City beat League One strugglers Morecambe this afternoon at Sincil Bank in what was a tight encounter.
Mark Kennedy made one forced change to the side that drew with Plymouth Argyle last weekend and that was TJ Eyoma returning to the side to replace Adam Jackson, who missed the game due to injury. Eyoma was the direct replacement for Jackson, leaving Regan Poole in the right wing-back he impressed in against Plymouth. Despite the injury to Jackson, there was good news for City with club captain Tom Hopper returning to bench for the first time since his injury. There was another ex-imp in the opposition teamsheet, with Max Melbourne returning to City for the first time since his departure in the summer.
City started with all the momentum and could have been ahead early through Charles Vernam, after winning the ball back, the winger drove through the defence and took a shot from long range which forced Connor Ripley into what would be his first of many saves. We had another good chance just a few minutes later with Jack Diamond going close. A neat piece of play saw Jamie Robson in space on the left-hand side. The full-back pulled it back to Diamond, but his effort went over the bar. I liked the way we were playing but it was always in the back of my mind that we needed to get a goal from our dominance.
That was exactly what we did. Max Sanders was stupidly pulled down on the edge of the area by a Morecambe man, setting him up with the opportunity to strike from range. That is obviously what Sanders did and his hit was a good one, and whilst it took a deflection, the Imps were good value for the lead. I’ve seen it awarded to Joe Walsh, I’ve seen it awarded as an own goal and I’ve seen it awarded as a Sanders goal. Personally, I’ll have to give it to Max as I think it might have just been going on target without the touch from either Walsh or the Morecambe man.
We really should have doubled our lead and I would have liked us to do it before half-time. Eyoma should have netted his first goal of the season, Robson’s delivery back into the box after a corner was a good one. Poole nodded it back across to Eyoma, but his close-range strike was straight at the Morecambe goalkeeper, who made yet another top class save. I’ll quickly speak on Poole, as it was his 100th appearance today. I’ll do a piece on it at some point over the next week, but I’ll touch on it here. Obviously, it is a massive milestone, and he has been incredible for us since his first appearance to his one-hundredth. His passion and desire every time he pulls on the shirt is admirable and if every player followed how he acts on and off the pitch, then we’d be in an extremely good place.
We went into half-time with a 1-0 lead, and I was fairly happy at half-time. We could have been up by three or four, but a big performance from Ripley in the Morecambe net kept the score down, and that is no surprise with him leading the saves chart this season in League One.
We lacked control in the second half and Morecambe brought the game to us really well. I didn’t know their exact league position before the game, but I knew they were down in the relegation zone, and I honestly don’t believe they should be that low in the table based on their performance. However, I can see why they are in that position based on the way the game went. We added to our lead through House, and it reminded me of us last season. A ball into the box from Diamond should have been easily defended but Tashan Oakley-Boothe had so much space to bring the ball and set himself for a shot. Go and watch back the highlights, the defending for the second goal was awful and if they had just closed down the ball, then they potentially get a point.
Keeping on the subject of Tashan, I really enjoyed his small cameo. If you read regularly, you will know I quite like him and I think he has quality, but we don’t see it every time he plays. He is extremely technically gifted and that is obvious with his career so far. He created our second goal with some neat close control, and he would have considered himself unlucky not to score. If he can play a bit more like that every time he features for us, then he could fight for a regular spot.
Melbourne came on to a few boos. I honestly don’t get certain sections of our fanbase as we used to be respectful to ex-players. I recall John Akinde returning to a standing ovation a few years ago and he was a player that split opinion in the fanbase. Max was a good servant for us, he was frozen out multiple times but always came back into the team and gave everything for the shirt, so the few that booed him should be ashamed of themselves. I get it with players such as Conor McGrandles, even though I wouldn’t boo him but a player like Max, I don’t get it.
Morecambe did get a reward for edging the second half, and it gave City a nervy end to a game that could have been wrapped up within forty-five minutes. Robson’s defensive header from a cross was poor and it only went to the edge of the area and Jensen Weir was on the spot to wrap his foot around the ball and finish into the bottom corner. People will look to blame Robson, but I don’t think he could have done too much more considering he was stretching for the ball. Apart from that, I thought Robbo had a good game and is continuing a strong run of form. The manager is showing faith in him, and he is repaying him at the moment. We saw the game out, and in the midst of that we saw Hopper return to the side from the bench, which was obviously a welcome return considering his defensive abilities from set pieces. We dropped back and defended well for the last ten minutes showing a different side to our game than we did in the first half.
We go into December sat ninth in the league, only four points from the play-offs. Kennedy has done an excellent job so far and long may it continue. Up The Imps