Double Trouble: How Many Times Have Lincoln City Seen Two Sent Off In a Game?

West Ham United 0-6: Tom Hamer (3), Conor McGrandles (23)

City’s Championship meeting with West Ham at Sincil Bank last week became an exercise in survival after two dismissals inside the opening 23 minutes. The remaining nine resisted until the 45th minute, when Konstantinos Mavropanos headed home from a corner to break their resolve just before half-time. Edvin Austbø and Jarrod Bowen extended the lead within five minutes of the restart, before Pablo and two goals from Tomáš Souček completed a bruising 6-0 defeat. Those City supporters who remained offered defiant backing, even singing about our League One title as a thoroughly miserable evening drew to a close.

Tom Hamer was dismissed after just three minutes for a late challenge on Joël Veltman, a decision which initially looked harsh but proved justified on a second viewing. City were still competing and creating occasional openings when Conor McGrandles gave possession away during an attack and then fouled Bowen, leaving Andrew Kitchen with little choice but to produce another red in the 23rd minute. Both dismissals came with the game goalless, leaving the Imps facing more than an hour with nine men against opponents already blessed with considerable quality. Hamer’s challenge had disrupted the evening’s plans almost immediately, while McGrandles’s dismissal turned an already difficult assignment into prolonged damage limitation.