Saturday saw Lincoln City produce their best performance of the season against the impressive league leaders Plymouth Argyle.
Mark Kennedy made three changes to the side that beat Bristol City on Tuesday night in an impressive 3-1 rout of the Championship side. Carl Rushworth lined up in goal, and he was supported by a back three of Adam Jackson, Paudie O’Connor and Joe Walsh, who was rested for this fixture. Regan Poole continued as a wing back, while Jamie Robson got another chance to impress in league action. Max Sanders and Matty Virtue anchored the midfield, while Charles Vernam and the returning Jack Diamond supported Ben House in attack. The Plymouth team news saw two returning Imps. James Wilson started in the centre of their back three, while Morgan Whittaker was starting in attack.
We started the game the strong of the two sides, we looked to get on the front foot and out of possession we worked hard to stop them playing out. Our press was working, and we started to recycle the ball regularly after balls into the channels from the Plymouth centre-halfs. Our wingers and House pushed onto their centre-halfs and our wingbacks pushed onto their wingbacks, leaving them to play long and Jackson, Walsh and O’Connor had the better of their front three in the air, and when they did win the ball ahead of our centre-halfs, it was more often than not recycled by Sanders and Virtue. For a young and relatively inexperienced manager, it was a brilliant tactical plan and one that should have won us the game.
However, in classic Lincoln City style we conceded after dominating the first half an hour. Poole lost Bali Mumba, who can I just say was one of the only Plymouth players I was really impressed with, and he drove into the box and put a decent ball in, after a few attempted clearances, it fell to Adam Randell, who fired it home with a first time shot. It was unlucky and we really should have been ahead at this point, but the main thing was to get our heads up and go again.
We did just that and Vernam was at the centre of it from the left-hand side. Just before half-time Vernam found himself through on goal after a miss communication in the Plymouth defence, but his shot was saved and put out for a corner. The ex-Bradford City man whipped the ball in, and it went through everyone to the back post, where Sanders provided an excellent finishing touch to level the game just before the interval.
Going into half-time everyone in the ground was buzzing (except the ones who left for food early and the Plymouth fans obviously!). It was a good feeling, and many felt we could go on and win the game and I was included in that. We were nullifying our opposition and they were struggling to contain us.
We should have won the game with our performance in the second half too. I half expected Plymouth to batter us and just get the job done, especially after they emerged five minutes early for the second half but they did the complete opposite. They gave us a tough game, but just couldn’t threaten our goal and that showed in the second half, with us controlling the ball.
A goal line scramble should have seen us take the lead, with a number of shots cleared off the line and blocked after House’s initial effort. It was one of them days for us in front of goal, but we battered Plymouth and that isn’t a fluke or something to ignore. We have now taken points from every team in the top three, that is incredible at this point in the season and if we can start picking up more points against sides in the lower half, we might be challenging for, dare I say, a play-off spot.
Robson really impressed me on the left-hand side. I said a few weeks ago that he will struggle to get his regular starting spot back due to Sean Roughan but he has certainly proved me wrong with a string of strong performances. He is a more attacking option in the five and he is improving every time we see him. The competition looks really strong for that left-back or wingback spot and long may it continue, we need players that can come in for others and that area looks very good at the moment. Max Sanders potentially played his best game in a City shirt and got his first league goal as a reward. I said last season so many times that he should be starting and now he is getting that opportunity, it is almost impossible to see why Michael Appleton didn’t like him.
It is fair to say that Morgan Whittaker didn’t enjoy his trip back to Sincil Bank, I like Morgan and I think what he did for us was underrated by many, but he didn’t help himself with that dive late on, but I do really rate him, and I believe he will be a top footballer, but after Saturday, I think he is still trying to get himself out of Adam Jackson’s pocket! Obviously, the last part is a joke and I do understand why some fans aren’t fond of him, but for me he helped us stay up and I respect that.
We now go into a big game against Morecambe on Saturday, and weirdly I am more anxious about that than I was going into the Plymouth game but let’s be positive going into that one. Up The Imps!