal was ruled out, much to Reading’s relief. It looked like the ball might have gone in had Oné not touched it.

Reading’s first real effort came after around 12 minutes when Charlie Savage tried his luck from distance, but the effort was deflected wide. City responded quickly with another attack of their own, Oné feeding Ben House in the area, but the striker could not get a clean touch and was then penalised for a foul as he tried to recover the situation.

City continued to look dangerous, particularly from long throws and second balls. Around the midway point of the half, two long throws were only half cleared by the Reading defence, and when the ball was recycled by Tendayi Darikwa, House forced a corner, although the resulting delivery came to nothing. Reading had a strong shout for a penalty when Kyerewaa weaved into the area and went down under pressure from Conor McGrandles, but the referee waved away the appeals.

Reading were forced into an early change just before the half hour, with Kamari Doyle replaced by Paddy Lane, who was met with a chorus of boos from the travelling support. Shortly after, a slip in the City defence allowed Savage a sight of goal from range, but he dragged his effort well wide.

City continued to create chances as the half wore on. Oné found space on the right and went through towards goal, but a Reading defender recovered well to clear for a throw. The home side’s main threat was coming through Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, who was providing a physical focal point up front and competing well with Sonny Bradley, while Kyerewaa also looked lively when running at the City defence.

The Imps came close again around the 40-minute mark. A deep cross from Oné was met by Dom Jefferies, whose effort forced a save from Pereira, and from the second phase Ryley Towler fired just over the bar. Moments later, Hackett found space 25 yards out and drove towards goal, but his effort deflected off Oné and went behind.

Reading almost had a big chance late in the half when Kyerewaa broke through one-on-one, but in a superb piece of recovery defending, three City players raced back to block the effort and preserve the lead going into the break.

At half time, City were good value for their advantage, having scored early, had another goal ruled out, and created the better chances, while Reading had been largely restricted to efforts from distance and moments on the break. With Stockport pulling a late goal back against Bolton, it meant there had to be a three-goal swing for City to be denied promotion; two in Berkshire, and one either way in Lancashire.