Lincoln City head coach Tom Shaw had no complaints about the two red cards, which left the Imps facing West Ham United with nine men for most of a punishing evening at Sincil Bank.
Tom Hamer was dismissed after just three minutes for a late challenge on Joël Veltman, leaving City to reorganise almost immediately. Conor McGrandles followed him off in the 23rd minute after losing possession and bringing down Jarrod Bowen as the last man, reducing the Imps to nine before the midway point of the first half.
West Ham eventually ran out 6-0 winners, with Konstantinos Mavropanos breaking City’s resistance with a header just before the interval. Edvin Austbø, Bowen and Pablo added second-half goals before substitute Tomáš Souček scored twice to complete a miserable night for the Imps.
There were no complaints about the dismissals from Tom, who accepted that Hamer’s challenge warranted a red card on the footage available to the coaching staff.
“The camera view we’ve got, it looks like a red card, yeah,” he told assembled press. “I don’t know if he’s caught him properly, I’m not sure. I’ve probably not seen it enough to know, but it felt like it at the time, with his momentum.
“Off the back of that, I thought we responded pretty well with ten men. I thought we had 20 minutes where we showed we could compete with West Ham. It’s probably the overriding frustration of the evening. We didn’t get a proper game, and that 20 minutes makes us think we could have really troubled them this evening.”
That encouraging spell ended with McGrandles’ dismissal, which came after a City attack broke down and Bowen was fouled. Tom was equally clear about that decision, acknowledging that referee Andrew Kitchen had correctly dealt with both of the incidents which fundamentally changed the contest.
“Yeah, he’s the last man. They’re both red cards. They were two decisions that the referee definitely got right.
“There were some that I don’t completely agree with in the first half, but the big decisions looked like they were correct.”
Having praised City’s ability to compete after the first dismissal, Shaw also highlighted the effort shown once the task became considerably harder with nine men. Asked about Hamer and McGrandles in the dressing room, he stressed the unity within the group and his pride in the players who continued to work through a difficult evening.
“They’re so close-knit as a group, so tight. These things happen, and people have got to take the learning from it. We have as staff in all these situations and scenarios, but we’ve got to bounce back and move forward pretty quickly.
“This is a brutal experience for our lads, against the best quality in the league, with nine men for 70 minutes. But the way they kept their levels and their standards, kept getting up to the ball and kept blocking shots, we were super proud of how they went about it.
“I didn’t see one player shy away from what was a very tough experience.”
There was frustration in the stands with some of Kitchen’s other decisions, and Tom was asked whether the referee had been too lenient towards some West Ham fouls.
“I think there are other bits we’ve got to be more concerned about, and we’ve just got to move forward really quickly.
“There were little bits. The sixth goal looks like there’s a foul in there, but at that point the game has gone.
“With the red cards, there are no complaints about those two game-changing decisions.”
Instead, his attention was already turning towards the trip to Millwall and the work required to prepare the group for another demanding fixture.
“It’s a tough night for everybody, and the skill of it all now, and the professionalism of the group, is really important. We need to take a little bit of learning from it because we can do better with some of those goals, even with nine men.
“We need to recover very well, be super professional tomorrow, and the staff have got to get the best game plan possible together ahead of a tough trip to Millwall.”
City now have to recover from a bruising evening and carry that effort into the next game under much better circumstances. Tom’s assessment was clear: the dismissals were deserved, and we were robbed of what could possibly have been a thrilling encounter.
Tom Hamer — where he played this match. Brighter areas are where he spent most time; he is attacking left to right.
Comments Welcome!