Alternative Report: Four-midable City Pick Up Points

Four-midable City fire an arrow at Burnley’s defence as they win comfortably at the ProAmpac Stadium on Saturday afternoon, writes Abi Hartnell.

Lincoln secured their first home win of the season as they struck four past battling Burnley at the ProAmpac Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Goals came from Ben House, Dom Jefferies and Mikkel Ladefoged, who made his first league start for the Imps.

Burnley kicked the game off, and Lincoln piled the pressure on the players as soon as the ball moved. It’s safe to say the Imps had fire in their bellies to get off to a good start.

The hosts were very close to getting a breakthrough early on as Romanian international Andrei Coubiș put the ball in the back of the net in the first five minutes, only for the decision of offside to be rightfully called.

Lincoln played a safe 20 minutes after this offside call with them keeping the majority of possession, despite the tackles that came sliding in on the soggy pitch.

As we entered the 25th minute of the game, Burnley’s first real chance came from Max Alleyne’s effort, but Recco Hackett was sharp on the line to clear it and keep the game goalless.

The game got better as The Clarets forced George Wickens into a ridiculous save to keep the game open and level. From then on, they stacked even more problems on top of each other to leave Lincoln thinking before they struck their only goal of the afternoon in the 39th minute through Hountondji, who came off the bench to replace injured Armando Broja 11 minutes before his tap-in at the back post from Lucas Pires’ in-swinger.

This lead did not last long for Burnley as Connor McGrandles and Ben House both had shots before Lincoln finally capitalised in the second minute of extra time. Coubiș threw the ball long into the box where it bounced over some players at the front post before reaching Ben House for a calm tap-in at the back post to get The Imps back in the game.

Both teams went in on equal terms at half-time.

The second half started much like the first for The Imps, but they had more desire to get up the pitch after Tom Shaw’s half-time chat.

Mikkel Ladefoged could not have introduced himself to the league in a better way, as he curled an unstoppable strike from close range home with goalkeeper Gregoire Coudert stumped at what happened.

The Clarets were quiet as they could not get hold of the ball in the opening minutes of the second half and their afternoon got suddenly worse from here.

Ladefoged, Jefferies and House all burst forwards as they awaited another big chance for the stadium to erupt.

Dom Jefferies finally made his mark as Burnley failed to clear their lines from a corner. As the ball came out to him, he hit it first-time from long range into the top right corner to secure the win for The Imps, but they were not done here.

Within minutes, Lincoln scored again through debutant Mikkel Ladefoged as he headed home House’s cross, which came from the right side.

The Clarets did not have much energy as they made silly decisions that the referee agreed with.

In the closing minutes of the game, Lincoln defender Ryley Towler fell on goalscorer Hountondji in the box. The referee had no decision but to give the penalty; however, George Wickens guessed correctly and made a fantastic save to keep the game at 4-1 with six minutes of extra time remaining.

Mikkel Ladefoged picked up the Player of the Match award as he scored a brace on his debut for The Imps.

Both managers spoke after the game.

Lincoln’s Tom Shaw was pleased by the performance his team showed today.

“I’m delighted,” he told Sky Sports.

“I’m delighted for the work ethic and what goes on behind the scenes that you don’t really see.”

“Probably more importantly than anyone is the supporters. We felt we owed them one for the West Ham experience. It’s a game we wish we could have back. We owed them something.”

We felt we were a little bit short points-wise for our performances here. So we knew this was a big day and a big opportunity.”

“We got our reward of Lincoln City beating Burnley 4–1 in a league game.”

“You’ve got to remember the journey and all the people that helped us get here.”

“Obviously we had the West Ham experience and then Millwall away with those last 20 minutes at The Den (drawing 2–2 from 2–0 up).”

“That feeling at full time, for everybody, was amazing. It was just an amazing day and one to build on for us.”

“That’s what we want this football team to look like and play like.”

“We’ve got nothing to fear when you can see what our group is capable of.”

Burnley head coach Nicky Hayen explained to Sky that today felt like what had already happened in the opening stages of this season.

“We had one saved on the line and then scored a goal. And you think you can push on even more but then conceded another easy goal. A throw-in went to the second post and no one takes responsibility to clear it and they react faster than us.”

“It’s the same story of the season for us that we keep conceding easy goals and you saw that in the second half.”

“They want to work hard, but you have to show it. What we do in training is really good but we can’t execute that the same way in the games. Is that pressure? I don’t know.”

“It’s frustrating for everyone, especially the fans. I want to apologise to them, but I know it doesn’t matter because it’s another hard defeat for them and I can understand their criticism.”

“We haven’t got the results. I will keep on working hard as long as I have the chance. But there will be a day if it carries on like this that it stops.”

“I don’t know (if I will still be in charge). I know it’s a really tough defeat and something to think about for the board.”

Lincoln are currently sat 15th in the table on 15 points and they have a home contest next Saturday against seventh-place Birmingham City. On the other hand, Burnley will have to face Portsmouth at Turf Moor next Saturday.