Reason for Optimism – Imps 1-0 Shrewsbury

The Imps played their final game of the 22/23 yesterday and ended a positive campaign with three points against Shrewsbury.

Mark Kennedy made two changes to the City side that lost to Morecambe last weekend. Carl Rushworth remained in goal, starting his last game for the Imps. Regan Poole captained the side alongside Paudie O’Connor and Sean Roughan, who replaced Adam Jackson in the team. Harry Boyes started the last game of his loan spell at left wing-back with Lasse Sorensen on the other side. Ethan Erhahon partnered Matty Virtue in midfield, while Dylan Duffy came into the attack for the injured Danny Mandroiu, alongside Ben House and Mide Shodipo.

I will get a piece on Adam Jackson’s new contract out later today, I couldn’t cover it yesterday as I arrived at the ground earlier than usual for something, which you’ll see over the next few days. As I arrived at the ground the pre-match atmosphere was different. There was obviously a sense of ‘this game doesn’t matter’ but people were happy, the opposite of this time last season. The fanbase was split with the Michael Appleton In or Out saga last season but this year, everyone felt united and I personally think everyone has to be pleased with how we’ve done this season.

I’m not going to give you a massive debrief on the game because it didn’t mean anything in terms of play-offs or relegation but it did mean we finished eleventh, which is a massive achievement. “We look to be around two or three signings away from finishing 14th in my opinion, which would be a good season for the club after the struggle last season under MA.” That is a quote taken from an article I did on the 14th of July 2022. If you follow the site you know I’m very optimistic so me saying 14th with that optimism shows just how well we’ve done this season, Mark has done a fantastic job of making us hard to beat and in the last few months adding some attacking flair to our game. We’ve had some big wins against the likes of Plymouth and Ipswich, but also some good draws too against the likes of Bolton and Derby. I’m not going to hide away from the bad moments, there have been times when reactionary members of the fanbase have wanted Kennedy out, such as Chippenham away, but the positives really outweigh the negatives by a country mile, so if you think Kennedy isn’t good enough or this hasn’t been a good season, then you need to lower your expectations.

One thing I do want to mention before I get talking about the match itself is Shrewsbury and Steve Cotterill, pre-match they oozed class. Every year we remember the victims of the Bradford Fire Disaster and their players turned towards the Stacey West end, which showed a huge amount of respect. I thought that deserved a mention because they didn’t have to do that, but the way they represented their club and their fans was exactly what I’d want to see from our staff and players too.

So moving on to the game, it was nice to be relaxed at a game, the most excitement I had in the first half was seeing that MK Dons were on their way down to League Two, and while I have the same opinion of them as everyone else, going away to MK Dons this season watching a 0-0 draw in the cold made me dislike them even more. We didn’t have to worry about relegation though, but there was a decent game on our hands, Shrewsbury dominated the early periods and you can see they are a decent side. I recall them hitting the bar early on and I was impressed with Rob Street for them on loan from Crystal Palace, he was causing Paudie some serious problems, something which hasn’t been easy for attackers this season.

We didn’t have any real chances on goal. We played some good football at times but it just felt like a few players were taking an extra touch or two to give themselves a chance of a goal or an assist. We weren’t poor, we just lacked any sort of drive to take the game by the scruff of the neck. We got to half-time with the score at 0-0 and if it was to finish like that, I think it would be fair on both teams with how the season has gone for both. We have had very similar campaigns and there probably isn’t much to separate us on paper in terms of quality.

Jackson came off at half-time, in what was probably a pre-cautionary change and was replaced by Sean Roughan, who slotted into the back three on the left. I see a real future for Sean in that position if we get him on a new contract for next season, I think he really suits that role with a proper attacking wing-back ahead of him, and if we can get Boyes back on loan next season, I think that defensive left side would be sorted.

Shrewsbury came out with complete control of the game in the second half once again but the game turned in favour of the Imps around the 60th minute, all thanks to a change from Mark Kennedy. Shodipo came off the field, hopefully not the last time in an Imps shirt, and was replaced by Max Sanders as we switched to a 3-5-2, which massively changed our fortunes.

I’m still not sure whether we will see Sanders next season, but the impact he had on the game will have helped his chances of being an Imps player next season you’d think. He gained us some control on the proceedings and we started to look more dangerous. Virtue took on a dangerous strike, and it really seemed to change the game in our favour. Virtue was once again at the centre of things and got his rewards a few minutes after his first strike. A long throw from Roughan caused problems and it found Virtue who smashed the ball past Marko Marosi in the Shrewsbury net to give the Imps a 1-0 lead.

I didn’t feel like we’d go on to do anything but win the game from that point onwards. Jovon Makama deserves a mention, he came on earlier than he has before in the league I think and he had a great cameo I thought. He stole the ball back a few times and he looks really strong for someone of his age, he is clearly rated by Mark and I think he could have a big future with us. We did have a chance to make it two when Ben House was brought down in the box drawing a red card.

Sanders and Boyes played rock paper scissors for the penalty, with the former clearly winning and getting the spot-kick. Unfortunately for Max, he failed to tuck away the penalty but it didn’t matter we had three points and we secured a top-half finish in the league. I’ve already said it but achieving eleventh is a massive achievement, many expected us to struggle. I had us to finish 14th (very optimistic at the time), I think Gary from The Stacey West had us no higher than 16th/17th and then other non-Lincoln-based pundits had us finishing in and around the bottom four. You can’t blame them, the evidence was there, a young squad with an inexperienced rookie manager, it could have easily gone wrong, but it didn’t. We now look to next season and there is so much reason for optimism.

Next season we have a core to build on, a spine in our team. There is real reason for positivity and with some shrewd business in the summer I think we could bridge the gap between us and the teams near the Play-offs, but from experience, I certainly won’t be saying we are going to get play-offs (even if we sign the best players in the league) I’ll leave them predictions to Cornell!

If you want to stop reading now I’d understand but I have to do the classic end-of-season thank you now. Firstly I’d like to thank everyone that helps out with the site, while I’m the only writer there is so many people that give me advice and just praise certain things I’m doing. I’d also like to thank all the players, it was humbling to learn that a few of the players have read the content (I won’t name them on here just out of respect), but when I started this I didn’t expect that the players would even know about the site, let alone go onto it. One of the biggest thanks I have to give is to Bubs, who takes all the photos on the site. His photos add so much to the site, and without his photos, none of this would be possible. Last but not least, thank you to everyone that continues to read the stuff I write on the site, I really enjoy engaging with people who read and it’s down to you people that I’m still doing this so thank you so much.

This is obviously the last match review of the season, but there is so much more to come. Watch out for our season review, and our AllLincoln awards which will hit the site in the next few days I’m hoping. Thank you once again, up the Imps.