Danny Cowley’s final Lincoln City XI lost 3-1 at Wycombe Wanderers on 7th September 2019, two days before the man who picked it left for Huddersfield Town.
I remember spending much of that Saturday waiting for Danny’s post-match interview. The Huddersfield rumours had been doing the rounds again, and I wanted to hear something that would put them to bed. We had a game to get through first, our tenth in 34 days, with Joe Morrell and Aaron Lewis away on international duty with Wales.
Wycombe took the lead inside five minutes through a Joe Jacobson free-kick, then doubled it before half-time when his corner went in off Michael Bostwick. Tyler Walker had been isolated up front, so Danny sent John Akinde on at the break and went to a 4-4-2. Walker hit the post and Akinde pulled one back from Jorge Grant’s cross in the 50th minute, with Wycombe’s Matt Bloomfield still down in the box and referee Chris Sarginson allowing play to continue.
For a few minutes we looked capable of getting something from the game. The lengthy stoppage for Bloomfield’s treatment broke up that spell, Gareth Ainsworth brought on Adebayo Akinfenwa to give Wycombe a focal point, and Jacobson settled it by scoring straight from another corner. It was our third straight away defeat in the league, and on the balance of the afternoon Wycombe deserved it.
Danny sounded drained afterwards, and I came away from the interview with little more reassurance than I’d had before kick-off. On the Monday, he and Nicky Cowley left for Huddersfield. They had taken us from the National League to fifth in League One, with a trophy at Wembley and an FA Cup quarter-final along the way.
Here’s what happened to the players Danny picked for his final game in charge.
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