Fine Margins – Portsmouth 2-1 Imps

City lost their first league game since the opening day against Bolton Wanderers this afternoon to league leaders, Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Injuries remain the main topic at Sincil Bank, so there wasn’t many questions regarding Mark Kennedy’s team selection. Lukas Jensen started in goal, with a back three off Sean Roughan, Adam Jackson and captain Paudie O’Connor. Jack Burroughs and Lasse Sorensen continued as our regular wing-backs, while both Ethan Erhahon and Ethan Hamilton started in midfield. With our injury struggles in attack, most could’ve predicted the front three Mark named at 2pm. Ted Bishop made his second start of the season alongside Reeco Hackett and Hakeeb Adelakun, who last made a League One start for City against Portsmouth at Fratton Park in 2022.

Alex Mitchell dropped to the bench after seeing a lot of football over the last few weeks, while young striker Jovon Makama came into the League One matchday squad fresh from 90 minutes in the EFL Cup against Derby County on Tuesday.

Pompey looked strong, with John Mousinho starting a young but experienced eleven. Will Norris started in net behind a back four of Joe Rafferty, Conor Shaugnessy, Jack Sparks and former Imps’ captain Regan Poole. The vastly experienced Marlon Pack started in a double midfield pivot with former City loanee and player of the season Joe Morrell with young prospect Alex Robertson playing in the number ten role. In attack, the South Coast based side looked strong, with Abu Kamara and Paddy Lane supporting prolific number nine Colby Bishop. Gavin Whyte, Sean Raggett, Terry Devlin and Tino Anjorin were just some of the names amongst the substitutes for Mousinho’s side. Another former City player, Anthony Scully, was unavailable for the hosts.

Pompey came into the game top of the league and full of confidence, while we came into it licking our wounds after finding out some awful injury news last weekend. It’s been a struggle for Mark Kennedy, but we can’t keep using it as an excuse. We need players that can step up and today, they showed they can do just that. However, there was zero expectation on us, so if we didn’t get a result, but an encouraging performance was needed, and I think we got that today.

The game started with Pompey on the front foot, and City looking to get a foot on the ball. The hosts looked dangerous down both flanks, but it was the Imps that took the lead thanks to a goal from Haks. Our press got us forward with Lasse stealing the ball inside Pompey’s half and handing possession to Reeco. The former Pompey man found a ball through to middle to Haks, who smashed the ball into the top right corner for his first City goal since scoring the winner against Crewe in May 2022.

Pompey hunted an equaliser and were soon back on level terms as they regained possession, due to an error from the man who had been at the heart of our goal just moments before. A poor defensive header from Lasse saw Pompey pick up possession – Alex Robertson slid the ball across the box to Paddy Lane who some space at the far post to squeeze his shot into the bottom right corner and past Lukas.

The hosts were controlling possession, with City struggling to get in the game, but we were defending well with the game suiting the styles of both Jacko and Paudie at the back. The game had a similar feel to many last season, with Mark content with the scoreline and the way we were dealing with the opposition’s threat. There weren’t many chances for either side, but City could’ve gone ahead after an impressive long throw from Haks was flicked over the bar by Paudie.

The fourth official held up four additional minutes at the end of the first half, and that allowed Pompey time to get the goal to put them into the lead. It was once again a set piece that was City’s downfall – something that is becoming a theme this season – and similarly to last weekend, a former player scored for the opposition. This time it was Regan, who headed home just before the break. He didn’t celebrate, as I expected he wouldn’t. Fair play to our former captain, but it’s no surprise as he was always a class act.

Set pieces do look like they are becoming a problem though. Off the top of my head, we have already conceded five this season (2 at Bolton, 1 at Northampton, 1 against Carlisle and 1 yesterday), and it’s certainly something we need to address. It is an odd trend though, we were one of the best at defending set pieces in the division last year and over the summer we added plenty of height to our side, so I imagine it’s left our management team quite bewildered at the goals we’ve scored.

Despite being value for going into the break level, we needed to be more brave in the second half if we were going to come away with a result. I didn’t full expect us to do it, but there was a big shift in mentality as we came out in the second half. We wanted an equaliser and we gave Pompey some real problems.

We almost equalised shortly after the half-time as Erhahon played a really smart pace into the feet of Burroughs. The wing-back cut in from the left and sent a low effort which just curled just wide of Norris’ far post, with the former Cambridge keeper rooted to the spot. Although Pompey came forward and threatened City’s defensive unit, we had a few chances to go level at Fratton Park. Hamilton had an effort inside the area, which he would’ve wanted to hit better, while Ted blazed over from range.

Pompey could’ve very easily wrapped up the game though. Pack’s ball in was half dealt with by Reeco, but his clearance ricocheted back to the midfielder, but his effort was poor and flew over the top of Lukas’ goal. The second half flew by quickly, as City searched for an equaliser and we soon found ourselves trailing going into 8 minutes of stoppage time.

Mark had opted to go to the bench earlier in the half, with Dylan Duffy, Makama and Ali Smith going into attack replacing Ted, Haks and Reeco. Duffy caused a few problems, but we lacked real quality in the final third as we searched for an all important equaliser. A goal for the Imps nearly came though, a ball whipped in by Lasse found Paudie in the box. The skipper’s header was saved by Norris but the rebound fell to Jacko, although his shot bounced into the ground and over the bar, ending City’s chances of coming away with at least a point.

The final whistle went, and although there was frustration for not taking a chance to equalise in the second half, there was no anger from the City fans as our injury-stricken squad put maximum effort in and battled right until the very end. We gave top of the league Portsmouth a really tough game, without our two main strikers and main attacking threat. The next few weeks will be tough, but if we continue in that vein, we’ll be just fine.

Let’s move onto West Ham on Wednesday, in front of a packed out Sincil Bank. I can’t wait, and I’m sure you can’t either!

The AllLincoln MOTM: Hakeeb Adelakun.

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