There’s a reason I try to leave my Lincoln City match analysis until the day after a game, and yesterday was a classic example of why.
For a long while after the final whistle, I was angry about the referee, the missed chances and our inability to hold on to a two-goal lead. I initially labelled the result a ‘capitulation’ when, in truth, it was not at all; we did the opposite when Dei was sent off, if anything. Being ill and unable to get to the game hadn’t helped either, and all of it combined to make me quite upset, if I’m honest. It’s why I hate the way social media encourages us to pump out opinions while we’re still full of the game, then stand by them for days afterwards.
Then I woke up this morning and thought: imagine being upset because Lincoln City have drawn away at the team that finished third in the Championship last season. We’ve gone to the Den, where everybody tells you players wilt and the crowd gets on top of you, barely two and a half days after losing 6-0 with nine men, and come away feeling we should have won. I know why it felt like a defeat, but with a bit of distance, I think there was a lot to admire about that point.
We made six changes at Millwall, and I can’t pretend I felt entirely comfortable looking at the team. Andrei Coubis, Yunus Konak, Adam Reach, Rob Street, Dom Jefferies and Reeco Hackett came in, with Tom Hamer and Conor McGrandles suspended and Ben House injured. Part of me was looking at Daniel Oyegoke’s omission and wondering whether we couldn’t somehow get another game out of him.
Jefferies and Street weren’t always starters in our title-winning side, so seeing them start in the Championship can make it feel as though we’re weaker than last season. That’s a feeling rather than a fact, because football isn’t as black and white as ‘they’re League One players’, whatever we think. Plus, let’s not forget Ivan Varfolomeev is further along in his development and a full Ukraine international, Konak has the potential to collect 60 or 70 Turkey caps, and Coubis is an absolute monster.
Those changes were hardly surprising given the ridiculous scheduling. We kicked off against West Ham at 8 pm on Wednesday and were back out at half past twelve on Saturday, roughly 62 hours after finishing the previous match. Of the eight teams playing on Wednesday, we were the only one then required to play early on Saturday.
I understand Wednesday-Saturday football, but why squeeze that window further and add an away trip at lunchtime? People might dismiss the extra couple of hours as insignificant, but recovery, travelling and preparation all have to fit somewhere. You finish Wednesday night, get up Thursday, and at some point have to travel to London. Where’s the training, and where’s the preparation?
Wednesday wasn’t a normal game, either. We’d had two deserved red cards inside 23 minutes, lost 6-0 at home and asked nine players to do the running of eleven against a side relegated from the Premier League. Then we had to go to the team that finished third in the Championship, with Coubis returning after an injury concern on international duty and others having run themselves into the ground.
All I wanted was for us to start properly, and within 30 seconds we were ahead. Hackett’s cross was cleared to Coubis, whose shot was speculative but clearly intentional, with Freddie Draper doing well to leave it. After trudging off following a six-goal defeat, the very next minute we spent on a football pitch brought a goal. That’s Lincoln City, and I was delighted for Coubis.
People will describe the first half as us absolutely bossing Millwall, and I understand why, although it wasn’t an endless procession of chances. Kyrell Lisbie had a half-chance after eight minutes, and the next really good opening for either team came through Draper in the 32nd. We did what Lincoln City do, made it difficult for them and took the opportunities that came our way.
Coubis supplied another excellent cross for that Draper chance, which was blocked behind, and a minute later we made it 2-0. There was a handball in the build-up, as clear as day, but we maintained the pressure, and Sonny Bradley supplied Street for the finish. Filip Marschall had already collided with a post and subsequently went off injured, and I wonder whether a fully fit version saves that shot through his legs.
At half-time we’d had four shots, two on target and two goals, with xG of 0.29 against Millwall’s 0.23. They had five shots, with several arriving late in the half, but we were deservedly in control. We hadn’t suddenly reinvented everything we were trying to do against West Ham; we’d taken our chances.
Remember that before deciding the entire story of yesterday was our inability to finish.
The handball also needs to be noted when we discuss the referee, because we benefited from some dreadful officiating. Neither official spotted it, and later in the game Street clearly anticipated contact that never arrived, went down and won a free kick. I’m not going to pretend those decisions were correct just because they helped us.
Draper’s booking, however, left me absolutely gobsmacked. He’s going through for an effort, the offside whistle goes, and he shoots, claiming afterwards that he hadn’t heard it. This was the first half, hardly a prime opportunity to waste time, yet he was booked for kicking the ball away. A player who was my man of the match is now suspended against Burnley because of it.
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