In preparation for the new season, we’re going to touch on the Man of the Match from the previous encounter in an article 48 hours or so after the game.
We have a great new bespoke widget for ranking the Man of the Match, and while we’ve been producing the numbers for a while, it’s pretty important to make a little more of it. When it comes to promoting the Man of the Match, I’m going to lean on the title of the excellent 1993 Cranberries album: Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?
Man of the Match – Tendayi Darikwa 7.47
Your Stacey West Man of the Match for the trip to Stevenage is right back Tendayi Darikwa, with an average score of 7.47.
Our captain earned the anger of the home crowd with a provocative celebration after scoring City’s leveller, and perhaps that has pushed him up the Man of the Match rankings. Fans love to see a bit of character and passion, and if you’re away and one of your team irks the home support, you tend to feel a closer affinity to them. Darikwa certainly irked the home support with his finger-to-the-lip celebration.
He had a good game, as always; he’s never one to let the side down. He might have wanted to do better with the attempted clearance ahead of the second Stevenage goal, but that was a rare moment in a season of high-energy performances.
With three tackles and one interception, according to FotMob, Darikwa was the best Imps defender statistically. He won 50% of his ground duels: fewer than Sonny Bradley, Ryley Towler and Conor McGrandles, but performed three tackles, the same as Towler.
He scored, and his high-energy outing added as much to the Imps’ attack as it did to the defence, making Tendayi Darikwa the Man of the Match.
Honourable mentions go to Rob Street (7.44), Tom Hamer (7.19) and Conor McGrandles (7.12), who also scored well in a stodgy performance where the result was fair, but few paying fans got to be thoroughly entertained.
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