Lincoln City Against West Ham: The Contest We Never Got To See

It’s really difficult to analyse Lincoln City and West Ham as a contest, because from 23 minutes on, it wasn’t one.

There are things to say about how we got there, and plenty to say about the two dismissals, but very little we can sensibly conclude from what followed.

What we’ve been robbed of is the opportunity to see Lincoln City test themselves against the very best the Championship has to offer. There was an England international on that field in Jarrod Bowen, surrounded by the sort of quality we knew would make this a huge challenge. Instead, after three minutes, we’d surrendered whatever slight advantage playing at Sincil Bank might have given us.

I understand the post-match interviews talking about the team, sticking together and taking responsibility collectively. Both players I’m going to talk about have been major parts of a huge amount of Lincoln City success, and nothing tonight changes that. However, there’s no getting away from it: two players have let us down.

I thought the team selection looked good, and I could live with the changes. The one other change I’d have made, which I called a couple of times before tonight, was Yunus Konak for Conor McGrandles. Conor has been booked four times for pulling players back after we’ve lost possession, and that was already something concerning me. I’m not saying get rid or anything silly, but it felt to me in the build-up like he’d been getting in the firing line without it being noticed and maybe needed a break.

I’d hoped Andrei Coubiș would start, but if he wasn’t ready, my shout was Ryley Towler. Instead, Tom Hamer came in, which meant the two players I hadn’t picked in my suggested line-up were both off the field before the half-hour mark. Again, don’t see that as me saying something negative about Hamer; I like Tom a lot, I just want to highlight that in my starting XI, nobody gets sent off!

The reasons behind both playing are clear, though. Conor is a leader in the squad, and playing Yunus and Varfolomeev might mean losing a bit of the experience that the coaching team felt we needed. Tom Hamer played left wing-back, briefly, which some might think is odd given Elder was left centre back and Reach was on the bench. Hamer has played there before, notably when we played Chelsea in the cup, so there is a thinking about diagonals and exposing less physical full-backs. For me, that contributes to his red card, because I think he’s looking at that thinking, ‘good chance to let him know I’m here’.

Tom’s tackle is a red card. He’s mistimed it horribly, and you just can’t go lunging in like that after three minutes, particularly when it isn’t a dangerous position. It unfolded in front of me like a slow-motion car crash: he’s going to lunge for that, the West Ham player is going to get there first, and we’re going to have a problem.

I can almost understand what he’s trying to do, but you have to get it right. It was reckless, and whatever anyone thought of Joël Veltman’s reaction, that doesn’t change the challenge. Footballers make sure officials know they’ve been caught, and I’m not going to make him the villain for it. I was surprised by the backflip he worked into the routine, though: seriously, I’d book a player just for that.

For the next 20 minutes, though, I thought Lincoln City did themselves proud. We were well organised, we competed, and while I wouldn’t claim we were the better side in terms of possession or chances, I still felt we could put them under some stress. There was still a game there.

Bear in mind, this wasn’t simply ten against eleven. It was ten Lincoln players against a West Ham side with resources and individual quality way beyond ours, and we’d also lost one of our biggest weapons almost immediately. Tom had already put in a long throw which the keeper claimed, and he’d had a half decent chance as well, but three minutes into the game that option was gone.

The ref got the cards right, but he doesn’t escape criticism. Those decisions aren’t the argument. My frustration with him centres on the advantage he failed to play when Ogbene was fouled, and Freddie Draper was going through. At that stage, it’s 0-0, 16 minutes in.

Kitchen didn’t initially give the foul, the assistant raised his flag, and by the time the whistle went, Fred was heading towards a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Why are we stopping the game there? We were down to ten, it was still 0-0, and we’d managed to create exactly the sort of opportunity we needed. I’ve watched back, and he doesn’t blow straight off; he waits until (seemingly) Draper goes through and then blows.

There’s no guarantee Fred scores if the whistle doesn’t go, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Equally, if we do go ahead, who knows how the game unfolds from there? You can’t say Conor’s mistake definitely doesn’t happen, but you can’t assume that everything carries on exactly as it did either. Poor from the official.