Lincoln City went away to Ipswich Town yesterday and put in an incredible defensive performance to earn three points at Portman Road.
City became the first team to beat Ipswich Town at home this season, and that title for me sums up why we won. I obviously understand that we aren’t going to win the league but as Sir Alex Ferguson once said ‘Defence Wins Titles’ and he was spot on. Fans want to see free-flowing exciting football but it is performances like ours yesterday that mould us as a team and give us a platform for the future, wins like these are just as important and impressive as our 6-3 against Bristol Rovers and for me it is even more impressive than that.
Mark Kennedy stayed with the 3-4-3 system we saw against Charlton and Bolton but with a few minor tweaks to the setup. We looked more defensive with the wing-backs of Sean Roughan and TJ Eyoma slightly deeper with Jack Diamond and Danny Mandroiu looking to help support their full-backs. The fundamentals were to go there and frustrate them and potentially cause issues on the counter-attack and I thought we executed that well.
On the face of it, we were battered for most of the game but when you actually watch it back it was definitely not like that. Yes, they had 33 shots, but only 5 of them were on target and we did limit them to shooting from range, especially in the second half of the match. Ipswich fans have praised us as well, that proves a big point for me because it isn’t usual for fans to watch their team dominate but lose and compliment the other team. As much as they had all the ball, they didn’t do too much with it but on another day we might only come away with a point. In simple terms, without sounding too harsh to our opposition, they weren’t clinical and we were.
Our goal was actually nicely worked, despite the scrappy element about it. We don’t score many from corners, it feels like we’ve only scored one goal from a corner in the last two seasons but this one was special. Paudie O’Connor played a big part in the goal, his header across the back post was crucial and, as a striker should, Ben House was lurking on the back post to head it home and give City an extremely unlikely lead. I like to be optimistic but yesterday I was hoping for a point and I’d think that would have been a great achievement from the day, but to have a lead to hold on to changed the game.
I’m not going to break down the game, as it was mostly us getting dominated by Ipswich but the defensive work on display was incredible. Regan Poole putting his body on the line is what you expect these days along with O’Connor but Adam Jackson was excellent from minute one to ninety-seven. He put his body on the line and stifled their forward line extremely well. To be able to field players such as Marcus Harness, Conor Chaplin and Freddie Ladapo is a sign of real quality and keeping them quiet was always going to be a tough task and the three centre-halves in particular did that so well.
I can’t ignore the midfield two either. The signing of Matty Virtue has to be one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Yes, we’ve had the Brennan Johnson and the Anthony Scully type of signings but Virtue has gone under the radar and is now a crucial part of the team. A lot of sites have reported that his contract is up at the end of the season, and if we were to secure him permanently that would be an insane deal. He adds calmness on the ball but also energy off it and with even more energy, in the form of Max Sanders, next to him yesterday we were always going to make it difficult for them in the middle.
We have something special with Mark Kennedy and long may that continue. I personally feel like I have a bigger connection with the club as a fan and that is evident throughout the club. Everyone I speak to feels the same and Mark has made a big issue of having that with the fanbase and having unity. When he came in, he said he wants the fans to be proud of the team and we are certainly after yesterday afternoon.
I have to say this is probably one of the best defensive performances I have seen in the past five or so years, I can’t remember us getting dominated like that under Michael Appleton but coming out with three points at the end of it. If we can keep putting in performances like that against the big sides and find a formula that will get us goals against the likes of Accrington and Morecambe. If we can nail them two things we could push for a higher position in the middle of the table.
We are back in action again on Tuesday night, with a Pizza Trophy game against Newcastle United. As much as I don’t like the competition it does give us an opportunity to give some fringe players a runout and give some of the ever-present players a rest before another tough game at home against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
As I said, we are so much more connected with the club and I cannot wait to get back to the Bank next Saturday and hopefully we will see another upset on the cards.