The Real Deal – Oxford 1-2 Imps

Lincoln City put in an incredible away performance last night away from home at the Kassam Stadium, home to Oxford United.

Mark Kennedy made three changes to the side that could only draw with Forest Green. Jordon Garrick got his first start for the club after an impressive game from the bench on Saturday, while Ben House got his first start of the season in the midfield. The other change came in the sticks, with Jordan Wright replacing the injured Carl Rushworth. Anthony Scully started on the left due to Jordon Garrick starting on the right and Ben House started in the three in midfield, despite suggestions it would be a 4-4-2 before kick-off.

The back four remained the same as it was for the previous four league games, with Robson, Eyoma at full-back and Poole, O’Connor at centre-half. We said so many times last season about that consistency in the back four and I don’t think we had a stable back four last season for even three games in a row let alone every league game (so far). We had to start Jordan Wright, but people weren’t expecting a goalkeeper to sign pre-season because of him and Sam Long, so we know he is more than good enough to play and we saw that at the back end of last season.

We looked impressive early on, with Max Sanders being the centre of play. Our first chance came down the left hand side, when Max Sanders drove into the penalty area but his shot was tame and was easy for Simon Eastwood in the Oxford net. We controlled the game in and out of possession, only letting Oxford have a few half chances from crosses and from range. The only action that Jordan Wright saw in the first half was when a cross went all the way through to his near post after Lasse Sorensen sliced his clearance.

We got into the lead in the 21st minute. Jordon Garrick powered into midfield and found Anthony Scully on the left wing, the latter’s cross found the head of City captain Tom Hopper, who headed home past Simon Eastwood for his second goal of the season. People have been getting on Tom’s back but it now looks as if we are playing to his strengths and we are getting the ball into the box early both on the floor and in the air. I will stand by what I’m about to say, Tom is one of the first names names on the team sheet, he can score goals as we’ve seen so far this season and his workrate is important to our system, that proves his importance and that’s without mentioning defensive work from set pieces and his leadership.

We started to control the game in a very professional manner after the first goal and we nullified the Oxford threat before adding our second of the game. It was Sanders again impressing as he won the ball high up the pitch before playing it in to Anthony Scully, who curled it from the edge of the box for a trademark Scully goal. Half-time couldn’t come quick enough for Oxford as they walked off to boos all around the stadium. It was the perfect half for us and we went in with a two goal lead, that was fully deserved.

One of my main talking points from the first-half was our press. There was one point when Oxford were trying to play out of the back and they looked reluctant to pump the ball up (that reminds me of something we used to do) and we pressed them man for man and they really struggled. We didn’t just press for the fun of it either, all of the pressing we did was organised and done as a team. It’s something we have mentioned even before the first league game and the team looks so much fitter and tuned into the pressing side of the game and we won the ball back high up the pitch more often than not last night when doing it.

We showed a different side to our game in the second half and we put bodies on the line and showed grit and determination. So many times last season we got ourselves into a decent position but gave it up, however that has changed as Mark Kennedy keeps saying he wants teams to know they aren’t going to get an easy game and roll us over because we are a young group. I like that from the gaffer and that showed last night. Although we made it more difficult for ourselves by giving away a penalty, looking back on it we were rather comfortable. At the time I didn’t feel like that but apart from a low shot from range, I can’t remember Jordan Wright being troubled at all in the last fifteen minutes. The whole of the team was brilliant in the second half and we saw what Paudie O’Connor is all about as he threw his body on the line countless times along with Regan Poole.

Tom Hopper was just as important in the second half as he was in the first, he chased down every ball from minute-one all the way to minute ninety-eight. I want to give a special mention to Jamie Robson as well. I’ve seen a lot of criticism towards him over the past few games and I think last night he had his best game in a Lincoln City shirt. He won every tackle and he did really well in the air for his height and size too. I remember at the start of the 20/21 campaign, Tayo Edun got so much criticism but now he is playing Championship football and is up their with our record sales, give Jamie a chance and we should see more of what we saw last night.

The midfield was incredible yet again. I feel like I don’t even need to mention Lasse Sorensen as we are all getting used to how good he is in the holding role. It really is like watching a different player to the one we got last year, his stats aren’t much different but there is so much more desire and commitment it seems from him. I’ll mention Max Sanders again, he was brilliant and I still don’t understand why he wasn’t playing last year. I won’t sit here and criticise Appleton as his team is now sitting 7th in the Championship, so he is obviously capable but I have no idea what he didn’t see in Max.

We now move onto another tough test away at Peterborough, hopefully with a large away following we can remain unbeaten with a similar performance to the one we put in last night.

The AllLincoln MOTM is Max Sanders.