Lincoln City returned to Sincil Bank this afternoon as they looked to bounce back from a defeat to Exeter City last weekend. Mark Kennedy’s side did the opposite though, and failed to bounce back and fell to a three-goal hammering defeat.
There was a singular change to the Imps side from Kennedy. Lasse Sorensen came into the side in place of skipper Regan Poole, with the latter having picked up an injury that shouldn’t keep him out for too long. The rest of the side remained unchanged. Carl Rushworth, who earnt a call-up to the England U21’s squad earlier in the week, kept his place in between the sticks, and he was protected by a back three of Adam Jackson, Lewis Montsma and Paudie O’Connor, who captained the side for the first time. Sean Roughan retained his place, with Sorensen on the other side. Matty Virtue continued his recovery from injury and partnered Ethan Erhahon in midfield. Jack Diamond and Danny Mandroiu kept their places in the side, and looked to support Ben House in attack.
What went wrong yesterday exactly? It’s hard to figure out why we capitulated in the way we did. We started with our usual 3-4-3, which was no surprise and I was expecting us to set up in a way that would nullify the threat Peterborough had in attack but I think we failed to do the basics. I don’t want to get into a full tactical breakdown because the game has gone, but we completely lost our press. Peterborough have struggled against well-structured teams that press well, which is what we base ourselves on but we lost it all. We pressed in the first few minutes and Peterborough managed to beat it, maybe it was a lack of confidence but we had to keep on doing it and apart from a few times, I didn’t see it enough.
It wasn’t just the out-of-possession play that wasn’t there in the first half, we were awful with the ball too. I actually thought we defended our final third quite well for a bit, yes we failed to press from the front, but we weren’t conceding chances and Carl wasn’t having to do much in the game. Our wide players were really annoying me and I feel like I’ve been saying this for a few weeks now. Diamond and Mandroiu have no creativity, no execution and they fail to impact games in a positive way. Mandroiu’s body language was awful all game, people will go all in on Diamond but in his defence, I normally see him trying to run at someone or tracking back. Just look at his performance against Derby, when he was upfront on his own, he at least has an ounce of passion for the badge. Mandroiu looks the complete opposite at the minute, I like the kid but he needs to make better decisions and improve his work rate. I don’t like criticizing players, because I’m aware this is online and there is every chance they see it but I’m pointing out simple things that fans see and things that fans care about.
Mandroiu and Diamond weren’t the only players that weren’t good enough but I thought for the first twenty minutes or so, apart from them two we looked fairly good and we would get a hard-earned point because we normally have a good defensive record. The problems started with the first goal we conceded, a really poor piece of play from Montsma played in Nathanael Ogbeta (who can I just say looks like a real class player), and a smart dummy from Harrison Burrows saw the ball fall to Jonson Clarke-Harris, and we all know what was going to happen once he received the ball ten yards out from goal.
Even after we conceded the goal I thought we might get something, but we fell apart. I know why we fell apart and I think I can pinpoint the main reason. Regan Poole. We lacked our captain and as much as Tom Hopper was our official captain in the first half of the season, it’s always been Regan. He is the real leader, the glue in the team. You can see his passion and his commitment in every part of his game. He has gone under the radar this season because of how good our defence is, but he is still our most crucial player and one we need back quickly, and not just because we are lacking numbers at the back but because of everything I’ve mentioned above.
Luckily, even without the influence of Regan and without Erhahon in midfield after he got taken off, we kept the score down to just the one by half-time. This team is capable of scrapping themselves to a point, so there is always a little bit of hope and I was just hoping we’d get a reaction at the start of the second half.
To be fair to Mark and the lads, we did get a sort of reaction at the start of the second half. We were pushing for an equaliser but in a Lincoln City way. We weren’t putting their goalkeeper under pressure but we were getting more of the ball and looked like we could start creating some chances. The unfortunate thing for us is that we struggle to score goals and we just couldn’t get ourselves a meaningful chance on goal. Luke Plange improved us when we changed shape to a 4-4-2 but even with four attackers on the pitch, we couldn’t give Norris anything to do in the Posh net.
The second goal goes in against the run of the general play and it is game over. We were never going to score one, let alone two. The second was frustrating, I think the deflection is extremely cruel on Jackson but I’d rather it happen in a game when we are awful and deserve to lose rather than a game when we are playing well and leading. That being said, it did kill any chance of us taking anything from the game at all and if you left after that goal, then you didn’t miss much.
We didn’t really have anything on the bench to impact the game either. I’m guessing that Mide Shodipo and Charles Vernam are injured, giving us even more problems, with only the other two to pick from. I can see why you wouldn’t give Dylan Duffy his debut in that situation but honestly, I would have had Max Sanders, Ted Bishop, Jovon Makama and Harry Boyes on in the sixtieth minute, I don’t know for who but the effort that was being put in was not good enough. It was the sort of performance that deserves criticism but it is just one game, so hopefully, it won’t define us.
The third goal was poorly defended but at that point of the game, it means nothing to us whether we lose by two or three goals. The performance remains the same. For me, the only positive from the game was Makama coming on, he tried to put himself about and I think he put in more fight than the rest of them put together. If anyone can come out of this absolute horror show with their head held high, it’s Jovon.
I guess we have to dust ourselves down now and go again. We have a very tough test next week against Fleetwood away from home, with a number of players unavailable due to international duty and injury, especially in the defensive third.