Michael Appleton has revealed that Lincoln City arrived at Wembley just 45 minutes before kick-off for the 2021 League One play-off final, admitting he still wonders whether the game should have been delayed.
Our former manager has been reflecting on the defeat against Blackpool with Gab Sutton, the frantic preparations that preceded it and the emotional effort required to get past Sunderland in the semi-final. There is plenty in his account that adds to our understanding of that afternoon, even if his assessment of the result is much the same as the one I wrote at the time.
We were beaten by the better team on the day. That was how I opened my match report, and Michael remains equally clear that Blackpool deserved their victory, although the circumstances surrounding our arrival are something he has thought about since.
“There were a few big things for me, and lessons for me as well. We got to the game quite late. There was an incident on the roads. I think there had been quite a big car accident.
“That had happened to us about four or five times throughout the season. I almost put it to the senior group and the players: ‘What do you want to do? Are you happy kicking off at the same time?'”
I recall the troubles getting in: a 25-year-old was tragically killed in a collision before midday, with another left critical in hospital. The players wanted to get on with the game, having dealt with similar disruption during the season, but that left little room for the usual preparations.
“The players were pumped. They were ready for it. We got into the changing rooms quickly, but it was all a rush.
“Then on the day of the game, what we didn’t prepare for was to be stuck in traffic for as long as we were. That wasn’t part of the preparation.
“Part of me wishes that we would have delayed the game 15 minutes or half an hour. But at the time the players were up for it. They were like, ‘No, let’s crack on. We’re ready. We’re good.’ Obviously we went ahead early in the game anyway.”
That early goal is still an extraordinary memory. Brennan Johnson got away down the right, his low delivery ended up in the net off Ollie Turton, and suddenly we were ahead in a game that could take us back into the second tier.
I remember cheering, hugging my dad and then looking at the scoreboard to realise there were still 89 minutes to survive. We had the advantage, but almost an entire match remained against opponents who had already shown us how difficult they could be to contain.
Michael’s concerns about Blackpool went back to our league meetings. We had taken four points from them, winning 3-2 at Bloomfield Road and recovering from two goals down to draw at Sincil Bank, but those results did not tell the whole story.
“We always knew it was going to be tough. We played them in the season twice. We won at their place where, to be fair, we rode our luck and we could have lost the game. But we were so attack-minded and we won the game 3-2.
“We played them at home and I’ve got to say, for 70 minutes they absolutely murdered us. What I mean is they just completely outpowered us.
“They were men. They were all suited to playing League One football and probably going again and playing in the Championship.”
Our recovery in that home game had been impressive, and we might even have won it late on. However, the way Blackpool had controlled so much of the contest stayed with Michael as he prepared to face them again.
“We got back into the game at home, brought it back to 2-1, and then the last 10 or 15 minutes it was all us. We drew the game. We could have won the game, but I remember coming off the pitch thinking, ‘My God, they were good today.’ They made an impression on us.
“When we got them in the final, my biggest fear was, on Wembley, on a huge pitch, are they going to be a little bit too much for us?”
For a while, Wembley offered the possibility of a different outcome. Jorge Grant struck the crossbar with a curling effort that might have doubled our lead, one of those moments you inevitably revisit after losing a game of such significance.
Instead, Kenny Dougall equalised before the break and scored again early in the second half. We had opportunities to get forward after that, but we never found the cutting edge needed to force our way back into the game, finishing without a shot on target.
That was the crux of my assessment at the time. Blackpool stopped us playing effectively, made more of their own opportunities and left us searching for a response that never really arrived.
“I think physically they were fine,” said Appleton. “But mentally, was it emotionally just a little bit too much before the game?
“As it happened, we went in at 1-1, and it ended up being a difficult afternoon for us. They were the better team on the day. There’s no doubt about that, and I’ve got no qualms on that.”
There is another part of his reflection that will resonate with anyone who watched the semi-final at Sunderland. Getting through that tie had required an enormous effort, particularly after our two-goal first-leg advantage disappeared during a horrible opening half at the Stadium of Light.
Michael now wonders whether overcoming Sunderland took more out of his side than was apparent at the time. It is a difficult admission for a manager whose team still had the biggest game of the season ahead of them.
“I don’t like saying this and don’t like admitting it, but when you look back, it probably was true: our final was the semi-final.
“Nobody expected us to get through Sunderland. Sunderland were everyone’s favourites to get promoted.
“We were 2-0 up from the first leg, slightly fortunate with the second goal. They put us under a lot of pressure in the first game as well, but we were 2-0 up, and within 45 minutes that two-goal advantage had been wiped out.”
The response after the interval was one of the defining moments of his time here. For all the discussion about Michael’s restrained manner on the touchline, his account of what happened inside the dressing room is rather different.
“Whoever was in the studio, I watched it afterwards, and they said, ‘Michael must have been a tactical genius. He did this, he did that.’
“I’m telling you now, there was nothing tactical mentioned in that dressing room. I just went absolutely bonkers. I went mental.
“It would be up there with the angriest I’ve ever been at half-time because I just thought we’d wasted 46 or 47 games to not turn up, basically.”
Whatever was said, the reaction got us to Wembley. That second-half performance ensured a season of so much promise would not end with us surrendering the advantage we had earned at Sincil Bank.
“I must say they were brilliant, absolutely brilliant second half. The reaction was brilliant.
“When we spoke as staff afterwards, we just wondered, was it a game too far for us? Because no one expected us to get through the Sunderland game.”
For Michael, the final brought another painful Wembley experience, following two defeats there with Oxford United. Even someone who did not consider himself superstitious began looking at the surroundings a little differently.
“That was a tough moment for me because I can remember coming away from there going, ‘I hate Wembley. I hate Wembley with a passion.’
“Three finals, three defeats is not a good record. Not only that, we were in the same dressing room for every single one. I’m not even superstitious, but I started thinking, ‘That dressing room is jinxed.'”
My feeling after the game was that we could have played Blackpool again the following day and perhaps won. This wasn’t a final in which we looked hopelessly out of our depth, but on that afternoon we came up short, and there was no single player, selection or refereeing decision on which to pin it.
Michael’s recollections add the rushed arrival and the emotional demands of Sunderland to that picture. Whether either made the decisive difference is something we cannot know, but they help explain why a team capable of such excellent football reached its biggest afternoon with so much already behind it.
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