A New Era Begins – Stevenage 1-0 Imps

The Imps fell to defeat on Saturday away from home against Stevenage, with a second half goal handing the hosts all three points.

Michael Skubala named his first team sheet, after being named as Imps boss and sticked with the back five system we’ve been using under Mark Kennedy in the last 18 months. Lukas Jensen kept his place in goal, while TJ Eyoma, Alex Mitchell and Adam Jackson started as the three centre-halves. Lasse Sorensen and Jack Burroughs kept their places as wing-backs, as did Ethan Erhahon and Ethan Hamilton in midfield. Jack Vale started after being restricted to a substitute appearance against Port Vale, and he was supported in attack by Ali Smith and Danny Mandroiu. 

One of the biggest surprises was Dylan Duffy dropping to the bench after back-to-back man-of-the-match performances against Notts County and Port Vale. The Irishman will be frustrated he didn’t keep his place, but it’s understandable in the context of the game. Steve Evans’ sides are never easy to beat for a few reasons – hard work, physicality and a direct style of play. Skubala would have done his homework on Stevenage and known this, so I don’t think it was too much of a surprise to see Duffy drop to the bench. 

I think much of the frustration yesterday came because we lost to Stevenage. Many fans will consider Stevenage away as a winnable game, but it’s actually a very tough place to go, especially with how they are playing at the moment. Stevenage are 4th in the division after they beat us yesterday, say what you like about Evans but he has certainly got that side playing and he deserves some credit for that. If we lost in that fashion away at Portsmouth or Oxford, may would consider it a battling performance away at a tough side. In my opinion, that’s how yesterday could and maybe should be viewed. I understand the frustration with the second half performance, especially after the positive signs shown in the first half, but many teams will go to Stevenage this season and lose, so it was always unlikely we’d go to the Lamex with a new manager, who has just had four days in charge, and get a good result.

I think it’s important to concentrate on the positives before looking at the negatives. I think in the first half we matched Stevenage and we were comfortably the better side. Defensively we looked solid, and we dominated in the midfield areas. It’s clear to see what Skubala has been working on during the week, we looked comfortable on the ball and by looking at the possession stats, it’s obvious what direction we will be going in over the next few weeks.

We lacked the final edge in the first half and as the old saying goes, you have to take your chances when you are on top and we didn’t do that. There were a few nice moves of note, Vale managed to get a shot away after turning the defender, but in terms of shots on target, we struggled. Stevenage are a tough side to break down, and that showed. We limited to Stevenage to very little throughout the first 45 minutes. It was a positive first half of the Skubala era, and it showed the fans what we’d be expecting throughout his time at the club. 

Another positive that I think is worth a mention is TJ Eyoma, especially after a few tough months for the defender. I was very much under the impression that he started the season well, but an error at Northampton, which cost a goal, really cost him a place in the starting eleven. He’s not really been given the chance to regain that spot in the team, until recently and he’s really taken that opportunity. On Saturday I feel we saw the Eyoma that we thought we signed. Unfortunately for whatever reason, we haven’t seen that player many times since he resigned following his initial loan spell. He put his body on the line multiple times and cleared the ball off the goal line a few times too, and although that is what defenders are noticed for, I was also really impressed with his quality in possession.

The reaction after full time on Saturday surprised me because if you flip around the performance, you’d get a completely different set of opinions. If we had a poor first-half and conceded but then impressed second half you’d get positive comments. I do understand why fans were frustrated with the second half performance but at the moment, Stevenage are in a better place than us so we can’t have too many complaints. 

It’s something we always keep coming back to, but the injury situation is making life tough for us. We lacked the final pass on Saturday in the first-half, but imagine that level of domination in the defensive and midfield areas with Tyler Walker, Ben House and Reeco Hackett available in attack, not forgetting Ted Bishop too. I think it would look so much different. We also missed our captain in Paudie O’Connor, which totals to 5 players missing and all of them are key players for us.

Evans made some clever changes at half-time, which didn’t make it easy for us and looking at our bench we didn’t have the options to do the same. It’s just the reality of the situation for us at the moment. Once Skubala has had a few games, he’ll know the players inside out and be able to impact games like Evans did. 

A new head coach won’t be able to change everything in a week – he won’t be able to change everything in six months but what we have to do is support him in these first few weeks, because there just isn’t the time for him to change too much with the amount of games being played. I personally liked what I saw on Saturday in the first-half, it’s frustrating we couldn’t get a result but I think it’s a big step when looking at the bigger picture.

I’m looking forward to watching us against Leyton Orient on Tuesday night, because I’m sure that first win for Skubala will come soon.