I recall April 18th, 2023, vividly. Not because the game played on that date stood out, but because of one Lincoln City player: Tashan Oakley-Boothe.
That was the day, three years ago, that I was screaming in anger at Tashan because of an awful performance. Now, exactly three years to the day, Tashan had fans screaming for the right reasons. Playing for Scottish Championship side Dunfermline, he stepped up in their semi-final penalty shoot-out yesterday against Falkirk. In front of 25,237, his penalty was the one that decided the shoot-out, and he slotted comfortably past Scott Bain to set up a final against Celtic on May 23rd.
The Pars were last in the Scottish Cup Final in 2007, when they lost to Celtic, and they last won the competition in 1968. It’s not unusual for a Championship side to make the final. Inverness Caledonian Thistle did it in 2023, also by beating Falkirk in the semi-finals and also facing Celtic in the final.
Tashan Okaley-Boothe at Lincoln City
Tashan was a player I had high hopes for. Signed by Mark Kennedy, he came in on loan from Stoke. He arrived a month or so after Mark Kennedy came in, and I recall having a conversation with the former manager when he said he had his eye on Tashan from an early age, so our recruitment aligned. He did feel like he had potential, but things didn’t pan out.
For a while, he looked okay – he started the 3-0 win at Doncaster in the EFL Trophy, and the 6-3 win at Bristol Rovers, and made sporadic appearances throughout the first few months. Then came Chippenham away; he was at the ‘scene of the crime’ and he suffered, like others. Freddie Draper was sent out on loan, and having played 18 times, Tashan was frozen out.
He started again, against Bristol City a couple of days later, but the damage was done, and by the end of 2022, he wasn’t even named as a starter in the EFL Trophy. He appeared twice between November 23rd and April 17th, both times as a sub and only once in the league. Then came Barnsley at home.
By that time, the Kennedy era had become defined. I’d been wary since the very early days, as proven for those who doubt me by this report just a month or so into his reign. We were 13th, 14 clear of the bottom four with 18 left to play for. We were safe, and while we finished 11th, history might forget that on April 1st we were only ten points clear of the drop with 27 left to play for and one win in nine.
Barnsley at home was a game in which we felt safe, but it was the final appearance Tashan made. He was a surprise inclusion, and a few eyebrows were raised when he came on with 20 minutes to go against fourth-placed Barnsley. By the final whistle, I was raging.
“I felt Oakley-Boothe ambled about looking a little disinterested, and it’s unlike me to levy that accusation at a player,” I wrote.
“In his 20-odd minutes on the field, he was involved in 11 actions, only three of which were successful, and two of those were five-yard passes. One pass almost put Barnsley in, a simple ten-yard ball played between two of our players to the feet of a Tykes’ attacker.
“He also had me screaming in anger late on, when Lasse broke away, outpaced almost everyone and then had to delay a ball into the box. Luke Plange, who had run himself into the ground, arrived late, but Tashan was miles away, slowly ambling up at his own pace.
“I’ve been a defender of Tashan, saying how unlucky he’s been, but last night’s performance, for me, was truly the first time I’ve had a question mark over a player’s effort.”
Damning.
It’s still nice to see him making some headlines, and despite that evening against Barnsley, we wish him all the best when his side face Celtic next month.
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