Incredibly Unlucky – Rotherham 2-1 Imps

City lost last night to top of the league, Rotherham United and should’ve got more from the game. Michael Appleton made four changes to the side that beat AFC Wimbledon on Saturday. Adam Jackson, Anthony Scully, Ted Bishop and Cohen Bramall all came into the side. They replaced Regan Poole, Chris Maguire, Lasse Sorensen and Morgan Whittaker.

Jordan Wright continued in goal, and might still Saturday but Michael Appleton insists that the imps are still working on an emergency loan deal. We played the same system as expected, but Regan Poole missed out and Adam Jackson came in. I think Jackson is a top centre-half for this level, but whether he can play in a three back is questionable. If we continue with this system into next season and beyond with our current pick of defenders (which is unlikely) for me, the strongest back three is Poole on the right; Monstma as the middle defender and Joe Walsh on the left. Eyoma has also looked composed (most of the time) in the middle of the three, which I believe is Jackson’s best position in the back three. He is right footed, which means he can’t play on the left side without the defence side losing balance, and he could play on the right side but Poole is incredible in that position. We need to clear out some of the injury prone players next year and with Joe Walsh being a MA favourite and one of the best centre-halfs in the division, I don’t see him leaving, which means Jackson might be the victim of a rebuild in the summer.

The midifeld changed again. Lewis Fiorini looks to have nailed down a starting spot ahead of the likes of Max Sanders and Lasse Sorensen. Ted Bishop came into the side in the place of the suspended McGrandles instead of Sorensen. Brooke Norton-Cuffy played on the right providing width. Cohen Bramall came in for Morgan Whittaker on the left. Meanwhile, Anthony Scully came into the attack behind John Marquis and Tom Hopper.

We played really poorly in the first half and could perhaps have been lucky to only be the two goals down. Rotherham had a good early chance but Jordan Wright made an excellent stop with his feet at the near post. Despite Wright’s early heroics, Rotherham put two past us in quick succession. The first by Ben Wiles and the second by Chiedozie Ogbene. It’s at that moment, you start to fear the worst. Two goals down in the first fifteen minutes to the best side in the division, it wasn’t looking good. The goals conceded weren’t great from a defensive point of view, TJ Eyoma could have cleared it further for the first and the second was poorly defended by Cohen Bramall in my opinion.

I don’t know what MA said to them at half-time, but it can’t have been friendly and he got the reaction he wanted from the lads. We started to open Rotherham up and move the ball around ourselves, there was a few minutes where we looked like the team at the top of the table. I wish we could play like that all of the time, but we got caught unguarded in the first half, and that settled the game unfortunately for us. The inconsistency in the squad is a real problem, as it shows there isn’t a lack of ability there. If we are to kick on next season and finish mid-table and beyond, we need to have a spine in the team. Players such as Joe Walsh and Liam Bridcutt give us that, but perhaps moving them on and bringing in less injury prone senior pros is the sensible move. Having a spine next season is so important. For me we need a permanent goalkeeper, which we have in Sam Long, who is more than ready for first team action. We have Regan Poole, who should be a mainstay. Tom Hopper and John Marquis should also be part of that spine.

Tom Hopper scored for us, a brilliant move started by Lewis Fiorini who played Cohen Bramall through, the latter put the ball across, where Hopper tapped home. We missed so many opportunities in the second half and if we put just one away we would’ve got a point. It’s frustrating but it shows how well we can play and taking that second half performance and using it for the full ninety minutes against Sunderland should put us in a good position come 5:00PM Saturday.

The AllLincoln MOTM IS Tom Hopper