Last night saw Lincoln City bounced back from embarrassment on Saturday to beat EFL Championship side Bristol City with an incredible performance.
Mark Kennedy went with a strong side, with Carl Rushworth back in goal for the Imps’ after being passed fit. We stayed with a back five system, with Joe Walsh and Adam Jackson in the middle alongside TJ Eyoma, who was moved back into the three. That change meant Regan Poole was shifted to wing back. Sean Roughan returned to the left-hand side, which was revealed to be a late change by Mark due to Jamie Robson being ill overnight. Tashan Oakley-Boothe came into the side like I expected prior to the game and Ben House returned after missing Saturday, which was a massive boost to our chances.
Football is a fast-changing game isn’t it. Sunday evening the whole fanbase were labelling us as ‘poor’, ‘toothless’ and even some were saying Mark Kennedy should be sacked, but now going into Wednesday, everyone is pleased with the team and the manager. That is the beauty of the game we all love, while some days it makes you feel terrible, the next it can make you feel on top of the world.
I wasn’t expecting anything from last night if I’m honest, even when we got Bristol City in the draw, I automatically thought it was a poor draw because it was a game, we’d lose but not one we’d financially gain from like we would with a Manchester United away for example or the current Premier League champions. However, last night wasn’t about Regan Poole keeping Earling Haaland quiet, it was about City progressing to the fourth round of the EFL Cup for the first time since the 1967/68 season, when we played Derby County, with a record-breaking crowd attendance at Sincil Bank and we played a good side, one that is a Championship side with top quality players and Nigel Pearson as their manager.
City fans had hardly got in their seats before Matty Virtue put us in the lead of the game. Some neat play down the left-hand side saw Sean Roughan lay the ball off to Virtue, who scored our 22/23 goal of the season from 20-yards-out. The goal put us into a lead at a big Championship club and I expected us to try and hold out like we did at Ispwich.
That opinion showed why my football management career goes as far as a PC game because we did the exact opposite to that. We didn’t go backs against the wall, we decided to play like the team that was in the league above and we controlled the game. We soon got our rewards for it too, Bristol City tried to get some control but a lapse in concentration from Joe Low and some good pressing from House saw the Imps through on goal and House made no mistake and doubled our lead. Fans wanted a response after Saturday, and within fifteen minutes that was delivered with pure class.
We managed to get into half-time with a two-goal lead and it is at that point that fans start believing that we can go and get something from this, and I think our players did too. Nigel Pearson looked to his bench at half time, and he made three changes making his team look much stronger than the one he put out.
The refreshed Bristol City team however were no match for the Imps as we went and added a third early in the second half through Paudie O’Connor. I was really happy for Paudie, he is a player that I didn’t gel with at the start of the season but as I’ve said multiple times already, he has proved me wrong, and I am loving his performances week on week. He is honestly always a MOTM contender at the moment and he deserves all the praise.
We just put in a really professional performance from that point onwards and we just saw out the game. Bristol City did get one back, which added a small mark on what was an extremely positive and successful evening. We needed a reaction and we got that, and hopefully that has restored the faith that some had lost on Saturday.
We now move onto Plymouth on Saturday, which is another tough game but one that we should be confident going into with our form against the top sides.