Shaw’s Unbeaten Run Continues – Exeter 1-1 Imps

City picked up a point away to Exeter City yesterday to extend Tom Shaw’s unbeaten run as City boss.

Shaw named an unnamed side from our 3-1 victory over Charlton Athletic on Tuesday night. Lukas Jensen started in goal, ahead of Alex Mitchell, Adam Jackson and Paudie O’Connor, while Sean Roughan and Jack Burroughs provided the width. Ethan Hamilton and Ethan Erhahon retained their places in the middle, while Lasse Sorensen and Ali Smith started in the front three, with Hakeeb Adelakun. There was some good news on the bench for the Imps as Ted Bishop returned to the fold after missing Tuesday night.

Exeter came into the game in a really bad patch of form, while Gary Caldwell has had the fans on his back for a few weeks but they are a good side and St. James Park is a tough place to go to and pick up a simple three points. They had a really good start to the season, and they have some handy players. Demetri Mitchell is a player that I’d love to have here, while James Scott has the potential to be a top forward in this division.

When you get into a bad run – it’s hard to get out of it and that was evident as soon as they game kicked off. We started on the front foot and Exeter looked scared of coming anywhere near us. Hamilton tested Vil Sinisalo with the first shot of the game just four minutes in, but the midfielder had his attempt saved easily. Haks was looking dangerous and picked up from where he left off on Tuesday night. He found himself in some good space within the opening ten minutes, striking from range but his effort was pushed past the post.

Our early pressure paid off as we got ourselves an opener within the first 20 minutes. The long throw from Haks hasn’t been taken advantage of enough under the management of Mark Kennedy but we’ve used it to good effect under Shaw in the last three games. We caused issues in the box, and O’Connor kept the ball alive. The skippers left footed delivery found Ali inside the area, and he smashed it into the roof of the net from a few yards out for his first City goal.

Lasse continued in the right wing role that we were shocked to see him start in mid-week – he was once again causing problems. It’s worth noting though, that his threat was nullified well by Alan Hartridge on the left hand side. When watching games, I normally notice a few opposition players that impress me, and Hartridge looked really good on the left hand side. It’s a big challenge to keep Lasse fairly quiet throughout a game, and I thought he was excellent.

Our final chance in the half came with a quick counter attack following an Exeter set-piece. Lukas collected the ball and distributed quickly over the half-way line to Haks. The 27-year-old tried to find the runs of Lasse and Roughan at the far post but his cross was blocked and went out for a corner. Exeter enjoyed the better of the first-half in the last few minutes, as the Imps had a close shave at the back when Admiral Muskwe found himself through on goal and well beyond Paudie. Luckily for City, he put his effort past the post.

We went into the half-time break, one goal to the good. Although it was a positive performance by Shaw’s side, you couldn’t help but feel we needed a second goal to see out the game, and not have a repeat of the results at Northampton and Bristol Rovers.

The Imps started the second half well, with early pressure on the Exeter goal, although we couldn’t trouble Sinisalo in net. Caldwell made a triple change on the 60th minute mark, and it sparked a change in the game. The Grecians started to control possession, create chances and put pressure on the Imps. City switched to a counter attacking game, looking to hurt the opposition on the break, but it was clear that the effort put into Tuesday night was affecting the players.

Lasse and Ali have worked incredibly hard over the past week, and looked to be struggling the most, as was Haks. Jack Vale came on for his second City appearance, replacing Haks as the vocal point. The loanee striker was straight into the action, creating a chance for City to increase their advantage. Lukas made a strong claim from a corner, before bowling the ball out to Vale on the right hand side. The striker raced down the line before realising the ball to Ali. The goalscorer found Roughan with a neat pass and from just a few yards out, the Irishman smashed his shot against the crossbar.

City wasted a massive chance to secure three points, and just under ten minutes later, it came back to hurt us. Mitchell looked dangerous down the right for the hosts, and got the better of Roughan. His ball into the box was a dangerous one, and landed on the head of midfielder Ryan Trevitt. It could’ve been easily defended in the middle, but no one picked up his late run, leaving him with a free header. Exeter were good value for the goal, but it came just minutes after we wasted a great chance to extend our advantage.

We looked tired late on, and settled for the point with Exeter pushing for a winner. That being said though, Lasse had the last big chance of the game but the Dane’s shot went a few inches over the bar in stoppage time.

Just two weeks ago, we came away from a defeat against Burton wondering if this squad was strong enough to bounce back. I never had any doubts over the players, but following the game we made the right change and the mentality shift we’ve seen under Tom Shaw is really positive. The players look to be enjoying their football again, we are seeing the form we know they are all capable of. Seven points from nine is really positive, and there is no reason why we can’t go and have a real go against Oxford on Tuesday night at Sincil Bank.

The table sees us in eighth with a game in hand to play on Tuesday. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I firmly believe this squad is good enough to achieve special things this season. We have talent in all areas and once we get players back from injury in the next few weeks and months, we are going to be even stronger. On January 1st, Jack Moylan will join the Imps and we hope Tyler Walker and Reeco Hackett will be back in the fold by then, with Ben House not too far away. If we stay in touch with the playoff positions and keep on picking up results like we’ve done in the past few weeks, we could have something to celebrate at the end of the season.