The Imps picked up another three points yesterday afternoon at Sincil Bank to extend our unbeaten run to 5 games.
Mark Kennedy made just the one change to the team that battled hard to three points against Shrewsbury last weekend. Lukas Jensen started in goal behind a back five of Lasse Sorensen, Adam Jackson, Paudie O’Connor, Sean Roughan and Jack Burroughs, who stayed in the team ahead of Jaden Brown. Ethan Hamilton and Ethan Erhahon remained as the midfield duo, while Danny Mandroiu and Reeco Hackett started out wide. Ben House was the only change from the Shrewsbury game, replacing Tyler Walker, who dropped to the bench.
The bench was once again strong, with TJ Eyoma missing out completely. Ted Bishop remained amongst the subs despite his impressive form and cameos from the bench. I think lots of people were confident pre-match, we are in a good place at the moment. We’re in good form, with a strong squad behind us, and despite Blackpool coming into town, there were so many reasons to be optimistic.
The opening few minutes saw quite an open affair. Hackett moved the ball nicely in the middle to move away from a Blackpool defender before finding Sorensen, with the latter having a shot blocked. The visitors had the better chances early on though, former Mansfield Town man CJ Hamilton was impressing and causing plenty of problems for Burroughs on the right-wing. Hamilton’s cross couldn’t find Shane Lavery, with the latter mistiming his run slightly, but it did find ex-Imp Callum Connolly, who fired over the bar.
The second big chance of the game came for City. A nicely executed press saw the Imps win back the ball initially with Erhahon. The Scotsman played the ball to Mandroiu, who found a pass into House in the penalty area. House drove into the box towards the byline, with Hackett waiting for a simple tap in. Before House could release the ball, Marvin Ekpiteta went through the striker leaving the referee with no choice but to award the penalty.
Mandroiu stepped up to take the penalty as usual and the Irishman made no mistake from the spot and fired home the spot-kick down the middle past Daniel Grimshaw. Blackpool looked to get back in the game quickly, and their next chance came from a set-piece, with Ekpiteta looking to redeem himself but his header looped over the crossbar and out for a goal kick.
Neil Critchley made an early change for Blackpool, bringing on new recruit Jordan Rhodes for Lavery. The new signing nearly had a debut goal too, Hamilton was once again causing problems for Burroughs down the right and found Rhodes with a smart pass after driving infield. Rhodes was in behind City, but Jensen pulled off a massive save, although Hamilton fired over the rebound, which he really should have done better with.
City soon alleviated with a second goal. It started with Jensen in the City net, who found Roughan on the left side of the back three. Roughan found Mandroiu in the central midfield, with the winger having dropped deep to receive the ball. Mandroiu executed a lovely flick to Erhahon. The midfielder drove forward towards the edge of the box before firing towards goal. His shot deflected slightly against Ekpiteta, who had endured a nightmare first half, and over Grimshaw for his first Imps goal.
Although we managed the final few minutes of the first half well, we were leading by two goals in a game where we hadn’t been that much better than the opposition. If we went in at 1-0 or 1-1, I wouldn’t have complained, but to go in to the half time break two goals to the good was exceptional, when you could have argued we deserved to be level or even losing based on chances created. The Blackpool fans weren’t happy, I can see why with the scoreline but they were better than Wycombe in that first half and we went into the break locked at 0-0 with the Chairboys a few weeks ago.
Blackpool made three changes at the break – Jake Beesley, Marvin Ekpiteta and Kenny Dougall were replaced by Owen Dale, Andy Lyons and Sonny Carey – as they looked to get back in the game. The change saw Blackpool operate with a few more attacking players on the field and Dale in particular was one that could’ve caused us problems. Blackpool had the better of the chances in the opening few minutes of the second period; Carey got to the byline with ease before pulling back to Hamilton, who should’ve done better with his strike that went over the bar.
City nearly got themselves a third goal against the run of play. Mandroiu put in a dangerous ball towards Hackett, but the former Portsmouth couldn’t quite connect with the ball for a simple tap in. We may have been left rueing this chance as Blackpool looked to get back in the game, Carey impressed me in the second half and he looked dangerous around the City box but his strike was low and easy for Jensen to save.
We’ve found ourselves talking about substitutes changing games – and again they had that same affect again yesterday. Mark brought on Bishop and Walker for Mandroiu, who is still nursing his broken toe, and Hackett. We changed into a more compact 3-5-2, with Bishop joining Hamilton and Erhahon in midfield and Walker forming a partnership up front with House.
It didn’t take long for Bishop to have an impact but it was Walker who played a crucial part in the build-up to the third goal. It was his flick-on that found House and put him through on goal, although his shot was saved, he was fouled as he attempted to put the rebound in the net. It also brought a second yellow to Ollie Norbun after receiving his first just a few minutes before. Both Bishop and Walker wanted the penalty, I was certain it would be Walker that stepped up but it was Bishop. The former Ipswich man confidently put the penalty away to make the game a non contest and give us our second home win of the season in as many games.
I felt for Walker at the time. I imagined he would’ve been our second choice penalty taker after Mandroiu and Mark did confirm post-match that Walker had been practising his penalties in training. Walker looked down afterwards but he’ll get over it because they’ll be plenty of opportunities to get off the mark over the next few weeks, but I can understand why he looked so frustrated that Bishop took that one yesterday.
We managed the game really well from that point onwards, and while I’ll try and not get too ahead of myself, I thought we managed the game in a similar way to what we used to do under Michael Appleton in the playoff final season. Another positive I have to mention is Roughan, he dealt with Rhodes yesterday with relative ease. Don’t forget Roughan is 20, and Rhodes has over 200 senior goals, it’s impressive and we shouldn’t look past it. He’s a massive asset for us, and we’ll struggle to keep hold of him for more than 12 months.
Ethan Hamilton had an excellent game as well, Erhahon will get all the plaudits for his goal and overall performance (rightly so) but I thought Hamilton complimented him really well all afternoon and that midfield partnership has the potential to be one of the best in the division. Having a good midfield is the key to success, we had it in 20/21 and all the teams that have gone up in the last few seasons have had quality midfielders playing week in, week out. Erhahon and Hamilton offer us that quality, and that’s made even better with players like Ali Smith and Bishop ready to come in and challenge for a starting spot.
The whole team impressed me. The defence was solid, as well as Jensen. The midfield controlled the game and the attack showed quality throughout the games. At the end of the day, Blackpool came to Sincil Bank yesterday unbeaten so far in the league and with no goals conceded. They left raging at their management staff and wounded by the Imps. I’m not getting ahead of myself but people will be surprised with us this season, I’ve known that since day one, and hopefully this group of not just great players but great people can go and make history this season.
AllLincoln MOTM: Ethan Erhahon.