The opening day of the 1995/96 season feels like another lifetime. Lincoln City had not even appointed John Beck; I was entering my A Level year, and Cast’s Finetime was in the charts. Dean West, who was in the commentary box today, was among the scorers as the Imps won 2-1 at Deepdale.
A lot has changed since then. I have acquired a few more hairs on my chin, some grey, while the respective trajectories of the two clubs meant we had visited Deepdale only once in the intervening years, losing 5-0 when we did. For the first time in more than 30 years, Lincoln City have now come away from Preston North End with a victory, and I suspect this season will continue to produce milestones of that nature. We recently recorded our first win against Derby County at their place, and we are becoming particularly difficult for almost anybody to beat, as long as we conveniently ignore Bournemouth.
There was plenty of surprise when the team was announced this afternoon. Social media is not always the best place to find considered analysis, especially immediately after a team sheet drops, but the comment asking the club to post the real line-up probably captured the general mood. It was a knee-jerk reaction, but you could understand where it came from.
The midfield debate had previously centred on whether Yunus Konak should replace Ivan Varfolomeev or Conor McGrandles, yet Tom Bayliss came into the side instead. The attacking question seemed to be whether Mikkel Ladefoged or Freddie Draper would start alongside Ben House, only for Rob Street to get the nod. Reeco Hackett started while Chiedozie Ogbene remained on the bench, and Ryley Towler, who has barely put a foot wrong, was replaced in the middle of the back three by Sonny Bradley.
It was almost as if Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw knew more about the players and the plan than those of us looking at the team sheet from outside. Surely that cannot be right?
There were moments in the first half when the selection appeared questionable, although that does not mean those who doubted it were subsequently proved correct. Preston had opportunities, and we rode our luck a little, but that has been the story of their season. Speak to their supporters and they will tell you they have done almost everything except score, losing matches they believe they should have won while dissatisfaction with Paul Heckingbottom continues to grow.
You could understand their frustration after watching them for 90 minutes. Preston have some decent players and enjoyed spells of sustained possession, but this was the first league match this season against an established Championship side that felt as though it could have been played in League One last year. It could have been Bolton Wanderers away last season, or one of several other matches in which an opponent had plenty of the ball without repeatedly cutting us open.
Preston worked hard and kept us penned in at times, but they lacked somebody capable of producing a moment of brilliance. Alfie Devine arrived permanently after being their Young Player of the Year last season, but he did not stand out. Andrija Vukčević looked useful on the left and delivered some dangerous balls, but Preston’s attacking play generally amounted to somebody being a foot away from a cross or a few inches short of making contact with a header.
They could have been ahead at half-time, and it would not necessarily have flattered them, but they were not so dominant that you could say they clearly deserved to lead. They had the better chances, particularly when Johnny Kenny fired over after McGrandles gave the ball away, but there was never a sustained period in which I felt we were on the ropes. Had Preston converted one of those openings, it would have been understandable. Had they somehow scored twice, that would have painted a misleading picture of the half.
A significant reason for that was our back three, as solid as the 200-year-old bricks my builder has been pulling up from my outhouse floor. Bradley came back into the side and was an absolute behemoth, dominating the penalty area and bringing the sort of authority you expect from a player of his experience. Deji Elerewe was similarly impressive, while Andrei Coubiș produced another performance which underlined why the club were prepared to invest so heavily in him. Preston found spaces around the area, but when the decisive ball arrived, one of those three was usually there to deal with it.
Reach and Oyegoke were both attentive, blocking crosses and battling for everything. It’s odd, because Oyegoke looked to me like a Lincoln City player with 100 games under his belt, despite making his Championship debut for us. Reach, several hundred games into his Championship career, had the energy and endeavour of a fresh-faced player chasing everything on his debut.
At the other end, it was hard going for the anthracite-shirted players. House, Street and Hackett all worked tirelessly, but once again we were left discussing the final touch, pass or action. Daniel Iversen was not worked to the point where you felt City had allowed a clear opportunity to pass them by. There were half-chances and promising positions, but little that should have produced a goal.
Preston also defended our throws and set pieces well during that opening period, restricting one of our most productive routes to goal. Iversen dealt with his penalty area in an unconventional fashion, and I am not convinced he ever looked entirely comfortable catching anything, but the players in front of him protected their cage effectively. I did get angry at the referee for a supposed foul on Iversen in the middle of the half. He came for a ball, Hackett jumped fairly, and the keeper missed it. He went down, and we had a great chance, but he blew for a foul. It wasn’t a foul
It left the contest feeling like a stalemate, which was reflected in my notes at the interval. In fact, I had the headline ‘Stale Tate’ ready to go in the event of a 0-0 draw, loving the potato puns. There had not been a great deal of incident, but that did not mean Lincoln had been poor. It felt as though the plan was to keep the game tight, remain level and wait for an opportunity to change it.
The difficulty was that we were playing direct balls towards House and Street without the physical focal point provided by Draper or Ladefoged. I would be interested to see how many attacking headers we won in the first half because it cannot have been many. That sounds bizarre given the identity this side has established, but there was nobody consistently dominating Preston’s defenders when we went long.
This is League One football on steroids. Last season, there were matches in which we could expect to control possession, create the better chances and impose ourselves. Preston came into this game at the bottom of the Championship having lost five of their opening six matches, but it never felt like an opportunity to arrive at Deepdale and simply take the game to them. They still have players capable of hurting teams at this level, even if too few of them showed it.
Technically, the first half looked like a meeting between two sides who could spend the season towards the lower end of the table. That is not intended as an insult to Lincoln because we understand what we are and how we intend to compete. There was not the technical quality we saw against Middlesbrough or Southampton, and both teams surrendered possession cheaply at times, but City have built an approach which does not depend upon being prettier than the opposition.
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