The Imps picked up an excellent away win on Tuesday night at the Abbey Stadium against Cambridge United.
Michael Skubala was forced into a few changes from Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Barnsley at Sincil Bank. Lukas Jensen started in goal, while the back three of Alex Mitchell, Adam Jackson and TJ Eyoma all kept their places despite Paudie O’Connor returning from suspension. Jack Burroughs shifted onto the right side, with Dylan Duffy coming in on the left in place of the injured Lasse Sorensen. Ethan Hamilton returned in midfield after his suspension to play alongside Ethan Erhahon. Danny Mandroiu and Jovon Makama kept their places in attack as did Ali Smith. Ted Bishop missed out on squad – another player missing with injury.
The first ten minutes was really open. Cambridge were getting down the wings well, and putting some dangerous balls into the box. Jensen was doing well in the air though – making plenty of claims from Danny Andrew in particular. We were moving forward well, using Duffy as our main attacking outlet out on the left hand side and it was the birthday boy who had City’s first real chance of the game. Smith did some good work down the right hand side, before putting a pinpoint cross into the box that found Duffy. The Irishman’s volley went straight at the keeper before the rebound chance was cleared by Cambridge.
The next big action came for Cambridge. Gassan Ahadme had a penalty shout for the hosts after pressing a back pass on Jensen. The Imps goalkeeper took a swing, but crucially didn’t make contact with the U’s striker although he did try and convince the referee, David Rock, with a dive.
Just a few minutes later, we went up the pitch and took the lead. The build-up play was a sign of things to come under Skubala, a nice sweeping move on the left hand side between Mandroiu and Duffy led to the second Imps penalty in as many games. It was an excellent ball from Mandroiu that unlocked the Cambridge defence, which left Michael Morrison with no choice but to take down Duffy in the box. Unlike Cambridge’s penalty shout, this was a stonewall decision and one that left Rock with no choice but to point to the spot.
Mandroiu stuck the penalty away with real composure and wheeled away celebrating in front of the Cambridge home support. It was a big moment in the game, that turned it in our favour because from that minute onwards we had full control. We pushed for a second, and looked to be playing with real confidence. Something we’ve seen so far under Skubala is that we look to retain the ball and build up the pitch, and we kept seeing that last night – especially in the first half. Eyoma, Jackson and Mitchell were defensively solid and were equally as impressive with the ball at their feet, helping us move forward. Duffy was causing problems up the pitch, but also dealt with the threat of Elias Kachunga as well.
Our second came from a corner, and it was Duffy that found himself on the scoresheet. After the delivery from Mandroiu was cleared to the edge of the box, the ball fell to Duffy, who unleashed his effort towards goal. The ball travelled all the way through the box before the keeper fumbled the ball into the net. The Irishman deserved his goal and remarkably became the 18th player to score for the Imps this season. Duffy almost made it three with a curling effort from the edge of the area, but this time it was parried by Jack Stevens. We didn’t get a third before the half-time break, that brought boos from the home support after a poor first half from the hosts at the Abbey Stadium.
Skubala turned to his bench at half-time, Hakeeb Adelakun was introduced in place of Smith, and the second half started with full Imps control. Not many chances were created, but there were large periods of Imps possession, with Cambridge weirdly not putting any pressure on us at all.
Makama, delivering yet another composed display up front for City, had a great opportunity to extend our lead to three. He was given a big challenge by starting the game, coming up against two top quality central defenders throughout the evening, notably one with experience in the Premier League. The chance came from nothing, Makama used his physical prowess, out powering one defender, before skilfully maneuvering past the other but he failed to find the net with his shot ending up over the bar.
Cambridge then had their inevitable spell in the game from around the 60th minute and although the hosts had lots of the ball there were only a few half chances of note. With 15 minutes to go, we made some wholesale changes at the back. O’Connor came on at the back alongside Mitchell and Jackson, with Eyoma moving out to right wing-back. Burroughs moved onto the left hand side, with Duffy replaced by Jaden Brown in the 64th minute. Jack Vale also replaced Makama up front.
Vale may have become the quickest Imps substitute to ever receive a yellow card after coming on – picking up a booking just a minute after being introduced. Cambridge had two big chances, with Jensen equally to both and after that the home side looked like beaten with no chance of getting back in to the game. We emphasised with five minutes to go by adding a third. Adelakun whipped in a dangerous ball at the near post, which was met by a O’Connor flick on that hit the post. Vale was the quickest to react to the second ball and forced home his first League One goal for the Imps.
The third wrapped up a perfect away win for City. Three goals, three points and three games unbeaten. It’s looking positive for us at the moment. Great performances all round – TJ continues to look like his old self, while Erhahon and Hamilton are back to looking like the best midfield pairing in the league; Makama and Duffy have come into the spotlight, and Mandroiu looks back to his best.
We now have ten days off from league action, with a BSM Trophy tie next Tuesday, which gives Skubala a chance to rotate the squad and assess some of the other players. Hopefully we can keep this going and continue our positive run.