On the 17th of July 2021, we lost 5-0 away to Boston United in pre-season and although results aren’t the most important part of the preparation leading up to the season, it certainly left the fanbase worried. Fast forward two years, we’ve beaten Boston 7-0 and everyone is delighted with the result and the performance of the team, and the feeling is different amongst the fans.
It feels really different this season. Honestly, if the Bolton away was to come around tomorrow, I wouldn’t feel worried about the team at all. The team that started saw Lukas Jensen in goal behind a back five of Lasse Sorensen, TJ Eyoma, Paudie O’Connor, Sean Roughan and new signing Jaden Brown. The two-man midfield consisted of another new signing Alistair Smith alongside midfield stalwart Ethan Erhahon. Reeco Hackett started on the wing, continuing to stake his claim for a starting spot going into the first competitive games of the season, alongside Danny Mandroiu and Ben House. I would start that team at Bolton, with one change, which would be bringing Adam Jackson in for TJ but my point is when was the last time we had a team of 11 permanent players that you could start the league campaign with ready by the middle of July? I can’t remember but not for a very long time. Yes, we need a few more signings to bulk up the squad, but I wouldn’t have expected us to be at this point already.
The big news from the week was Tyler Walker signing, but as I expected he wasn’t included in the squad. It’s very understandable, he’s a few weeks behind the rest of the squad and we can’t rush him into match action too soon. The only other player that was missing was Hakeeb Adelakun, who is clearly not in Mark’s plans going forward. I like Haks and I really want him to do well, but a poor spell at Gillingham, who finished in the lower half of League Two isn’t going to get you into a potential play-off chasing League One side. He’ll almost certainly leave the club, and I think it’s for the best, he needs a fresh start after a pretty torrid time here.
Yesterday had everything apart from the three points to put on the league table. I was at the Kings Lynn friendly as well, but for many people, this was the first chance to see the team this season and the new signings and young players in action. I think everyone ended up leaving happy (unless you got caught in the rain!) and we certainly got our money’s worth with seven Imps goals to drink in!
Danny Mandroiu opened the scoring to add his second goal of pre-season. He looks like he’ll be our main penalty-taker going into next season, having already taken two so far. Unlike the game on Tuesday, he managed to tuck away his effort without needing a rebound and we had our first of the afternoon. The new signings look to be settling in really well, especially Hackett-Fairchild, who looked really sharp and dangerous at times in his sixty minutes on the pitch.
Everyone will talk about the new signings but for me one of the biggest positives was Lasse. The future of the right wing-back spot is interesting, Lasse obviously had an extremely good end to the season in that position and we have Elicha Ahui and Jay Benn also wanting that spot. Keeping Lasse as the starter and keeping one of Elicha or Jay as backup could be seen as a massive risk, on paper you could say we are keeping someone to play out of position and a young lad with next to no experience in League One as our only options. On the other hand, we are keeping someone who made the position his own last season with some unbelievable form and a promising young player ready to challenge him. I lean towards the latter, especially after watching Lasse and Elicha in the two friendlies in the last week. I think they remain our options going into the new campaign.
Lasse played a crucial part in our second goal and Brown’s first goal as an Imp. He played a really nice low ball into the middle of the area from the right-hand side into Brown, who finished clinically into the roof of the net. The third goal came just four minutes after Brown scored, with another new signing getting himself on the scoresheet. House was brought down when he was through on goal, but experienced referee James Bell played an advantage and Hackett took full advantage of that netting his first goal since signing with a clinical finish.
Play then stopped due to the torrential rain and wind, something that is rarely seen in pre-season! We soon got underway again with a break of around 15 minutes. Not much happened in the last third of the first half, and we held our three-goal lead into the half-time break.
We managed to end the game completely within the first 10 minutes of the second half. With no substitutions made at half-time, the game marked the first time in our pre-season preparations that we had not named two separate teams in each half, signalling that things are setting to step up. Mandroiu and Sorensen linked up for the fourth of the afternoon with a devastating counter-attack goal. Then just two minutes later, House finally got his goal for all his hard work thanks to some great play from Hackett, who created the chance all on his own.
We then switched the entire outfield team, subbing on Ahui, Hayden Cann, Jackson, Benn, Oisin Gallagher, Morgan Worsfold-Gregg, Ted Bishop, Dylan Duffy, Charley Kendall and Jovon Makama. Around 15 minutes after the changes, Kendall scored his first of this year’s pre-season and he could’ve had another but he failed to convert a chance after some great work from Makama. As the game came to its inevitable end, we added our seventh of the afternoon with Hayden Cann scoring from Dylan Duffy’s corner.
There were plenty of positives yesterday, and although I’m the first person to not hype up pre-season results, I still think we can learn things from these games and I think we’ve got plenty of reasons to be excited. New signings such as Smith and Hackett starting to impress, young players such as Ahui staking a claim for a first-team place next season and our retained players such as O’Connor, Erhahon and House all part of the spine of the team.
I said it on Tuesday night, I’m looking forward to the season, purely because of the fact it just feels different this season. We feel prepared and I’m looking forward to Bolton away already!