The teams came out for the second half, and I felt if we got one, we’d end up with five or six. We were just relentless in the final third, with ten shots in the first 15 minutes of the second half, and three on target. In the first half, our xG was 0.54. In the first 15 minutes of the second half, it was 1.58. Honestly, in terms of attacking, those first 15 minutes were probably as good as we’d been at any point in the season, with Tom Bayliss and Ryley Towler having good efforts.
I thought Bayliss was superb, McGrandles too, and Hackett linked up really well with Oné. My fear was we’d see some sort of drop off, not through laziness, but just because we’re used to it. Under Danny and Nicky, the two times we won a title, the last few games were notably worse: Southport and Maidstone in the National League, Tranmere, Carlisle, Newport and Colchester in League Two. That’s not a criticism, but once the job was basically done, you felt that we slipped out of gear and free-wheeled towards the end of the season.
This Lincoln City are not doing that. Okay, there is a title to be won, and in 2016/17 the title was promotion, so it’s not entirely comparable. Still, I don’t think we saw any sort of drop off at all. This looked just like Lincoln City have looked for much of the season, excellent when on the front foot, able to pin sides in and win the ball high, but also defending well when asked. In truth, we haven’t seen a lot of the latter recently – Wimbledon asked a couple of tentative questions, Reading didn’t really bother and a handful of other sides barely registered a single goal worth of xG against us, but yesterday, we were asked questions.
Possibly, two subs changed things. It was 60 minutes when House came off, and he impressed me again. Okay, he got a cheap booking, but his work rate is just excellent and I double down on my claim he will be decent in the Championship under our system. They also brought Sonny Perkins on, a player who terrorised us at their place last season, and it seems to give them a bit more structure when building attacks.
This is why I don’t get Orient’s current plight. In the last 30 minutes, they created 1.37 xG against us. The last opponent to create that much in an entire 90 minutes were Luton Town, and the only team who have created anything like that in the final 30 minutes were Blackpool at their place when they were chasing us at 2-1 at home. For a side to do it away from home, and to do it from just five shots, was impressive in my opinion.
They got a really impressive goal back, but completely un-Lincoln-like. El Mizouni with a great delivery and Ballard just split Towler and Bradley with his position, and beat Wickens with the header. It looked so easy, and watching back, I couldn’t help but feel it was too easy. Anyone to blame? I won’t go throwing that around, but it’s clear why Ballard is the division’s top scorer, because with really was a goal born out of great movement and good technique.
After that, my perception was we battened down the hatches, and while we didn’t threaten at all, we did look to control the tempo a little. We did well enough, and while results elsewhere looked like ensuring we won’t win the title on a Tuesday without playing, we still needed to do our part.
Late on, deep into stoppage time, Orient came at us hard. Earlier in the season, I had this habit where I’d back whoever we were playing to soften the blow if we gave up points. I won decent money against Exeter City and Blackpool, enough to part fund my purchases yesterday, but I’ve fallen out of that habit, because over the season, we have become more resilient in the final minutes. How we had to be. Orient probably caused us more trouble in injury time than any side has at the Bank this season, and Wickens made two great saves, both from Forrester, desperate to undo the damage he did at the wrong end. Two good chances, both saved well by Wickens, the second save looking more impressive on replays than in real time, and that’s saying something, because it looked good enough in the flesh.
Still, eventually Joyce blew the whistle, and despite maybe creating enough to earn a point late on, few could begrudge us the narrow win. It didn’t look like a game between a side top against one fifth from bottom at the end of play, but that’s the end of the season for you – it’s the midtable teams that tend to be on the beach. We still have a title to play for, and we certainly showed that is what we intend to do in the final few games. Orient had League One survival to play for, a stark contrast from last season’s surge into the top six, but on that display, they’ll have little to worry about on the final day.
Will we? I don’t think so, I suspect we’ll get the four points needed from those final games, no matter what a resurgent Cardiff do. They beat Bolton, one of the sides in the hunt for automatic, which does virtually assure us another trip to the Welsh capital next season. We’re now in a straight fight for the top spot, but we’ve got a huge advantage, so it’s a case of them hoping we stumble at a hurdle as they desperately try to keep up with the cloud of dust we’ve left circling in our wake.
How very poignant it might be if we were to be awarded the League One title on the same day we’re celebrating the achievements of Graham Taylor’s great side of the 1970s. Football works in mysterious ways, as it did in 2016/17 when, on the 30th anniversary season of us dropping out of the Football League, we won promotion at a canter.
Also, a huge thank you to everyone who popped by to say hello yesterday. I’ve never spoken to so many people in a single fanzone sitting, and the comments on our coverage were really nice to hear.
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