City extended their unbeaten run to 11 games on Saturday afternoon with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Barnsley.
Michael Skubala’s was once again forced into a few changes due to injuries to key players. It was revealed during the week that midfielder Conor McGrandles is out for the reason of the season, which is made even worse by Ethan Hamilton also being out for the rest of the campaign. Skubala also told the media on Thursday that Teddy Bishop was a doubt too, and he ended up missing out, leaving us with just one recognised midfielder.
Lukas Jensen started in goal, behind a back three of Sean Roughan, Paudie O’Connor and Adam Jackson. Lasse Sorensen and Reeco Hackett continued as wing-backs, while there was a bit of a shuffle in midfield. Ethan Erhahon and Danny Mandroiu started behind Ben House in the midfield, with the latter playing as a number ten, while Joe Taylor and Freddie Draper were given the task of leading the line.
We came into the game 10 unbeaten, but it wasn’t a game I was confident we’d take anything away from, especially with the midfield we lined up with. That’s no disrespect to the players in there. When McGrandles and Hamilton both got injured I knew we’d massively miss them, but when you add Bishop into that list too, you’ve got an issue – well I thought there’d be an issue.
Mandroiu is a difficult player to talk about when discussing Lincoln City. One day you see someone cut above the rest, and other days you don’t see him offering anything. This year has been really tough for him. The comments made about him by Mark Kennedy can’t have helped and almost turned the fanbase on him, and then the second red card seemed like the beginning of the end. I think the performance we saw on Saturday was the best we’ve seen him play for City, not just his ability but his work rate and attitude too. With the injuries to Hamilton and McGrandles, there will be a lot of game time coming his way, and if he continues to play like that, then a new contract is a no brainer. He was a major positive from the game yesterday, mainly because it feels like we have someone that’s capable of filling in at midfield, which will be crucial from now until the end of the season.
While I’m on the topic of the Irishman, I may as well analyse the first goal. I’ve written lots about Bishop in recent weeks and how important he’s been for us because of passes before the assist and our first goal yesterday was all about the pre-assist from Mandroiu. The ball in behind to Lasse is perfect and really creates the entire goal. We moved really quickly from back-to-front and once the ball found Lasse, he played it across to Taylor to finish for his third goal in five games. This one was actually my favourite goal of the lot. I loved the pass from Mandroiu, but you can’t take anything away form Lasse’s cross and Taylor’s finish – it was a really well worked goal.
I’ve seen Barnsley fans claiming they were awful but I think first-half, they weren’t actually too bad, but we just defended well. They had us under a bit of pressure at times but balls into the box were never going to cause us many issues, especially with the form our defenders are in. Fair play to Barnsley though, they tried in the first-half but nothing ever really came off for them.
Going in at half-time one goal to the good was probably fair though. Barnsley dominated the ball but in terms of goalscoring opportunities, we could’ve had more goals than just the one. Taylor could’ve had a second if it wasn’t for some heroics from the Barnsley keeper, and there were some great balls into the box too.
I actually thought Jensen was the standout performer in the first-half. He dominated his area really well – the best I’ve seen him do that this season. Mitchell, O’Connor and Roughan looked on top of their game too, once again. They’ve been excellent so far this year, and I don’t see Adam Jackson coming back into the team straight away as many would’ve expected when he got injured.
Even in the second-half, it’s obvious they weren’t at their best but we made them look worse because of how well we played. The half started with a change, Draper was replaced by Jack Moylan. I thought Draper had a decent opening 45 in the game, and I think with the way we dominated the second-half, he’d be disappointed he wasn’t on the pitch to get his first goal since returning from Walsall in January.
Moylan’s second half is just a taste of what he’s capable of. When you look at what he did for Shelbourne, you can just tell there is potential but he’s not the finished article. That’s our model although a lot of the players we’ve sold have been defenders. Moylan is an attacker and he’s the sort of player that will fetch big money. We’ve seen Peterborough do it with Ivan Toney, Dwight Gayle and most recently Epron Mason-Clark. It’s the forward players that make you money, and Moylan is the sort of player that could develop into an exceptional player.
He showed glimpses of becoming that exceptional player on Saturday. His first goal was my personal favourite from the game. We pressed in numbers and then broke quickly after winning it back. Moylan then danced his way through 2 or 3 Barnsley defenders, before applying a really smart finish past the goalkeeper. He signed back in September, but that moment felt like the moment he truly arrived in a City shirt.
Another goal came so quickly after the second. Once again, we won it back – this time through House. City’s number 18 robbed the defender before playing the ball into Taylor. His back heel found Mandroiu, who took the ball into his grasp, running past a few defenders, before firing home for his first goal since November.
Barnsley simply couldn’t handle the pressure we were putting on them and it didn’t take long for us to get our fourth of the afternoon. A set-piece was cleared by Barnsley, but we won the second ball from around 30 yards out. Moylan took a touch before firing an effort into the bottom corner. It was four and we were in absolute dreamland.
Despite City being four goals up, there was still plenty of action left in the game. Barnsley did end up getting a goal back – a rather soft one too. A ball off the right wing was poor but it was recycled down in the left corner after the ball was robbed off Lasse. It could’ve been a foul, but with that sort of scoreline it didn’t feel like it was worth saying much about. It’s a good finish though – perhaps a taster of what we might’ve been up against more often on a better day for the hosts.
We restored our four goal lead soon after. The fifth goal was all about Moylan once again. Similar to his first, he weaved past a few defenders but this time his shot was saved by the keeper. The parry fell to Jovon Makama. A gift for the young striker and a big weight off his shoulders as he scored his first League One goal of his career. It was a nice moment for Jovon. He led the line in a tough time for us around Christmas and didn’t have much success through no fault of his own, so a goal is a nice way to round up a 5-1 demolition job away from home.
All in all, Saturday was an excellent day for City. 2,000 fans traveled and saw Skubala’s side destroy an excellent Barnsley side, score five goals and come away with a massive three points.
The playoff dream is back on now in my opinion, as not only does that move us a few points closer to Stevenage but to dismantle a team fighting for automatic promotion is a big statement of intent. Cambridge on Tuesday night is a big one, we could pile the pressure on Stevenage and move to within three points of them as they play on Wednesday but Garry Monk’s side won’t be an easy opponent.
It’ll be interesting to see what we do with team selection. Freddie dropping out of the side is a likely option, with Moylan coming in but if Bishop is back, it’ll be interesting to see how we lineup, especially in the middle of the park.
Whoever is picked, I think we’ll do well. Confidence is really high at the moment and long may that continue.