City drew yesterday with newly promoted Exeter City as we entered our new era under Mark Kennedy at Sincil Bank.
The atmosphere around the stadium was mostly one of optimism, with fans excited to see what this new era can bring and see some our new signings in action, along with some forgotten players from last year. The team news came at the usual time, and it was what I expected it to be. The only surprise was the inclusion of Hakeeb Adelakun but he got his chance to impress after Charles Vernam picked up a small injury. The bench highlighted how light the squad is at the moment, with forgotten man Chris Maguire featuring. However, the team on the pitch itself was the most important thing. Lasse Sorensen started in the number four role, with Max Sanders and Tashan Oakley-Booth deployed ahead of him, while captain Tom Hopper led the team out for the first time.
Onto the game, and everyone could see that we started slow and and we conceded quite early on, in the 14th minute. Our lack of speed at the back showed, Poole went aggressive with his challenge and got turned, leaving O’Connor and Eyoma to deal with it but the pace of Sam Nombe was too much for them. I could feel people were starting to get aggravated and I started the usual shouts such as ‘nothings changed from last season’ but as I was saying, it is still very early.
It was evident throughout the game that things have changed, we have adopted a slightly new style, more of an aggressive and possessive one. We like to switch the ball more and utilize our wide players by doing that. We seemed more direct and we asked more questions of Exeter rather than constantly trying to score the perfect goal. I liked our urgency to move the ball forwards rather than moving the ball between the centre-halfs as often as we were doing last season.
We looked nervous in the first twenty-five minutes and I think Mark Kennedy came to that conclusion too, them nerves could be down to anything such as the big home crowd on the first game of the season or trying too hard to impress the new manager. However, the most interesting comment for me came from the manager and he believes that we conceded the goal due to overplaying. I feel last season we overplayed too much and sometimes the ball was crying out to be put into the box, and that seems like something Mark is working on with the players to iron out of their game for the rest of this season.
In the 37th minute, we paid tribute to the recent passing of Imp fan, David Pickwell. The Exeter fans joined in with the applause showing their class as a fan base holding up a banner, that read one football family. The referee also stopped the game, with him and both sets of players joining in on the applause, which was a nice touch. We’ve lost one of our family and I want to give my personal condolences to his family and friends.
Mark Kennedy kept the same team on the pitch for the second half, and that was soon rewarded with an equalising goal. Hakeeb Adelakun put a ball into the box and Tom Hopper looped his header over the goalkeeper. It was an absolutely spectacular finish but the curling ball from Adelakun was just as impressive and crucial. The goal was important for not just us as a team but for Tom Hopper too, with it being his first goal as club captain. I believe Tom will be an incredible captain for the club, I’ve always thought of him as a brilliant professional and one that leads by example.
It was then the officials turn to make the headlines as Exeter stormed up the other end and had a few great chances that were only stopped by a brave block from debutant O’Connor and a save from our new number one Rushworth. Despite the heroics from both players, one Exeter chance did end up in the back of the net but it was given as offside. That small period of dominance from Exeter gave them their last big chances in the game and we started to put our own stamp on the second half. Anthony Scully had a great chance up the other end and after watching him for over two years, you’d expect him to score them. The first came after some clever play, mostly from Adelakun (again), who put a brilliant ball in behind the Exeter backline, but Scully couldn’t keep his effort down.
We are still lacking something in the front three and we are very light in that area and that showed when Mark Kennedy turned to forgotten man Chris Maguire. It was a massive shock to everyone in the ground, especially considering he hadn’t been involved at all in pre-season, some booed his arrival onto the pitch, some clapped. I have to admit I did neither but this was a small chance for Chris to put himself in the shop window and/or begin to work his way back into the plans here. I don’t think the latter will happen, but weirder things have occurred in the past.
Maguire actually looked sharp in his small time on the pitch and he helped create a massive opportunity, by playing a smart ball to Hopper, who allowed Robson to put a ball across to Scully and somehow the ball didn’t end up in the net after a scramble on the goal line. Maguire nearly scored himself as he drove forward and hit it from distance, but it was just over the bar.
That was about it for match action and we came away with a point from our first game of the season, which was a good recovery after the first twenty/twenty-five minutes. The performance certainly impressed me and there is a lot of positives to take away going into our next game and the season as a whole.
TJ Eyoma had a good game in my opinion, I thought he linked up well with Adelakun especially and he looked more like the TJ that we had on loan than the one we had last season. He didn’t have the easiest time last season as everyone saw, but if he can get a good run in the team and be consistently solid, it will help him get back to them previously extremely high levels that he was operating at. I also think he is a lot more suited to being played as a right-back, with his strong athleticism showing yesterday when he was overlapping and driving forward.
Sanders was another player that had a very good game, it is brilliant to finally see him given a chance to start and impress. He was brilliant yesterday and he showed what we were missing out on last season when he was sat on the bench for several matches. I think if you’ve been on my site before, you’ll know my love, as some call it, for Max Sanders and I spent much of last season talking about him even when he wasn’t on the pitch. So to see him starting is good but to see him putting in a MOTM contending performance is even better.
Hakeeb Adelakun probably had his best game in an imps shirt so far yesterday and we saw the player that we signed rather than the player that we saw last season. He looked to have so much confidence to take on his man and show his excellent range of passing ability, with our lack of attacking players, having Hakeeb perform is a massive positive for us and he could be the player we were expecting last season to replace the likes of Brennan Johnson and Morgan Rogers.
Lasse Sorensen won the official club MOTM and rightly so, he was a completely different player from what we saw last season. He looks full of confidence and he is using that engine we heard so much about when he originally signed for us last season. If he can keep up this form, we may not need to invest in a ‘new Bridcutt’ specifically as we may have already found our replacement.
My final point I want to make is regarding match fitness. We looked so much more sharp and fit due to the changes in the medical team and the appointment of Ross Burbeary. That could turn out to be a bigger change than any player signings as the players we already have are more than good enough, but they need to keep themselves fit and that side of us is starting to shine because of the changes.
It was only a draw but it is one we can build on and with the performance we could’ve had a win. We move onto a different challenge against Portsmouth on Saturday, in what could be a real cracker.
The AllLincoln MOTM is Lasse Sorensen.