Into The Archives – Max Melbourne Steals the Headlines at Plymouth

Today marked a year since we went down to Plymouth Argyle and came away with an unlikely win in extremely unlikely circumstances. With no game this weekend, I thought I’d head back into the AllLincoln archives and condense my original match report into a nice-sized read for our win at Plymouth a year ago today. It was a day full of drama with Sam Long making his first League start after an injury to Josh Griffiths. January signings John Marquis, Morgan Whittaker, Liam Cullen and Brooke Norton-Cuffy were all in the squad but it was out-of-favour defender Max Melbourne that stole all the headlines.

Imps Lineup: Sam Long, Ted Bishop (Off 83′), Max Melbourne, Regan Poole, Cohen Bramall, Conor McGrandles (c), Lewis Fiorini, Morgan Whittaker, Anthony Scully, Liam Cullen, John Marquis

Imps Bench: Jordan Wright, Jamie Robson, Brooke Norton-Cuffy (On 83′), Max Sanders, Lasse Sorensen, Hakeeb Adelakun.

Redemption Continues – Plymouth 1-2 Imps

On Saturday, the Imps beat play-off-chasing Plymouth Argyle with a dramatic late winner. Michael Appleton made three changes to the side that lost to Cambridge United. Sam Long came in for his league debut. John Marquis also got handed his debut and Max Melbourne came into the side.

This win now makes it three wins in four, and all three of them coming against sides in the top 7. It might only be three games but the performances have been there for at least five or six now, and even when we lost games to the likes of Cambridge we created chances. The new additions have all looked excellent, Whittaker has added so much to the team, and Liam Cullen has looked good and worked his socks off. Yesterday, John Marquis added everything we have been missing so far this season, which has been a striker that can get in at the front post and score.

The midfield looked very good, I did worry that Conor McGrandles would be struggling defensively with only Lewis Fiorini next to him, who is more attack-minded but they both did so well at controlling the majority of the game from the deep areas and I also thought Conor McGrandles led the whole team well too and picked up his customary yellow card in the 95th minute.

The team showed fight and determination, which we have seen for the last month, but finally, the results are coming. Coming to Max Melbourne’s winner, what a moment for a player who in the summer looked to be on his way out for good but had to play some of our opening league games due to injury and despite impressing he was once again told he had no future with the club and was sent out on loan to Stevenage and he even struggled to get in their team but he was once again leaned on by Appleton, with him being recalled just over two weeks ago. The lad has a proper mentality but I don’t see him in Michael’s plans past this season, which will be sad to see, but whoever signs him will get themselves a top player.

As regular readers will know I am a huge fan of Sam Long and the way he goes about his game. On Saturday, it was yet another example of why, he looked mature, and confident and didn’t worry me at all throughout the match. His distribution looks the best I’ve seen from a City goalkeeper for a while, and with him heading out on loan shortly he will have a chance to showcase that to everyone.

The AllLincoln MOTM goes to Sam Long.